Introduction

Good Morning fellow Oregonians!! My name is Amy and I am new to the forum. WOW is all I can say about all the information here what a huge help. I am currently preparing myself for Lap-Band surgery mentally and physically. I am scheduled for a Seminar in Wa with NWWLS April 9th. I am however afraid my insurance is going to deny my request for surgery in which case I will probably use Dr. De La Garza in Monterrey. Has anyone here had surgery in Mexico? If so with whom?? Pros & Cons?? Suggestions for getting my double Blue Cross to pull their heads out and pay?? Are there good programs available in Portland?? I am much close to Vancouver and Portland than the Seattle area. There just seems to be much more info on the web regarding Wa state facilities. I just dont' get insurance co. I am going to cost them WAY more money in the long term with all my health issues than to just pay for the surgery and be done with it. Grrrrrrrr!!!!! I am a 38 year old mother of two boys. I work in a bank on my feet all day long. OUCH!!! They weren't designed to uphold all this bulk in dress up shoes!!! Thank you in advance for any assistance you all provide me. Amy

Welcom!! I don't have any advice for you except to hang in there. I believe there is a South of the Border forum you might want to check out. Good luck!

Helo there Amy welcome... I live in Milton Freewater, Oregon close to Walla Walla Washington. I am going for Lapband surgery in Mexico w/ Dr.Aceves on April 18th. I am very excited. I have insurance but they do not pay anything. I am 35 yrs old and a mother of 4 young children, one new. I am paying 8000.00 plus travel. I also stand on my feet, (USDA Food manager).I just talked to a lady who had it done with the same doctor and she said it was a great exp. for her and her daughter. He is $500.00 less than everyone else. I also have a fill doctor near me that will do fills w/floro. for $150.00 greattttttt price....I have found other fill doctors that want $300.00 or more. Dr. Aceves is at Mexicolapband.com. Hope this helps.

Welcome Amy! I am not sure about the Insurance either, you could try and post that to the main message board. I too am looking at having to self pay and so far in the States it is pretty pricey! I found one place that would finance for 25,000 at 500+ a month (I'm hoping for RNY). I don't know about you, but we cannot afford that...so I am checking out of Country too, haven't gotten very far...not enough time I have heard people mention Mexico, Spain and a couple others...so It's worth checking into if you may need it. I hope that your Surgery gets covered by your Ins! Good luck and best wishes! Jen M.

I forgot to mention that price I was quoted was for 60 months...kind of like an expensive Car payment...good luck!

Jen and everyone.... Thanks for the nice welcome. I found out Friday that one of my policy's has a blanket exclusion for any type of weight loss/obesity surgery. Still working on the other plan. It is hard for me to contact them with the time difference in Georgia. I have to either get up super early before my kids and call or try and do it on my lunch hour in a busy break room. Not really my style. MY seminar at NWWLS is getting closer. YEAH!!! I also got Jessie Ahroni's book which has been helpful to me. More details regarding what eating is like after surgery etc. I am just so happy to see a light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. I also found out I can borrow against my 401k at a low interest rate and basically pay myself back through my employer. So I could avoid the penalties I was looking at withdrawing money from my retirement funds. I will need to roll all my money into my employers plan and have started the ball rolling to accomplish that. How did anyone handle the time off they needed from work. If you have a doctors recomendation does it fall under family medical leave?? I hope to have my surgery in October. If I can't use the medical leave option than I may have to wait until January and use my vacation. I of course want to have surgery tomorrow. LOL but I just took a new position at the bank and do not feel it would be fair to ask for time off until I am established in the position. During the next months I am going to work on only eating when I am hungry, not bored, not stressed, not anything else but HUNGRY!!! Well I will go for now. Just wanted to say thanks and give a little bit of an update. Amy

Hey Amy, I had my surgery in Spain, and lead a local (Portland) support group for people who have been or are planning on going to my surgeon (Dr. Aniceto Baltasar) for surgery. So maybe I can help answer a couple of questions: 1. Yes, lots of folks use their 401k funds for paying for surgery! Totally doable! Also - don't forget that self-pay WLS qualifies as being tax-deductable - making 2006 a good tax year for you! 2. My surgeon routinely fills out FMLA paperwork for people who are having surgery with him. (He is credentialed in the United States, so I'm not sure if that factors into the whole thing or not.) You simply inform your employer that you are having a recommended surgical procedure, and the recommended amount of time for recovery off of work, and then provide the appropriately completed FMLA paperwork. I can tell you with 1000% assurance that having both of my insurance companies deny me coverage for my surgery was nothing short of a miracle straight from the hand of God! I am SO thankful that they didn't, because I would have never found the surgeon that I was blessed enough to choose, and the surgery that I was passionate about! And a word of advice - find a good support group to plug into. Having peers to meet in real life - face to face - is a HUGE thing. In fact, statistically people who are successful long term stay involved in IRL support groups. Blessings, dina