Contemplating.....

[krinin]

Okay so with my insurance I have to go to a specific facility because I work for that particular corporation, however, their program takes 8 - 12 months before surgery! Not to mention multiple trips to downtown Chicago which is a nightmare commute! On the other hand, there is a surgeon in the suburbs whom I have met with and I feel confident in his program but if I go to him it would be self pay, which they do finance, so it looks like I should be able to afford that. Both are centers of excellence in the bariatric field.

What does everyone think, go with the one where insurance will pay or the self pay option? Now that I have made my mind up to do this I am not sure waiting almost a year is something that will be good for me.....

How did you all choose your surgeon??

[KiwiGal]

Hi there. Insurance wasn't an option for me so I was self pay. It was a lot of money $20,000.00 NZD so if insurance was an option I possibly would have gone down that route. Having said that, because I as self pay it was only 3 weeks from my first appointment with my surgeon until my surgery day. Nice and quick.

[Grammy2s&c]

I've had to to wait seven months now and it has gone pretty fast. I suppose if I wanted to finance I could, but my insurance covers it, so I'm taking the lone route. Good luck with your decision!

[Ann2]

Here's a question I'd explore: If you self-pay (and don't use your insurance), would your insurance cover any subsequent surgical complications that very likely will NOT occur, but that COULD occur as a result of the WLS?

[AnnieG]

Okay so with my insurance I have to go to a specific facility because I work for that particular corporation, however, their program takes 8 - 12 months before surgery! Not to mention multiple trips to downtown Chicago which is a nightmare commute! On the other hand, there is a surgeon in the suburbs whom I have met with and I feel confident in his program but if I go to him it would be self pay, which they do finance, so it looks like I should be able to afford that. Both are centers of excellence in the bariatric field.

What does everyone think, go with the one where insurance will pay or the self pay option? Now that I have made my mind up to do this I am not sure waiting almost a year is something that will be good for me.....

How did you all choose your surgeon??

Our insurance did not pay at all, so it wasn't a choice. It was $13,000 oop, including complication insurance. It was worth every penny. On the up side, it was 2 weeks from consultation (during which I did pre op diet) to surgery -- and its been successful.

On the other side, that year helps many people get their heads around new eating plans. But for me, I'd tried the last 10 years to get my head around it and didn't get there.

Prayers for the best decision for you. And I have to say, my surgeon was 10 minutes away and it was a Center of Excellence. My other options would have been driving 3 hours to Raleigh or an hour and a half to Charlotte.

[sraebaer]

I had no option for insurance, so had to do self-pay. If I could have had it paid for by insurance I would have done it in a heartbeat.

Can't you take a train to downtown Chicago? (I wouldn't drive either).

[krinin]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I am going to sit down with the Chicago dc on Monday and get a timeline and see if they can consolidate my visits so I can travel down there less. leaning toward the insurance route..