Relocating for surgery.

Has anyone decided to move to one of the states that cover the WLS?

I personally didn't/haven't.  However, I do have a relative that did.  She was single and had no real ties where she was living.  She moved home with her family.

I suppose that if you have little to hold you to an area, that it can make sense?  Owning a home and having a family, career and support system would make this option a non-option for me, however.  

I would get it set up first - someone posted about a 2 year wait after you get the ins before WLS is covered.  It might not be as easy as you think to get it covered just by moving states.

Other options:Go to Mexico, or talk to a surgeon about what his/her private pay fees are. 

You may have already done alot of investigation, but I would go to the Public Info meetings, etc, before  quit a job and moved. Good luck.

Unless you have other reasons to move I wouldn't do it. If you have a job, roots, friends, family or some reason to be where you are it plain may not be worth both the emotional and financial cost. The financial costs of moving may be far more than the cost of having surgery in Mexico. You can get most surgeries there for $5,000 and under. I paid less than $4,000 and was very happy with the care I got.

I don't know of anyone who has moved JUST for surgery, but my plans for self-pay fell through (due to other health issues that drained my finances) at the same time I finished grad school and started job hunting nationwide anyway. Whether or not the health plan covered WLS was a big factor I looked for at all the places I applied and interviewed. I wound up moving 2400 miles for a new job with insurance that covered WLS, but even then they had a 2-year waiting period because so many people would try to get jobs with them just to get surgery then quit right after. It was worth it in the end since my husband and I could have surgery at the same time for a combined $4000 out-of-pocket max instead of just me for $16,800 self-pay, but we were planning to move anywhere I needed to for my job anyway and didn't have anything tying us down.