Stephen: "My insurance company at that time would cover gastric bypass, but it was my choice to choose the gastric banding instead. My insurance company at that time would not cover it, so me and my wife both, we paid out-of-pocket for that. And in my case, we had a family member that came forward and helped me. But then, in my case... my wife's, we tapped into my IRA and paid for it that way. I looked at it that if we didn't do something, or I didn't do something, if she didn't do something, we're not going to be around to enjoy retirement in the first place... so. And we've been able. The money that we spent then, we've been able to save. So even, even if insurance is a problem, don't let that be the problem. Don't let that be the stopping point. Everybody can find a way, you know... you can find a way. You'd be surprised. I mean, if that's one of your stopping points, you'd probably be shocked how many family members that you have that would come forward and say, like in my case to, my father-in-law came forward and said, 'Look, I wanna help. I look at this not only for your health, but for my daughter's health, and for my grandchildren's,' you know, and that was in my case, but..."

Teresa: "Well, there was a process. I had to go back two years, and two years of documentation that I had a weight problem. It had to be documented and it had to show that I had been on several medications for the weight problem and that... I was not able to get anywhere with that. So that was part of the documentation. It wasn't a lengthy process. I pretty much had all the bases covered though because I went to each of my doctors and I got copies of all my charts. So I had it all prepared prior to going in because I knew what I needed..."

Steve: "And I again like you, I had to have the two years of documentation, but I had everything together and submitted at one time, as one unit. And so that first submission, everything was approved. So it wasn't a matter of having to go back again and again and again. So there was some criteria to be met. But proving that you had met that criteria... then it just sailed right on through."

Melva: "I had insurance coverage and I did try to get them to cover it, the gastric band. And I went through two-and-a-half years of appeals and denials. And I had all the documentation, and, you know, I met all the criteria that, for a gastric band, and I wasn't approved. And then it was right after my father passed away that I realized that I had to do something. And so that was the reason why we went ahead and just said, you know, 'It means us clearing out our savings just to pay for it.' It was something that had to be done. It wasn't a question of was it gonna happen, it was when it was gonna happen, because I knew I needed to do something, which meant me paying for it out-of-pocket. And I don't have any regrets about it at all."