DO you have Mo Medicade for Insurance??????

I will be using Missouri Medicade to get my gastric by-pass and have some questions about a few things....If you have used Mo Med recently for WLS please drop me a [email protected]

Tammy I have a friend that is going to use medicaid. and columbia Mo takes medicaid, that is where she is gonna have hers done, hope this helps..if there is anything just ask me and I will ask her as she dont have a computer.....Vesta

Hi tammy, medicaid paid for my gastric bypass. Thank you dear God. I have fought to have this surgery for six yrs. If u have any questions fell free to e-mail me. Friends, patty

I was reading over papers I got from the siminar I attended and I noticed that it was saying something about if you had medicade you couldnt do the phyc & Nut package they offered......I wasnt sure if I was reading that right or not ....What does it matter if we are paying for it oursleves???....and I was wondering if you cant do it that way do they give you info on who to use or what?.......Is there any other things medicade doesnt pay for????

Hi Tammy, I had Missouri Medicaid and got my gastric bypass the end of November. I had tried to get my regular ins through my employer to pay for it...and got denied 4 times as it is listed as an exclusion-it wasnt until I went on disability and got medicaid with a spend down of 1,380 a month that I was able to get the surgery approved!!! MO Bariatrics will give you a list of what needs to be completed and by whom IF you dont do their day seminar with the NUT/excercise therapist etc. I didnt do that, I went here and saw a psychiatrist that took medicaid (there are some) and then saw the nutritionist and excercise therapist-and medicaid will not cover that, unless you have some kind of co-morbitity. I was lucky in the fact that Freeman Hospital has trainers for their facility and was able to get mine done through the hospital. You might check around where you live and see if this is offered there and if not-they may try and make you pay up front-so if thats the case, you might see which one is cheaper. The psych eval can be tricky-just make sure and check them out first, because the psychiatrist I saw-dragged her feet with my paperwork-and after being promised it would be faxed on a certain day (so I could get the testing done) and then sent to me, and both deadlines got missed-I actually went to her office and sat there and waited for almost 2 hrs for the paperwork, as I told her that I wasnt leaving without it. She was horrible-and almost caused everything to go down the tubes...She had almost a month to get the paperwork out-and then acted insulted when I gave her a piece of my mind-never mind the fact I sat in there with her for over 5 hours and she had no clue what to ask me etc-it was a disaster!! If you need anything else-please feel free to let me know...I will answer anything I can. Take care. Jan

Thanks so much for all the info......I tried looking where you live on the map but could not find it...Do you live in a small town? Do you live near Spingfield or Branson?... What exactly is co-morbidity?.....I weight over 400 and have a bmi of like 66 or so. Ive not had a heart attck as of yet but Im scared to death I might with my weight and the fact both my mother and grandmother have had them......becasue of my weight lately I have had trouble getting out of breath and have to reast 4-5 times just to clean up my kitchen and set down while im cooking and etc.......I do have high blood pressure I have had to take meds for for several years now but other than that about all I take meds for is gerd and leaky bladder............ I didn't quite understand what you used the hosptial for...can you explain that for me?... I love to get as much info on how and where I might get some of this done free or cheap as im on a fixed income...... Did they refer the psychiatrist to you or did you find her on your own?.....Didn't the paper she was suppose to fill out give her and idea of what she need to talk to you about? And if you dont mind if I ask ....What did it cost you for the Psyc evaluation?? Did you have to attend the group meetings? If I understood right if you can't take the day class you have to attend 4, 2 of which have to be done by a experienced sponsor. Is that how you had to do it?98 I can't remember if you said if you had your suregery already or not....the reason I was asking is I was wondering your views on the protien drinks?? Well again..thanks so much for letting me question you to death lol lol......I look forward to hearing from you....have a great day....Tammy

