insurance approval

I have a bluecross blue shield PPO. I started in December, had a few snags with tests that showed some oddities and required further testing, but was banded in July.... good luck. I actually was able to just call my insurance company with a form that I was given from the doctor's office. It had the diagnosis codes for obesity and the procedure codes for the lapband surgery and for fills needed later. I was able to ask them, "with this diagnosis, is this a covered procedure?". If the answer is yes, then it is a matter of getting all of the appointments your doctor (and hence the insurance) will require out of the way. It is tedious, but can be done.