Boyfriends RNY

Hi all!   I am not a newbie but I feel like it today because it's been over two years since I was on here at length.  Anyway, about a year out from MY surgery I met an amazing man who I've been dating for over a year now.  Now he is going to have RNY as well and I'm so excited for him being that he is a diabetic.  His insurance will pay 90% and I'm wondering what the rough estimates would be on what he'll need to pay for it.  Also, he has Highmark BCBS in western PA- anyone else out there with this insurance and where would you recommend going considering UPMC and Highmark aren't "getting along"?  (We initially went to a seminar at Magee where I had mine done but they mentioned you could go through the entire process with them only to be told in 6 months the insurance won't cover it since they are UPMC.  

I'm excited to be back on the OH!  Any thoughts?

He's probably looking at about $2,000 out-of-pocket but have him check his insurer's website for a cost estimator.  Mine has one that takes all of your individual terms and conditions - like deductible - into account.

Thanks so much!  I'm going to have him call today.   

That is such a difficult thing to estimate.

My wife had RNY 3 months prior to me.  We both used the same insurance (my company's insurance plan), we both used the same hospital, we both used the same surgeon.  We were both in there the same number of days, we even coincidentally ended up in the exact same room for our stay.  The only real difference was her surgery was a Friday, so she was in on the weekend, mine was a Tuesday, so I was home by Thursday.

The surgeon bill was the same,   Insurance paid the same to the penny.

The hospital bill was about 10k higher for me, but they paid more than twice as much for my hospital stay as they did for my wife, they even paid more for me, than the bill was for her.  Total for me, the bill for the hospital was over 50k, and they paid like 45, my wife's bill was 40k, and they paid 21k.

So the only real way to know is find out what the typical charge for the hospital is and go from there.

I had mine done at West Penn. I have BCBS of Mass. and had no issues with anything, And honestly, I would recommend my surgeon and his staff to anyone. The great thing about Pittsburgh is that we have 2 stellar hospital groups. Now if only they could get along for their patients' sake. :(

Good luck! If you link to my page my doc is listed and just a head's up…I believe the head of surgery at WP came from Magee's bariatric program as well. :)