I was self pay. Total was $17,400 and that covers fills for the life of my band. I lost my mother in Nov. 2007 to a heart attack and I used the money I got from her life insurance policy to pay for my surgery. I was nearing 400 pounds and knew I wouldn't live to seem my 7 yr old grow up if I continued down the same path. I was banded 01-17 and am down 41 lbs as of today. I won't say its all been easy but I WILL say it's all been worth it. I miss my mom dearly, but I know she is looking down from heaven watching my success!
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Self Pay- Dr. Bagnato, Albany GA Banded 01-17-08 Port Revision 02-08-08
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Well I am self pay as well. My surgery cost is 12,000$ I was given $5000 as a gift from parents and $1000 from grandparents for graduating with my degree. The $4000 I saved and $2000 a loan from the grandparents! It will be worth it, i mean honestly what is the cost of a few more years of life! I get banded 05/30/08! yayaya
I was self-pay, I have insurance but an exclusion on obesity treatments.. $15,000 total for the surgery. This includes 6 follow up visits. 6 months later (on my 6th visit) they realized I needed a revision on something. $2,000 out of pocket to hospital, $500 to anesthesia, and doc didn't charge me since he felt bad and this was all out of pocket.
I also had to do the psych eval, which insurance paid for, if it didn't it would have been $150. Then the pre-op exams, either insurance paid for or was included in the 15k, as I was never charged for it.
Now my fills are free indefinitely. They forget everytime I go and I have to remind them, but at least they don't hassle me about it.
I love love love my band, even though I had to do a 2nd operation. I'd be devastated if I had to get rid of it.
I'm self pay as well. My company does not cover any weight related procedures and they will not re-write the policy just for me. So, I'm off to Tijuana. Dr. Ortiz will be performing my surgery on 5/2/08, for around $8000. I took out a medical loan, will have it paid off in four years, not bad for something I'll have for the rest of my life!!
I'm a self-pay... I'm a medical student, so our insurance is as bare-bones as it gets (we might sew your leg back on...if you ask nicely). They absolutely exclude any and all WLS procedures, but I am not willing to wait any longer to get on my future husband's insurance. I wanted to be a "normal" size bride!
My surgery will be ~$17,000, including fills for the first year at my surgeon's office--4 miles from my apartment. If they have to use the fluoroscope in the radiology suite in the hospital for any fills, it'll be $400 a pop. So I'm hoping that my relatively low BMI will allow for my fills to be done in the office, by feel.
I'm already taking out ridiculous amounts of student loans, so I'm going to use the left over cash from this past year, and some of my disbursements for next year, to pay for my band. What I can't come up with on surgery day, I'm borrowing from my grandfather (~$10,000) to pay back with MUCH LOWER interest than any financing/credit card would offer.
Some people buy houses with their loans, some people buy cars... I'm lengthening my life and raising my self esteem! This is MY major investment. :)
__________________ Banded June 5, 2008--Dr. Darin Minkin, St. Louis, MO
H: 229/S: 225/C: 201/G: 145
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