By ABC-7 Reporter/Anchor Veronique Masterson
EL PASO -- We introduced you to Gina Madison, a single mother who lost 120 pounds after undergoing bariatric surgery, but was faced with the high cost of reconstructive surgery, which wasn't covered by her insurance.
Gina feels it's wrong for insurance companies to not cover the plastic surgery needed after the weight loss, and wants to change that.
But mostly wants to make sure patients who undergo bariatric surgery understand what they're getting into.
In part two of this special report we follow Gina as she goes under the knife. "I'm scared but I'm as ready as I'm going to get."
Scared and elated, Gina walks into Mountain View Surgery Center for a second life-changing surgery.
She explains,"I was taking a shower and I was just looking at my body and I was thinking this is going to be the last time I see it this way. And it's beyond exciting!"
With the help from nurses, an anesthesiologist and Las Cruces plastic surgeon Doctor Scot Martin, in a few hours Gina will have had a breast lift and augmentation, and a tummy tuck.
First Dr. Martin maps out his surgery. "What we're trying to do is get the marks straight so that when she lays down, we have our land marks. That helps us with the surgery, tremendously," he says.
Then off to the operating room, with Gina giving us a thumbs up!
Carefully monitoring Gina, the surgical team gets to work. First the breast lift and augmentation. Then the tummy tuck.
It's been 4 years since Gina cut her weight in nearly half through bariatric surgery, but her weight loss battle is still not complete.
Most insurance companies cover the weight loss surgery but the surgery to remove the leftover hanging skin is not usually covered by insurance companies unless the excess skin becomes a health threat, for example, if it develops an infection.
"So you have a lot of patients that are stuck between a rock and a hard place on that particular issue, so as this procedure becomes more common, and it will become more common. You're going to have more and more patients that are going to be in this situation and as a society, we need to figure that out," explains Dr. Martin.
A crusade Gina Madison plans to continue. "You have to ask, you have to push the issue and somebody has to be the first person to do it and I'm happy to be that first person.
I'm happy to speak about my experience; I'm happy to do whatever it is that needs to be done in order for other people that are in my situation to be able to benefit and live normal lives after this major life changing surgery. Because it's unfair! It really is unfair that the insurance, they take you half way and then they drop you."
It's been 3 months after Gina's reconstructive surgery and this mom says she feels like a completely different person. "My body has never looked like this my entire life. I've never been able to buy a pair of jeans and have them just fit without altering them or changing them in some way so that they conform to my body."
But her struggle to get insurance companies to cover the plastic surgery after the weight loss continues and says she's talking to legislators in Santa Fe.
Most of all, Gina wants people to never forget, "Where there's a will there's a way. There really is and you don't have to be unhappy, you only have one life, so you should cherish every moment and try to make the best of every single day."
ABC-7 spoke with representatives from three major insurance companies: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, Aetna and Cigna.
All said in order for their company to cover the skin removal surgery, the patient has to show it is medically, not cosmetically needed.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has no official stance on the matter, but they do offer information on what you need to ask if you're looking for a plastic surgeon. They have a podcast on body contouring at:
http://www.plasticsurgery.org/Patients_and_Consumers/Today_in_Plastic_Surgery_Podcast/Body_Contouring_After_Major_Weight_Loss.html
Here's how to contact Gina and join her fight: luiginamadison@yahoo.com
