Has anyone paid for their WLS without insurance? If so what did it cost? Did they set up a payment plan? How did it work? Thanks for any info. I am not big enough for my indurance guidelines although my doctor says that I am. Very frustrated!

which surgery are you looking at? lapband tends to be less expensive than the RNY, and i have no idea what duodenal switch costs.

now, having said that, talk with your surgeon. if someone is self-pay, they sometimes decrease their fees because they don't have to wait. and yes, i believe that many surgeons can either set up a payment plan, but it's also common for them to refer you for a loan to an outside company.

good luck!!

You can get a self-pay DS in the US for about $18-20k (including hospital, anesthesia, etc., not just the surgeon).

I believe a VSG will run you about $12k in the US.

You can get just about any WLS procedure cheaper in Mexico (and yes, there are some FABULOUS hospitals and surgeons in Mexico), Brazil, and Spain - all usually cost less than in the US even after you include your travel and hotel expenses.

I heard a lot of medical tourists go to India. Look into medical tourism. Unfortunately, in a lot of cases if the surgery was preformed out of country and contrary to the insurance company, many times they will not pay for adverse side effects and/or doctor's aftercare visits or monitoring. This came to my attention a while back when so any americans were going to Canada to get inexpensive eye surgery. If someone botches the surgery, you are just out of luck. You say you are not obese enough to get WLS according to your insurance company-- I can understand this. I personally would not do it unless there was a very good reason (my life was threatned without it).
---------------update----------------
On Ivanhoe newswire there is an artical from september 8th '09 regarding a balloon method currently undergoing clinical trials which will be ready in about a year, but also is currently used by a lot of people in europe. It is a non-invasive technique designed for people who do not weigh enough for bariatric surgery (need to lose between 50 100 pounds). The anesthitised patient lays down and a balloon is placed in their stomach through their mouth. The balloon is then filled with saline soulution and closed. In six months the balloon is removed. Sounds like the operation would be done in the office like Lasix eye surgery. Side effects are nausia for a few day after. Why not look this up and try to find doctors who will be doing this? In the mean time, just lose weight the old fashioned way.

I hope I'm not out-of-line for voicing my opinion that having surgery or an invasive procedure to lose 50 pounds seems a bit extreme for the average person. I do think bariatric surgery is a difficult and necessary decision for those people whose health is very adversely affected by their weight and have exhausted other methods. But, really, 50 pounds?

What was it about the term "non-invasive" or the fact that this is for patients who do NOT qualify for bariatric surgery that led you to believe it was surgery or an invasive procedure?

For some people, 50 pounds is as daunting as 500. Most people will have tried many many failed diets before resorting to these types of treatments.

I'm sorry -- *technically*, it is "non-invasive", by definition. But having a physician stick a tube down the throat and threading a balloon in to inflate inside your stomach to lose 50 pounds is extreme, in my opinion.

The OP stated she was not overweight enough for the bariatric surgery-- I was just stating somethig I'd seen recently on-line.

50 pounds can be as hard to lose as any other weight. This surgery is for people 50 to 100 pounds overweight. Adverse health effects are high blood pressure, and all sorts of bad things-- even for someone 10-20 pounds overweight. The average weight loss is only 35 to 40 pounds anyway, so it does seem minor compared to bariatric surgery. But is it worth it? Who knows. I'm not going to get it done to me.

I think having a balloon stuffed down your throat and 3 days of vomiting is a bit invasive. The balloon does not *magically* appear in your stomach. Invasive surgery generally includes making holes with knives in your flesh-- seeping blood and so on. This is about as "invasive" as getting your stomach pumped. Gross, I know but it is apples and oranges.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but when posting in the WLS area, I think certain opinions are best kept to yourself. 50 excess pounds, for some people, is enough to cause health problems and is certainly enough to be difficult to lose through diet and exercise alone. Just because it's not something you would do doesn't make it a stupid option for someone else in a different situation, invasive or not.

If I were only 50 pounds overweight, I still lwould have had the surgery I had because it resolved my type 2 diabetes, which weight loss through diet and exercise alone very arely accomplishes. We are all in different situations and have different reasons for making our decisions, and I think we need to be sensitive to that.