Robotic Surgery

Has anyone had the RC with neo blader done. I was supose to have it done on the 21 of Aug. . But my insurance will not pay. They say they concider it experamental so I would have had to pay for it up front. So I had to wait to appeal there disition. Don

Hi,

My husband had an RC on January 6, 2006 and received a neobladder. He had his surgery at Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis. It was covered by our insurance. I hope you win your appeal and can have your surgery covered. If you have any other questions, please ask.

Also, my husbands surgery was conducted by Dr. Michael Koch. I noticed the title of your message is "robotic surgery" and did not know if that had anything to do with insurance paying or not.

Good luck,

Stephanie

Yes it is becouse they concider it experamental. They will not pay. The cost is $31,000.00 and that is the discount, conventional surgery is about $25,000.00 So we are appealling so I had a turb done fryday to see what the stage it was aa t1 and my uro said he thought it was T2 so I have anther uro did this last test. Don

Hi,

My dad had this sugery performed at the Univ. of Chicago about one year ago. Ironically he had a robot take out his bladder and the doctor performed the neo-bladder. this is not at all experimental so dont buy this crap. the robot was and dads was still paid for but the neo-bladder has been done for many years. Even the cardinal was going to have this sugery if it was possible.

Thanks for that info, could I get the name of the insurance to put with my appeal papers. I do not need names but maybe just the Docter that did the surgery for his opinion.Maybe he has away to get this approved. May i ask waht was the recovery time. My URO for robotics says about 2 week to supervice my job sites and 4 weeks for 90 percent recovery and I would only were acathiter for 10 days. 5 days in hospital and no blood tranfution. How does all this sound to you. Tahnks for your help. I ned all I can get. Don

I think that we have Humana but I know that Blue Cross also pays for this sugery as well. Our Dr. is Dr. Gary Steinberg at the U of C but Im not sure he will help without using him as your doctor. The recovery times your Dr. quoted seem reasonable without complications. Unfortunately in my dads case he got all of the complications mentioned. He had a blood clot,abscess and did need a transfusion. Are they doing the sugery with a robot? Are they taking the prostate as well. I hope so because dad ended up having prostate cancer and they didnt know it. Our dr. always takes out both at the same time. The cardinal in Chicago also has some complications so it is a possibitlty while remote. I think the rate is 25% for one complications and much less 10% for two. Our doctor is one of the leading guys in the country who perform this sugery. I think dad took three months to recover but nine months to get back to fully functional due to his complications and needing to fix a ureter stricture. Dad would say while its not easy its life and well worth it. I dont know what stage you are in but grade 3 is agressive and many wait too long. While sugery isnt a guarentee of no recorrences it does have a 90% ten year survival for grade 3 stage one tumors.

While im not a doctor im not sure i would advise to use the robot. our doctor im not sure is evening doing it on bladders anymore becuase i think with great hands and knowlege he had better outcomes than with the robot. FYI

Thankyou this is a great help I have humana one and if you could confirm this it would a great help to me, I hate to battle cancer and to battle the insurance. I really want it done this way I know this may seem stranch to some, but I know a man that had it done 3 years ago by Dr Mennon at henry ford with great results. But I do appreciate your concerns. This is done by 2 sergens, one does the prostae and bladder removal and the other one buids the neo thru a2 inch insitionn then it is put back together roboticly, so it is a combination of the two typs. By the way becouse segery was postponed I had aTURB and I am still a T-1 No muscle invasion but into the lamina peora. I have been offerd chemo and radiation I will not do this, also More Bcg with interferon, If I can get the suregry approved I will do this. By the way this inteferon is very expensive I pay 25 percent witch is $1,250.00 the insurance pays the other 75 percent, Isnt that wild they will pay that 5000 but wont pay for removal. They are stepin over dollors to pick pennys. So if you can confirm they payed for the surgery I know it would win this cure for me. Then I would skip the BCG/ interferon. It might save my life. Not to say I still might do it the reguler way someday but I would try the Bcg/ interferon first. Plus I will always take my tea and natural cures. Thansk again I am hoping to hear back from you soon. Don email me if you want --- Message edited by CancerCompass staff: for personal protection, email address removed. Please review CancerCompass Member Guidelines at http://www.cancercompass.com/common/guidelines.html ----

I know that humana paid but i dont know if they billed it as a robot becasue they used a robot but the surgeon did the re-bulid himself by his hands. dads bladder was removed by the robot along with the prostate. THe prostate are almost exclusively done by robots now at all major institutions. I would have your doctor call humana and talk with them. I cant believe they wont pay.

Thanks for the info I will be on it Monday to see what is up with this. Hope your Dad continues to do well. Don