Can somebody help me with a question? (Orthognathic Surgery)

[Guest guest]

Without cutting off an arm and leg to sell to science, how can I pay

for Orthognathic Surgery? I am a nineteen year old college student

without the time to raise the amount it costs and my fathers insurance

(GEHA) won't cover " cosmetic surgery " . I can't bite through damn pickle

for crying out loud. Cosmetic? I wonder if they have any idea of the

money they are going to have to fork out to my psychiatrist because of

damage cause from growing up with this deformity of my jaws, and as I

grew up, the problem and pains only grew. Sorry to be long winded. Any

help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Guest guest]

Dear poopoopants,

Interesting choice for your yahoo ID.

If you have trouble biting into foods, your problem is likely not

cosmetic. First steps should be consulting an ortho and oral surgeon.

They are the ones who should be able to recommend a course of action

for you in terms of treatment. Surgeons' offices are often able to

help with insurance submissions as well.

There is a link on oss 2 at

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/orthognathicsurgerysite2 - I'm

not sure which links folder it's in, but it talks about financing

options for surgery.

Good luck,

> Without cutting off an arm and leg to sell to science, how can I pay

> for Orthognathic Surgery? I am a nineteen year old college student

> without the time to raise the amount it costs and my fathers

insurance

> (GEHA) won't cover " cosmetic surgery " . I can't bite through damn

pickle

> for crying out loud. Cosmetic? I wonder if they have any idea of the

> money they are going to have to fork out to my psychiatrist because

of

> damage cause from growing up with this deformity of my jaws, and as

I

> grew up, the problem and pains only grew. Sorry to be long winded.

Any

> help would be greatly appreciated.

> Thanks

[Guest guest]

Hi Jpoopoopnats21,

BTW, love your screen name! lol One thing you can do for yourself,

is to realize that for most of us here, orthognathic surgery is NOT

cosmetic surgery. Especially if you have real functional problems.

My insurance does not cover cosmetic surgery either, but it is paying

for my OS surgery. It is paying because it is a skeletal deformity

that is causing functional problems that meet recognized guidelines.

If your Dads insurance does not EXCLUDE orthognathic surgery, then you

have hope that your insurance will pay for it.

The best thing to do is to go to your dentist and ask for some OD

referrals. The OD office will be able to help you in a consult to

tell you if your situation is likely a coverable one, and what the

usual reaction your insurance has to covering qualified claims. You

should know that several people here are qualified, and eventually get

coverage if their plan does not exclude it, but it can be like pulling

teeth (sorry for that analogy) to get them to agree to it. But it can

be done. There have been some great posts about that in the last few

days in fact. Look over some of the past few days posts, and you will

find some information that might help you. I think Mark had a great

post about it yesterday in fact.

If you get to the OS office, you will really find an advocate. It is

the OS who writes the appropriate letter with the qualifiying info for

coverage. They will really assist you.

But do not dispair!! If your Dads plan does not exclude orthognathic

surgery, then you still have some room to work this through that

avenue. And even if your insurance does exclude it, others here have

found ways of financing or saving to have it done. There is hope, and

the board can help you with suggestions to get you going.

I am sending you good wishes about this. Welcome to the board.

Hugs,

Fran

> Without cutting off an arm and leg to sell to science, how can I pay

> for Orthognathic Surgery? I am a nineteen year old college student

> without the time to raise the amount it costs and my fathers

insurance

> (GEHA) won't cover " cosmetic surgery " . I can't bite through damn

pickle

> for crying out loud. Cosmetic? I wonder if they have any idea of the

> money they are going to have to fork out to my psychiatrist because

of

> damage cause from growing up with this deformity of my jaws, and as

I

> grew up, the problem and pains only grew. Sorry to be long winded.

Any

> help would be greatly appreciated.

> Thanks

[Guest guest]

Didn't realize there was a support group #2? Haven't checked it out

but why the need?

> > Without cutting off an arm and leg to sell to science, how can I

pay

> > for Orthognathic Surgery? I am a nineteen year old college

student

> > without the time to raise the amount it costs and my fathers

> insurance

> > (GEHA) won't cover " cosmetic surgery " . I can't bite through damn

> pickle

> > for crying out loud. Cosmetic? I wonder if they have any idea of

the

> > money they are going to have to fork out to my psychiatrist

because

> of

> > damage cause from growing up with this deformity of my jaws, and

as

> I

> > grew up, the problem and pains only grew. Sorry to be long

winded.

> Any

> > help would be greatly appreciated.

> > Thanks

>

[Guest guest]

Hi belgoboy,

Why the need? Primarily because the owner of this group is an absentee

owner, and this site has suffered for it. Lots of spam, photos

inaccessible for lengthy periods of time, inappropriate links, etc.

Even though the owner agreed to allow a moderator (Ray), he doesn't

have enough power to properly maintain the site.

In addition, when yahoo converted boards to groups, this site (OSS1)

lost all of its early posts.

The main reason I started OSS2 was in order to provide more space for

members' photos, but also to provide a site where the owner was still

very active in moderating the group, and to provide the best possible

resource for the orthognathic surgery patient community. I've also set

up many good links, well organized in folders to make them easier to

navigate for personal research.

OSS2 is a smaller group, which is less intimidating for some people.

It's also less likely that a post will go unnoticed, which happens

often here.

There are actually a number of orthognathic support sites on the

internet, each with their own qualities.

There are lots of member photos on OSS2 (you'll have to join to view

them). The site is at

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/orthognathicsurgerysite2

You might also find the geocities site I set up helpful at

http://www.geocities.com/orthognathicinfo There are many old deleted

posts from this site preserved there.

Hope that helps,

>

> Didn't realize there was a support group #2? Haven't checked it out

> but why the need?