Getting Ready For Surgery - Time Off Work and Paying Your Bills

Feb 27, 2014

I did my homework, read up on the surgery of choice, learned what I would be eating and not eating, what to expect and so on.  I was armed with preparation going into my WLS.  There have been a few things that I overlooked on the preparation that I want to share with others. This post is about the time off work and paying your bills.

TIME OFF WORK AND PAYING YOUR BILLS

You'll likely be off work for some period of time and during that time you likely will be on disability.  Alternately if your employer allows it you can use your vacation or sick time, but it may not cover the entire period you are off work.  If you are going on disability, be prepared to be the one to follow up with your disability agencies (both government and private) and your surgeons.  This is YOUR responsibility, not your surgeon's.  Your surgeon or physician will have to submit some kind of statement attesting to your inability to work and when you're expected to return to work.  They may charge you a fee for doing so and you may have to be persistent in following up with them.  I requested a copy of everything they filled out, and then I also sent a copy to the Disability folks so they could not claim they didn't receive it.

Your disability payments will be delayed pending the agency's review and acceptance of your claim; this means you won't be receiving an income on the same schedule as you do your normal paycheck.  The result is that your ability to pay your bills on time might be affected!  This will add stress to your life, especially if you are 'blind-sided' by it.

In my case, it looks likely that the supplemental disability insurance disagrees with my surgeon as to my ability to work and I'll be missing out on about $1000 from them.  Be prepared for that possibility!  Private disability companies will review your doctor's statement and decide if they agree that you cannot work.  And it is in their interest to disagree of course.

I had saved up money to pay for my health insurance deductible and co-pays, but I hadn't thought about the fact that I might need to 'supplement' my own disability income!  I'm fortunate in that it will end up ok, but it definitely wasn't something I had consciously planned for.

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