Question:
Co. Ins denies coverage, anyone looked into private insurance?

Insurance through my employer denied paying for surgery through air-tight exclusion. Has anyone gone out and purchased individual insurance through a more lenient carrier, for say, about 6 months and got the surgery done that way ??    — Marie D. (posted on April 1, 2004)

March 31, 2004
I have private insurance and was denied the surgery due to an air-tight exclusion. You need to look at the policies long and hard to see what they say about WLS and other treatments for obesity. I wish you luck.
   — barbara A.

March 31, 2004
Marie, Pretty much that option doesn't exist. Looked into it long and hard. The insurance industry pretty much knows that people desperately looking for an answer do that sort of thing, so they go to great lengths to prevent it. Honestly, it would be cheaper to self-pay. That's what I ended up doing - went to Spain for my surgery with Dr. Baltasar (who is a totally cool guy - and one of the world's best bariatric surgeons!), and everything all tolled (travel, surgery - everything) came to $15,800. If you'd like more info, you could check out www.bodybybaltasar.com, or the Yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OSSG-OutofCountryWLS - a lot of us who self-pay end up going out of the country for surgery since it's SO much less expensive. Let me know if I can answer any questions, okay? Blessings, dina
   — Dina McBride

April 1, 2004
Private coverge if available would probably have a waiting period of at least a year for pre existing conditions. And they would probably claim that the obesity is pre-existing. I have private coverage and it was excluded anyway, but I was lucky and they allowed it as medically necessary. Good luck Gary www.obesitylawyers.com
   — gary viscio

April 1, 2004
it seems unlikely that they would fall for it. Insurance companies are there to make money and they would definately lose on that deal...
   — **willow**

April 2, 2004
Every company I looked at had a tight exclusion. It's really not an option worth exploring. Good luck.
   — Dragonfly2B2