Question:
Can't get medicaid, too obese to buy individual insurance

Does anyone have any ideas of how i can obtain health insurance to cover WLS? I am single and have no children so i am not qualified for medicaid. my job does not offer insurance and i am too obese to purchase individual insurance. Also, self-pay does not appear to be an opption for me. My BMI is over 60.    — Lia W. (posted on May 23, 2001)

May 23, 2001
I don't know if this is state to state but in Fla, many people have gotten the surgery thru vocational rehab. I don't know any of the particulars, but see what your state has to offer. Good luck
   — KATIE B.

May 23, 2001
My suggestion is to get another job. Consider that you have something of worth to offer an employer and go find an employer who wants that. I was self employed for 4 years and during that time my weight creeped up from about 350 to over 500 pounds. I had no insurance. A friend who was a business owner asked me to come work for him and we worked out an agreement. Ninety days later I had excellent insurance coverage, one year later, I had WLS. Good Luck to you.
   — merri B.

May 24, 2001
You are going to have to find a job with a group health plan. Individual health insurance has medical qualifications and pre existing conditions where group policies have no pre existing conditions. The insurance companies know that in a group the use factor will average out. I know this first hand as I had my own company and provided group insurance for my company... a group of one! Florida law changed and allowed insurance companies to skate on providing company insurance unless the group was a minimum of 2. Soooooooo... I was stuck with being dropped from Prudential when they were being taken over by Aetna with my husband having had prostate cancer. Fortunately, we also own a dry cleaners and provide group insurance for our 6 employees... I had to get on that basic policy to avoid pre existing conditions. It turned out to be fantastic insurance (United Healthcare)... much better than Prudential or Aetna ever was and aproved my surgery in 9 days. Good Luck!
   — SusanMaria