Hi! I'm new!

My name is Ceceilia. I'm a newbie looking into lap-band. My family have all done gastric by-pass but I'd like to do lap-band since it is less invasive. I tend to fall into the "it's only a 1-2% chance that something bad is going to happen" category and I don't want to worry about that with gastric. I'm pretty nervous about doing this. I've been overweight my entire life but now am realizing that I just can't do it anymore. My OB/GYN told me after I had my son that I probably was going to have a difficult time losing weight because of the PCOS. She definitely wasn't wrong about that! I'm what is considered a "light-weight" at 208 pounds and 5'3". I'm super nervous that the doctor is going to look at me and say, "nope, you're not a candidate." I sooo need this! Just a quick question...how likely does everyone think I will get approved by my insurance? Do you think it will make a difference that I've been overweight my entire life and tried every diet in the book even though I'm not in the "morbid" category? I look forward to getting to know everyone here!

I'm not sure seeing as your BMI is 36.8 it does put you at Obese but not extremely obese. As I had the RNY gastric bypass and not the lap band I'm not sure if the BMI requirements change. If they do...great...if not...then from what I understand most insurance companies require a BMI of 40 or more. Some insurance companies might drop the BMI to 35 if you have 2 or more co-morbidities like diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, sleep apnea...stuff like that. Your best bet would be to call your insurance company directly and ask them what they require for approval for lap band and if they cover lap band. Some insurance companies will only cover the gastric bypass and not the lap band (don't ask why though..I have no idea why they would cover one but not the other). Good luck though! Kristy PCOS RNY 8/3/04 DD - Alice Kay 7/31/06