MrsB2007

Mclorrie you said you started the 6 month diet in Jan and this next month you're done??? That would only be 5 months. Does your insurance require 1 visit per 30 days or something different?

I started diet in July. I first met with the surgeon in Aug. My diet and all requirements were met in Dec. Ins approved me in Jan, but I found out the surgeon is no longer working at the hospital. After finding a new surgeon and getting everything resubmitted to ins my surgery will be done next Monday.

Nope. Not at all. Super frustrating too. But a dr had put me on depo then I ended up having a hysterectomy. . So I couldn't exercise as much for awhile either. my dr made sure to document it all and I believe that's what saved me

Many are okay as long as you don't gain. If you do for medical reasons just make sure the doctor supervising the diet notes it. I gained about 6 lbs due to medical issues / medicine and I was approved.

Depends on your insurance. Many require 6 month supervised diet, psych eval, nutritionist visits, sleep study, cardio clearance or other testing / classes. The 6 months really do go by fast though.

In az here, but going to st Josephs in phx with Dr potter. And doing surgery in 2 weeks

So I have been approved since Jan 2015, but the surgeon stopped doing surgeries. Nice! Not!!!! I decided to go elsewhere to get surgery done. New place wanted cardiology clearance so I did all of that. Then I found out today I was re approved for the new drs office. Wooohoo After about 13+ months going back n forth about this it's finally happening. April 13th!!!! They said if someone cancels before then I could get moved up too. Phew... road to skinnier healthier me.. here I finally come!!!!

Usually the ins requires your weight to be checked, BMI etc each month. Not sure how it would happen online vs in person. Many times they need to see caloric intake, food journals, exercise etc. I would do a pcp if possible.. if they're okay with weight watchers make sure to ask the ins co what is specifically needed to be documented by weight watchers to qualify as medical supervised weight loss

Mine took 3 or 4 days.. but I read many people's post on here saying theirs took up to 30 days

Some could take 14 business days or even up to 30 days. I would call none the less. My dr kept saying they hadn't heard back but I called ins and found out it had been approved for like 2 weeks

Call your ins Co and ask before you start everything. Some reps will be nice enough to tell you the requirements for approval. With that BMI you probably wouldn't need comorbidities. You may need a referral to a Bariatric surgeon, letter of medical necessity etc.

I read on here that somebody had surgery by my surgeon just recently. . No biggie right? Wrong. I have been waiting for about 2.5 months for a surgery date after my approval. The office told me that he had to wait to coordinate with the new hospital. it was going on for too long so I looked into a different office.. I find out tonight this lady got approved about a month after me and just got surgery yet I'm being told he's not doing them yet...? So mad! Guess it's a sign, huh? I'm going to call Monday and ask them what's going on. This is ridiculous!

No.. I was already done with everything and was approved early Jan. The dr said they were doing zero surgeries and had people waiting since Nov. I actually went back and read other posts by this lady and found she did the same thing as me...changed surgeons. She ended up not going to the surgeon after all probably for the same reason I just changed too.

Thought it was about time for an update! Long rant...Heads up! Completed ins requirements Dec 2014 & approved by ins the first week of January. Wooo hoooo! NOT! Surgeon changed hospitals so he is currently doing ZERO surgeries. My luck, right?! I waited and waited.. Now, 2.5 months after approval still no surgery. I went to another surgeon. Their office submitted all of my documents again under their name. Insurance cannot just change their info over to another DR.. They have to open an entirely new case. Its okay.. The first go around only took approx 3-4 days to get approved- cross your fingers that its the same this time too! In the mean time, I got started on buying Protein drinks. I tried some powder stuff. GROSS! I am sooooooo bad with textures of foods / drinks. I tried mixing it with greek yogurt. Nope. Gross. Tried super cold Water. Nope. Tastes like old milk-literally. Thats a sure way for me to lose weight though-- I will throw that crap up with a quickness. I did find Isopure through GNC. At our local store it was $5.50 per 20oz bottle (zero carbs, 40G protein) OR $40 a 12 pack. There are a few different flavors to choose from too. I poured half of the bottle into a water bottle and mixed it up. To me it tasted like kool-aid without sugar & super watered down. I can actually stomach it. I suggest trying a single bottle if you are afraid of spending $$ and not liking the product. I wasted $$ on powered stuff and I'm glad I found this Isopure stuff! Oh! I have also read a few posts lately about commodities (or lack of) and weight gain during supervised diet. Let me give you my advice as I should have listened to other people when they were telling me the same thing.. Every insurance is different. Call and speak to a rep from the insurance company. I found that sometimes they are very vague with requirements though. But your DR knows what will and will not work to get you approved (typically). My insurance normally denies people if they gain so much as 1/2 lb. HOWEVER, per somebody here's suggestion, I found a loop-hole. If your Dr documents a reason for a small gain you should be okay. For instance, I could not exercise at a normal rate for awhile due to my foot pain. Then my GYNO put me on the Depo Shot for my endometriosis. Gained weight then too. Documented. Then I had a hysterectomy and was out of commission for exercising all together. Documented. I gained 6lbs roughly during the 6 month period. Still approved.. But like I said I made sure the DR noted it all on the surgery paperwork. As far as commodities go... Some insurance companies have OTHER comorbs aside from sleep apnea, high bp, diabetes, high collest, etc. I fact, there could be as many as 30+ that could qualify you. I dont have ANY of those typical commodities. I was just pre-diabetic with a few other medical probs but not the typical that qualify for surgery. I only just recently ( after 1st ins approval ) was diagnosed with having edema. Aside from that, I am perfectly healthy for being so over weight. When I spoke to my ins company I specifically asked if those typical conditions were the ONLY ones they accepted and they said yes.. However, I did have those and still got approved. Anyway.................. Hope this has helped some of you!

