Lifewise of Washington

I am just interested in hearing if anyone out there has lifewise of washington...my pcp is not open to wls- I am a cash pay and am doing it out of the country but need to find someone here on my insurance...

I have lifewise.  are you looking for a doctor?  they have a physicians directory on the website.  you can use that to get a list of docs near you and then call them one at a time and see who would be willing to work with you.

I have Lifewise but I'm brand new and don't have a physician yet. If you find anyone, let me know. Just curious, why are you doing it out of the country? I'm cash pay and Dr. Oh in Federal Way is amazing and does lap band for 12,000 including hospital fees, classes, pre-op appts, 1 wk post op appt and 2 fills. You have to have a bunch of tests done first but regular insurance should cover most of those. Kelly

Hey Kelly-  first of all, I am not having a lap band...I am having DS- the lap band has the highest incidence of long term failure and regain of weight so that is not something for me...I also have some issues with allergies and do not want any foreign object left in me long term.  The surgeon I have chosen is Dr. Baltasar in Alcoy Spain...he has a wonderful record clinically and is one of the top DS surgeons in the world. Here in the Portland metro area alone there are nearly 200 people that have gone to him. There is even a group of people that get together monthly that are patients of his...they talk about having the surgery, give info to new patients and are a general wonderful support group for people on this journey to permanant weight loss. I've gone and spoken with many of them and became certain that this is the right decision for me.  As for lifewise paying for anything...that's pretty iffy. My policy has an iron clad exclusion for weight loss surgery but my understanding is that follow up labs and such for the future may be covered if you have a doc that will code them properly... I was just hoping to find someone that already had a doc doing this for them that I could get in touch with.  Hope that helps! Have a great day! bodybybaltasar.com

Wow, that's wonderful that you've found such a great doctor you can afford with such a wonderful support system. Makes sense to me. Yes, the lap band doesn't have the best long-term results. I purposely sought out a doctor whose record is much higher than the national average because of his post-op care. I've made a lot of life changes in the past that lasted years so I'm hoping that this tool will help me get back on that road again. It sounds like you made a great decision for you. I wish you the best. Kelly

Thanks Kelly,  I will also keep you in my thoughts and prayers....I'm chomping at the bit to get this done and am waiting for my finances at the end of the year to finish coming in....if I had my way I'd have done it yesterday...hee, hee.  Have a beautiful weekend.. Irene