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| - Please please please check multiple BARIATRIC Dr's before going to WLIA. This place is in it to make money not to help it's patients.
A little history... My mother had lap band done in 2008 (By a different office/Dr in Tucson) and lost 80lbs but she gained it back very suddenly when her band started leaking in 2015. She also had other complications so last year she ended up having her band removed and on the same day had Gastric Bypass. Before my mothers complications I thought lap band was the best thing for me so I had lap band done in 2012 through TrueResults (that's a whole other disaster story). I only lost 25lbs but very quickly gained it back. After I was banded I had 3 kids and now have band complications. LOOK UP THE REMOVAL RATE OF LAP BAND AND IT'S COMPLICATIONS!!!! I've seen several reports that say 60% or more of band patients have them removed.
Today... I had made an appointment with WLIA to see about having my band removed and possibly having Gastric. My consult was supposed to be over an hour but did not last more than 15 minutes for me as I was so infuriated and had to walk out. I met with the finance person first and she starts by telling me that I will have to have an EGD done at an out of network facility. The fee is $800 due before that appt and then I will get a bill for the remainder which will be discounted based on your income...To which I said, "I would prefer to stay in network since my Max out of pocket for in network care is $4000." That was a no go and I'm still not even sure what the EGD would have cost me after the initial $800. So then she continues to the other fees such as the extra out of network costs since the anesthesiologist is "never" in network but there estimated amount just the knowledge that there will be extra out of network charges. I fully anticipated meeting my out of pocket maximum for in-network which is $4000. Keep in mind that WLIA takes my insurance and is IN-NETWORK. What I did not anticipate is all the crazy out of network crap they add and the absolutely ABSURD "Surgical Retainer Fee". This is the most asinine part!!! If you are having lap band then the fee is $2500. If you are having the sleeve or gastric then the fee is $3500. Basically, at minimum, I would have had to pay $4000 to meet my deductible, another $2500-3500 depending on if I just had my band removed or if I had Gastric and then another $800+ for the EGD. That puts my total at $7300 and that's the absolute MINIMUM of what I can actually calculate since who knows what the total for the EGD, anesthesiologists, and any other out of network costs would have been. Again, my max out of pocket is $4000. When I had my lap band back in 2012, it was not covered by insurance and I paid $10,000 to have the surgery. How is it that now that my procedures are covered it's going to cost me almost the same???
On top of that... when we started talking about the possibly of having Gastric when my band is removed I was told that it would be a second surgery a few months after the band was taken out. I immediately said, "Why wouldn't it all be done at the same time?". To which her reply was "We have to let the stomach heal." I was shocked to have to go through two surgeries which seemed completely needless especially when my mom had it all done same day. It is VERY common that these are done at the same time. When I mentioned this she said "Oh well, we like to let things heal and the Dr's will want to see what everything looks like when the band is removed. He will be in after this and you can ask him about it." I didn't stick around to meet with the Dr and all I could think about was how having a second surgery is just so they can bill my insurance again and it's extra money out of my pocket since there will be someone participating in the surgery who is out of network.
Please do your research on WLIA and Lap-band in general. There is a ton of information out there about how it is the worst weight loss procedure and has a very very high failure rate. My moms Dr doesn't even offer it any more.
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