Hey Steph...okay so heres how everything went for me...i went to Sosa's seminar on Jan.7 at jackson North Hospital in north miami but he also does the big seminars at palmetto hospital..i knew that i was gonna have to get a psych eval and see the nutritionist at his office so i did those 2 appointments before i even went in to see the doc...when i went to schedule my appt w sosa the nurse mentioned that for medicaid theres a waiting list of about 3months if u want sosa but he has a partner dr.nuwayhid which i think is THE BOOOMB (he did my endoscopy). plus they assist eachother in the surgeries anyway...my rny is 2/28 tuesday coming up..aslong as u have share of cost medicaid and its open when u see the doc youre good..it has to be open when u see him and its gotta b open for surgery..good luck..let me know if u got anymore questions..im here for ya

 Hi.  I have my first appointment with Dr Gonsalvo in Lutz coming up at the end of march.  They do their surgeries at the Palms of Pasadena hospital in St Petersburg for Medicare patients. You have to go through the hospital bariatric care center to make the appointment because they are the medicare providers.  This is their link: http://www.palmspasadena.com/services/weight_loss_surgery/ 
After looking over all of their physicians, I liked Dr. Gonzalvo the best. What got me is reports that he shows up at support group meetings when he doesn't have to just to see how people are. His office link is here:  http://www.asawest.com/oursurgeons.php   Remember that for medicare you have to go through the hospital first, I'm just putting in the link so you can check him and his partner out. They assist each other during surgery.

I would go to some support group meetings and ask around.

Hey ladies thanks for your replies. I have actually found a surgeon in SC with great reviews that will do the sleeve for 8,000 bucks flat, to inlcude everything pre opt and post opt. So i will be flying to SC for my sleeve.

Thanks again :)

Is this support group still active?  If so, where and when?