one more time.....i hope...

Ok guys...you all have been the best. and I mean that with my whole heart. I have a few more questions if any of you can help me out. I am looking into VR and I have heard that there are doctors in Charlotte that will accept that for payment. I would like to know who has used VR and how it worked out for you. Also if you can point me in the right direction of a doc that accepts VR that would be GREAT!!!! I hope everyone is well and that things are going the way you all want them to!!! Thank you all again for this help!! You all have been lifesavers!!!!! Best wishes to all!! Sarah Hoyle

Hello Sarah. I am trying to get approved by either Medicaid or VR. In my opinion the best way to find out for sure is to send out letters to the various surgeons and see who answers. I sent 15 letters out and got replies from maybe 10 of them and of those 5 would work with me (and Mediciad) which was more than I was expecting. VR can also call various surgeons that they work with. The lady I saw called them and found out that Dr Cassen(sp?) doesnt work with VR anymore, etc. She also tyried her best to dissuade me from surgery of course so be prepared for that. I know I qualify for both programs and its just a matter of who approves me first I guess. For several reasons I chose Dr Voellinger.

Are you sure that Dr. Voellinger accepts VR as a form of payment??? That is my biggest question now....... I want to have all of my ducks in a row when I go see the VR people. I live a little farther away from Charlotte ..like 2 hours but I know this is worht it!!! Thank you so much for your time! I really appreciate the feed back!

I spoke to Dr Voellinger today and asked him specifically if he accepted VR and he said yes. I am going at this from two angles. On the Medicaid side things are progressing smoothly and by all indications at this time I should be approved and have a surgery date with a month. As for VR they are my alternate if Mediciad turns out to be problematic. Right now the VR lady is playing games with me as she knows Mediciad is involved and she is trying to go slow enough so that Mediciad will pay for it instead of her. As a side note I was told by two employees at the VR offices that they paid for WLS "several hundred times" in the past 10 years, but when I got to the person who is handling my case she said they had done only 2 cases in the past 15 years and that they both had to wait more than 2 years to get approved, etc in a very obvious attempt to get me to go away. She also said VRs requirments were much more stringent than Medicaid, (another attempt to get me to go away), and that I wasnt obese enough (my BMI is 47) I know for a fact that none of that is true. You will like Dr Voellinger. Today was the first time I spoke to him one on one and he seemed very likable but also busy. He has a lot of employees that have had WLS and they all seemed to really enjoy telling me about their experiences, etc. Call them now and go ahead and get set up for the next seminar. 877 347 4143 Go ahead and see the VR people. This stuff takes a lot of time. VR takes 60 days just to process your application so start now today right this minute!!!!!! I expect you will have to pay a lot of out of pocket expenses for the various evaluations. They cost me 635 dollars so far but I dont expect it to cost much more than that. That includes the 150 consultaion fee for Dr Voellinger which BTW is a lot lower than most surgeons I hear. You are welcome to email me for some specifics concerning Dr Voellingers requirements etc. My experience so far is the whole process if very slow and full of "hoops" that you have to jump through. I know in the end it is worth it but you really have to be committed to this or youll give up in the face of all the things you have to get done and people you have to see. Ive made 6 trips to Charlotte now and Ill go maybe 4 more times before Im done. Concerning this whole process I wish I had started a lot sooner. I think everyone who has had this surgery has thought something like that. Good luck.