Re: Re:Dr. A; Saying NO; CAROLINE

[Guest guest]

Dear Gobo:

No, just the same answer... Angie said she would

find out *why* but I am not holding my breath. I will

just accept this is a learning experience and know

better how to go about this with the next Dr. I am

dealing with Dr. Maguire's office now and they seem

very nice. The head honcho, KIm, had surgery herself

last friday, so it will be awhile before I hear more I

suppose.

As far as Dr. A objecting to Medicare...... we

hadn't even gotten that far. She never asked me what

insurance I have.

They tell me at Dr. Maguire's that as long as you

have one comorbidity out of 3 that the feds require,

there is no problem.

I live in North Carolina, so one of the CA doctors

is about as far as the next... LOL

Swing a chicken or two for me this week.

Caroline

--- gobo yoemoe@...> wrote:

> Hi Caroline~

>

> Have you gotten a definitive answer from Dr. A's

> office as to 'why

> they turned you down'?

>

> You've got the same insurance as I do, so I realize

> that there is

> no problem with 'in network vs. out of network'.

> But, some

> bariatric surgeons will NOT accept Mediare at all!

> Dr. Rabkin in

> San Francisco will not, Dr. Heap in Richland, WA

> will not. Both of

> them will freely admit that " they do not want to

> subsidize the

> Federal Government " .

>

> It's possible that Dr. A is in that category. What I

> would do, is

> call them back and tell them that you MUST give your

> insurance

> company a reason as to why you will have to go

> further from

> home for the surgery. At that point I would not

> volunteer that your

> primary is Medicare because they'll know that

> staying in the

> network is not an issue. If by chance they recall

> that Medicare is

> your primary, you might say " Yes but my secondary

> insurance

> will need to know this information. "

>

> Try not to act 'tentative' (as though you're hoping

> they'll help you)

> but at the same time, don't be over-bearing either.

> Surgeon's

> offices always like to feel like they're in charge

> but they are more

> apt to respect your position if they think you know

> exactly what

> you're doing. I'm not explaining this very well but

> you just gotta do

> the 'dance' right and you should get what you want.

>

> By the way, there's another DS Surgeon in Delano

> [between

> Bakersfield and Fresno] who is very highly regarded.

> His name

> is Dr. Keshashian. I hope I spelled it correctly.

> Dr. Welker from

> Portland used to refer people to him all the time.

> He's got a great

> reputation and I am under the impression that he

> DOES do

> revisions.

>

> Good Luck and a BIG HUG.

> gobo

> DS pre-op

> BMI 56

>

> " Necessity is the mother of invention " — Wycherly:

> Love in a

> Wood, act iii. sc. 3 (1672)

>

>

>

>

>

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