Puelette,
Thank you for your kind welcome. I have found the people here to be very welcoming and more than willing to help. Thank you for your offer to let me use parts of your letter!

Pat,
I have found that Medicare will pay for the surgery but the amount they are willing to reimburse is less than what the hospitals will accept, especially for the disc itself. This seems to be a big sticking point. Do you have any suggestions how to overcome or get around this? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!