Hi Tammy, I will do my best to answer all your questions-and I will also include my direct email address at the end where you can email me directly-should I forget something!! Girl...first let me say-I hear you on the weight issue!! I too had to sit and take breaks to clean or cook dinner-often times I would sit in a rolling chair and cook. My poor legs couldnt hold me up...I felt like I was dying. We already have so mu*****ommon! Ok-let me get to your questions...co-morbitity are your issues like GERD, high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea..things like that. Strong family issues are definitely a factor they use as well-so it sounds to me like you have some of the co-mo's AND the family history!! (this shouldnt sound like a good thing, but in the eyes of the bariatric world, it is!) I used the cardiac rehab center at the hospital to do my excercise regimen. I used the nutritionist as well. If you do those things, you do not have to attend the 4 support meetings. I dont have a problem with the support meetings, but trying to find a couple that were led by doctors etc was showing to be more difficult than just paying for those things. Trust me, on the fixed income-I know AND I had to go on disability AND had 4 kids at home we were raising. My income was cut more than half-and it was awful to lose the insurance benefits. I kept cobra (almost 400 a month****il I knew they werent going to cover the surgery. I sought out my OWN psychiatrist that would bill medicaid for me, and yes-I gave that ding bat the paperwork, but around here- where they arent really familiar with bariatric surgery, I got asked a lot of things (several hours worth and then a 500 question test I had to pass) that didnt have ANYTHING to do with the surgery. Oh well-at least I got my approval-and so I guess I would do it over again, just may have tried to find someone else had I known how she was going to be. I live an hour from Springfield and about 20 minutes from Joplin Missouri. I am between Joplin and Neosho-smack dab in the middle of them, out on 28 acres of peace and quiet (LOL) Ok-lets see-you will STILL have to attend one of their seminars-but its only like 2 hours and its free-if you choose plan B I think it is. Its required and they have you sign some papers saying you will take care of yourself as far as vitamins, excercise etc etc-but its a good one and the dietician (Jennifer) is the sweetest person you will EVER meet-she is awesome!! Ok-I had my surgery Nov 29th with Dr. Fearing of MO Bariatrics- and I LOVE HER... she is the most awesome person!!! I cannot say enough about the whole process and her being by my side every step of the way. She was my angel-thats for sure. In fact, at my one month check up (which was Jan 9th and 2 weeks late due to the holidays) I stopped and bought her a bouquet of flowers and a thank you card! Ok-on the protein drinks-have tried about 10-12 of them....only have ONE brand I love and stick with, and thats optimum nutrition gold standard 100% instantized whey and I get it in the 5# tub for under $30.00. I LOVE the vanilla (cause you can use sugar free syrups and make it whatever you want) actually, its called vanilla ice cream, and then strawberry. You mix these with milk-and I use a blender cause it gets all the chunks out-and they are good....all the others, I gag and throw up on-thats no fun!! I priced it at the local health food store and it was over $55, so I buy it at Food 4 Less. My daughter likes the double chocolate brand. They do have smaller tubs-they are like $15 or $16, something like that. I can send you a couple of baggies if you want to try it before you buy it-someone did that for me, so I can pay that forward. I know it can get expensive. I even buy generic vitamins etc. Anyway-my dr put me on the protein/liquid diet because my BMI was really high as well and I lost 44# before surgery and I have lost another 45# since. I am 11# from being a century club card owner and I am feeling so much better..I cant even tell you! I can cook the WHOLE meal without sitting down ONCE, I can chase around my 4 yr old and actually run, NONE of my clothes fit-and I can take care of my self...I posted WOW moments or milestones a couple of days ago-and its getting better and better every single day-you will never be sorry you did this for yourself!! I would recommend starting the vitamins and 2 protein shakes a day (if they already weighed you at the seminar-then you will be able to see it works when you go in) and you will start feeling better BEFORE the surgery...trust me. Even when they didnt hv me on the diet-I did the shakes and ate one meal a day-balanced of course. So, which Dr. do you have? Have you already gotten your letter from your PCP and how does he/she feel about your decision and where do you live? So, now its your turn, tell me a little about you-married? kids? been heavy all your life? do you work? Would love to hear from you. Write to me, if you want at: [email protected] a good day! Jan