Such crap! I just found out that another lady on here had surgery from the doctor just recently. as of last week they were still telling me they weren't doing surgeries at all yet because they are transferring to a new hospital. good thing I'm not going to them after all I guess it shows their characters

Anyone actually have surgery by Dr sprunger recently? ? I was told he wasn't doing any surgeries yet as he's not authorized to do them out of at Luke's yet

Talk to a surgeon. . They know the requirements. I don't have this ins but my ins Co played the same games. My Dr's office gave me a complete list of the requirements.

isopure!!!! I cannot stomach the powder. Nope. Not happening! Isopure has a variety of flavors. I mix half of a 20oz bottle into my Water bottle. Not GREAT tasting but definitely goes down super easy. For me, it tasted like watered down kool-aid without sugar. No long lasting after taste either. They are 40g Protein and zero carbs. At GNC it was $5.50 per 20oz bottle or $40 for a case of 12. I love it because you can actually try one without spending a ton of $$ up front plus there is a variety of flavor choices.

Initially I wasnt going to tell ANYONE. Gossiping jerks would have assumed I was on drugs if I didnt tell some of them what was going on. I chose to tell my sister in law (husbands sister) and my other sister in law (brothers wife), a couple of aunts, one female cousin, my mom and of course my BFF & husband. They are all so excised and super supportive. They are anxiously awaiting the big day. Now, there are a few family members that I have talked to about just weight loss in general. They have given that attitude that "just eat less, exercise more the weight will come off." or "I ate better / less and I lost tons of weight. You can too at your young age." I sometimes wonder if people truly think that we havent tried before..yanno? Like I just woke up fat and said hey, I will just go have surgery! Id rather not exercise or eat right. Screw that! I have done the "eat right and exercise" thing since at least 2009. Many people have done this yo-yo crap for 20+ years! At the end of the day you just have to say this was my choice for MY health..Not yours. If you cannot support it thats your choice. If you dont have something nice to say to me let's just not talk about it-period. No snide remarks. No nit-picking at you.. Just go on about your lives as if the surgery never happened. Kind of crappy to have to do that but its much better than the constant fear of losing more self-esteem over THEIR approval of who you are.

I was completely done with my surgery requirements Dec 23rd 2014.. I got my approval early January. I found out that the surgeons office was changing hospitals & they would be scheduling surgeries within a week or two. Each week I have called to get updates just to be told the same thing..hopefully this next week or so! ::facepalm:: Now, going on 2 months later we still do not have a surgery date! They arent scheduling anyone yet! Last they told me there was 35-40 people a head of me on their list too. So, even if they start scheduling in the next few weeks it will still be a few more months out before they get to me! Frustrating! What I decided to do is go see another surgeon. This office told me they have had several people from my other surgeons office calling to schedule with them instead. What I need to do: 1- get all of my records from surgeon #1's office & get it to the new surgeon 2- get an authorization from ins to meet with new surgeon 3- meet with new surgeon & go over medical history 4. the next day they will submit to insurance for a new approval They said they schedule about a week or two out from the approval date. Its still a few week wait but at least I know I wil get in for surgery vs this waiting game.. okay rant over. ha!

dont know why this posted so many times. sorry everyone!

I was completely done with my surgery requirements Dec 23rd 2014.. I got my approval early January. I found out that the surgeons office was changing hospitals & they would be scheduling surgeries within a week or two. Each week I have called to get updates just to be told the same thing..hopefully this next week or so! ::facepalm:: Now, going on 2 months later we still do not have a surgery date! They arent scheduling anyone yet! Last they told me there was 35-40 people a head of me on their list too. So, even if they start scheduling in the next few weeks it will still be a few more months out before they get to me! Frustrating! What I decided to do is go see another surgeon. This office told me they have had several people from my other surgeons office calling to schedule with them instead. What I need to do: 1- get all of my records from surgeon #1's office & get it to the new surgeon 2- get an authorization from ins to meet with new surgeon 3- meet with new surgeon & go over medical history 4. the next day they will submit to insurance for a new approval They said they schedule about a week or two out from the approval date. Its still a few week wait but at least I know I wil get in for surgery vs this waiting game.. okay rant over. ha!

So....I went through all of the hoops and got a quick approval from insurance. Then we had to wait for about a week to actually get a paper approval in the mail (which they decided they no longer send out- just provide an approval number over the phone).. No biggie. Lets schedule a date! Not so fast. The surgeons office called me to tell me they received the approval info, but they are in transition between hospitals that they do the surgerys from. WHAT?! Yes, they are doing surgeries from a different hospital and are in the works with coordinating how many days per week they are doing surgeries and how many per day. Then they are scheduling surgeries on a first approved basis (sounds fair). They have people from November & December who have not had surgeries yet (about 35-40 people). Assuming they do 6 surgeries per week at this hospital (at most), That would put me at the end of Februrary or beginning of March instead of about a week after approval was receieved. I've waited this long... another month or so wont hurt, right? Well, as of March 1st I may not have insurance any longer. Awesome. ::Facepalm:: So, I decided to think of alternatitves. What if I chose a different surgeon at a different hospital? They would have to resubmit everything to insurance (which would take 2 weeks to approve-if at all) and then the preop diet etc.. I would still be looking at the same surgery dates.

Yeah.. I called and they said everything would have to be resubmitted. By the time that gets done it will be the same approx surgery date.

I am hoping the end of next week or beginning of the following. Insurance has to fax approval over and ill do 1 week preop diet