Surgeon Confusion-- Who to go with?

Hello, I have researched everything there is about the lap band. I am certain that is what I want and will be most successful with in weight loss. My insurance is Aetna and they cover up to 10k, the rest is all me. I have reserached surgeons and have come up the the following 3: Dr. Fielding in NY Dr. Pomp in NY Dr. Abkin/Bertha in NJ I live in NJ and don't mind going to NY. I want the doctor that has the best techniques and results. I am so confused. I have an appointment with Fielding and Pomp. I don't want to waste my 10 k in surgical consults. Any opinons appreciated. Thanks

dr pomp is a professor of bariactric surgery at cornell, bertha sent me to him because he could not handle my case, I cannnot have the band or rny as they are iincomapitble with my previous surgery. i can only have the DS. I have Aetna also. no dollar amount is mentioned?

hi there i am in the planning stages also. i found that the insurance companies do not always give u reliable answers. i suggest that you call a doctor u are interested in using and ask them if they participate with your insurance. if they say yes, then check back with your insurance company to verify the information. also, just a heads up, the insurance company only counts what they pay out, not what your doctor charges, for example, your doctor may bill 15K of charges, if the insurance determines that their reimbursement will be 5k of what doctor charges, that is all that will count towards your max in almost all cases. this means that your dollars will go a little further than you think. good luck, jacki

go with the one that you are most comfortable with the people on this board who have had Abkin just love him!! did you do the 6 month dr supervised diet that aetna requires?? take care roberta

hi, just a quick question. which aetna do u have ????? umm in regards to your surgeon answer i heard abkin and bertha were great !!!!!!!

aetna QPOS

We did a lot of research before we chose a doc. He had Lap RNY on 06/05/06 and Bertha was his doc and we could not be more pleased. He has been awesome. Not only that but his office was awesome in handling all of the insurance matters as well. Josephine in their office is the queen of insurance. They have a seminar at the Olde Mill Inn in Basking Ridge that is awesome and both Bertha and Abkin are there along with others to answer any question that you may have. I would suggest going and seeing how you feel about them but as far as we are concerned they were the best group out of them all!!!!!!! Feel free to email myself and or Fred W. if you have any questions. Hope that helps.

Sorry I mentioned that he had RNY but they also are the best for Lap Band. We spoke to several patients who had the band as well and they loved both docs. Sorry forgot to mention that above.

Hi! My surgeon is Dr. Abkin and he is the best! Abkin and Bertha combined have done approximately 4,000 surgeries! out of all of those, 8 died due to complications but out of those 8, 6 were at a big risk prior to surgery due to health problems. From the research I did prior to surgery, they both have done the most surgeries in NJ and have the highest success rate. Just my two cents. Heather

Hey I had my surgery with Dr. Micheal Nusbaum, in West Orange, NJ he has done almost 3000 surgeries and NO deaths. He has a very low complication rate, I chose him because I had a hard time finding a surgeon who do not have any deaths. Also, he put a filter in before surgery to protect against bloodclots.