Las Vegas teachers can undergo weight loss surgery completely covered — as long as they keep the weight off.
Over 50 teachers in the Clark County School District, which includes Las Vegas, have gotten bariatric surgery through their health insurance plan, which will reimburse the $5,000 cost of the surgery if they can keep the weight off for five years, Fox 5 Vegas reported.
Educators facing health challenges due to morbid obesity can opt for the surgery, also known as lapband surgery. Each year they keep the weight off, they will receive $1,000 back from their insurer, Teachers Health Trust.
“This used to be tight on me. These are 48”. I used to wear 50” and now I’m down to a 36,” special education teacher and coach Dean Goldhammer said. Goldhammer had bariatric surgery 18 months ago and said it completely changed his life.
“Going from 319 pounds to today 205 pounds, and hopefully 175 pounds by next year… It’s the best thing I did in my life,” he said.
“I play pickleball. Tennis every single day, I go to the gym… Before, when I was heavy, I kind of like I hid out in my own house by myself.”
While Goldhammer is a lifelong tennis player, he started gaining weight after an ankle surgery.
“I’ve had a hip replacement because of my weight… they told me if I don’t lose weight, my knees were going to have to be replaced and my other hip,” he said.
Goldhammer knew he had to take action after receiving a grave warning from his doctor.
“My doctor, I think I had him on his last day of his career, he was 80 years old. He says, ‘You’re younger than I am by 20 years, but your insides are a lot older than me because of the weight you’re carrying. You’re not going to be here very long.’ And that’s when I said, ‘I got to do something,’” Goldhammer said.
Teachers Health Trust says the program, now in its second year, is unique to Clark County, but has already changed countless lives.
“I’ve received emails and phone calls from members saying, ‘Hey, it’s really impacted not just myself, but my family. I’m able to do activities with my kids and with my grandkids that I wasn’t able to do before the surgery,’” the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Rory Wright, said.
