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Table
of Contents - Sample Excerpts
Chapter
11: Getting Your Insurer to Pay for the LAP-BAND
At the time of this writing, the major problem with
the LAP-BAND procedure is that major insurers, HMOs,
and PPOs (we'll call them insurers in this chapter
for the sake of simplicity) refuse to approve this
operation, though they will pay for the much more
dangerous and expensive gastric bypass procedure.
The standard excuse that the insurers use to avoid
paying for the LAP-BAND is that it is experimental.
This ignores the experience of the rest of the
world that has mostly abandoned gastric bypass
in favor of the LAP-BAND. Many speculate that the
reason is that these insurers know that there will
be a huge flood of people they insure who need
the surgery, that are scared of gastric bypass
and avoid it, but would rush to have the LAP-BAND.
This would cost the insurers a high price. Then,
too, many insurers quote their corporate customers
higher rates if the LAP-BAND is covered, so corporate
policies often exclude coverage for LAP-BAND surgery.
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