Tiffany,
I ditto everything Gene posted and add something.
Most major insurance carriers will cover the off label ADR procedure known as a "hybrid"; which in your case would be a fusion at L5/S1 and a ProDisc-L at L4/5. That is possibly your only hope for insurance coverage with ADR in the US. If that's what I'd do, Dr Zigler at TBI in Plano, TX is the only one I'd let do it.
Before going with your surgeon's recommendation, I would encourage you to spend a few dozen hours (no I'm not exaggerating) researching your various options, the outcomes others have had with each of those options; the procedure involved, the implant(s) involved, the surgeon, etc... Not just on this site, but every site that you can find. There are no mulligans in lumbar spine surgery and bad outcomes tend to be tragically bad. You have to get it right the first time.
While we've seen glowing reports of numerous US surgeons on this site, I don't recall that any of them were in Florida. Anyone?
BTW: In my non-medical opinion, Jack Zigler does meet your description of "amazing" for ADR surgery.
Good luck, Jeff
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C4/5 - ACDF in 2000
C5/6 - ACDF in 2002
C3/4 & C6/7 - M6 ADR, Nov 2009, Barcelona
Conceded defeat to a manifestly disingenuous BCBS-TX in my quest for reimbursement, Jan 2011
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