Is self pay much faster than Insurance?

I'm a self pay, I had my surgery 10/26, and I think my consult was 10/06?  It is much faster, and I still did the psych eval, meet with their nutritionist.

With insurance, from my first date with the surgeon to my surgery was 6 weeks.  So you never know!  

I am not self pay, but I had no requirements to meet for my insurance.  However, the surgeon had requirements for me to meet.  He required that I do a sleep study and had I had any other issues I would have to get clearances from those doctors as well.  For the sleep study I had to wait a month to get scheduled, 2 weeks to do the second one and then another 3-4 weeks to get results and CPAP machine before I was scheduled.  And even then I was scheduled a month away.  Most surgeons are extremely busy at the end of the year because people want to use their benefits before their deductible resets at the first of the year.

With a BMI of 34.7 no, I don't believe any insurance would cover you if you had it. For me, it would have sped up the process by 2 days. That is the length of time it took for insurance approval. You can probably find a doctor that won't make you "jump through the hoops" that many do, but being able to find a doctor that can see you and schedule surgery before the end of the year is doubtful. I hope you can if that is what you want and you think that you are ready for it! Please let us know 

I had my consult on January 14, 2005 and surgery on February 21, 2005.  I was a self pay and knew my insurance probably would not pay (exclusion) but we did try first.  I was able to have surgery within a week of getting the denial.  Yes, it'll usually go much quicker as a self pay...your surgeon will require some test first that's what takes the longest time.

You should ask the surgeon's office that you are considering using. Some surgeons have requirements that you must meet even if you don't have insurance requirements.

Personally, if my BMI had not been high enough to qualify for insurance to cover surgery, I wouldn't rearrange my intestines to lose the weight. I would go with the sleeve since it is less drastic AND less complex (and therefore less expensive).

Lora

I didn't want the sleeve.  My son knew 6 people at the that had the sleeve and either had problems or didn't lose enough weight.  I don't want to have a port and have to get it adjusted all the time. I have no insurance so it is not a matter of not qualifying, it is not an option.  RNY is the gold standard.  I don't want to settle for a cheaper procedure and not be happy with it.  I just want to get it done quickly.

There is no port or adjustment with the sleeve. That procedure that I think you are referring to is the lap band and many people do have problems with that including not losing. When you do see the doc, at least as about the sleeve. Find some information on it on line. Lora is right suggesting it. If my insurance covered it when I had mine done I probably would have done that too.

I will do some research on it. Thank you for clarifying that for me.  I thought Lora was talking about the lap band.  Maybe that is an option for me.

Here is a link to the OH information on the sleeve LINK It is called Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy or VSG