Rox

This is good, now you have less time to worry and obsess!

Shame! SHAME! The cottage cheese society of America does not condone cheating! Especially if it were in an Olympic cottage cheese weaving leg race.

Yeah, I thought to myself i didn't care what people thought until I told one particular person at work and boy did I get it for the next 15 minutes on how people that get this surgery stretch their stomachs back out and how so and so did it and didn't do to good. It was so funny though because once she finished all that rambling she told me how she had just recently lost all her weight again doing weight watchers and she was really sticking to it this time because it works when you stick to it. She never made the connect that both methods are the same. It has to be a lifestyle either way.
I decided then that i didn't want to hear anyone else's opinion. Even though their opinion doesn't play a part in my life, I don't want to hear it in the first place.

I have in the past felt like a human guinea pig!
I've been on so many! I suffer from major depression. My life is good I have everything I could want but that doesn't stop my depression.
It's funny because after everything I've been in all these years I ended up just going back to Prozac.
It was the only one that kinda worked and the side affects where livable compared to some of the really bad ones I had with others.
I answered your post because I have a bad habit of stopping my meds (I don't know why)
But things seem to be going good and I slowly start forgetting and then quit. Well thus last year I really worked on keeping them up. And have been doing good. I had surgery in November and have been losing OK... 64 pounds with 36 To go.
I started about a month or so ago skipping my pills forgetting them then just stopping.
I have slowly so slowly that I didn't really notice been slipping back into a state of depression
I came clean just today with my husband about the meds so here I go again starting them back up. It's what I have to do. And yes I have up until recently been "happy" and motivated with my loss.

I pay $1200 a month for insurance that states right up front - we will not cover bariatric surgery - or any non-surgical weight loss -don't ask
I wish I had insurance that would pay for this - I will pay for my own psych opinion with my psychologist - I have arranged for my PCP to handle any complications after I get home. I may not have to go thru 6 mos. of PCP supervised weight loss, I also don't get to have this surgery in a hospital where I live. Life is not fair - I really get it.

I suggest you seek a Mental Health counselor and start looking for the reason for your depression. You may need some thing to get you motivated.....

mayo with olive oil is barfy!

Sam, please calm down. There's really no need to be so defensive and as it's painfully obvious you have no idea what I have my mind set on, please don't try to put words in my mouth. Read what I actually wrote and don't apply any internal 'Sam filter' to it. Thanks.
I never said that my insurance company didn't pay out for my surgery as you claim. They most certainly did. That has never been in dispute. The issue you seem to be having difficulty with is why they did so. They didn't pay because they wanted to help me, they did so because they were contractually obligated to by the agreement my employer negotiated with them.
Insurance companies are not benevolent organizations. They don't exist to help us, they exist to generate dividends for their corporate officers and shareholders. If they can deny a claim and not violate agreements with their policyholders, they will do so without hesitation or remorse. It's entirely in their best interests to do so as a corporation to bolster their bottom line.
If you want to believe that they are some wonderful institution that's out there to help people, that's entirely your right, just don't get upset when others disagree. Not everyone who disagrees with you is "stupid" or "uneducated" as you so eloquently stated earlier in the thread.
Now, I think I'm off to have some lunch. Perhaps a nice BLT will hit the spot.

Three times the insurance approved three separate operations, 2 wls for me and wife and a gall bladder removal for me. All three times they reneged on paying for the anesthetic, over $3,000 each. As if they wanted us to get cut open biting on a stick. We called and called and called and finally got someone who wasn't a screwball and got them paid.

Insurance companies are crazy! When I had my upper GI I got billed twice for the anesthesia for the same procedure. I didn't understand because I only had one person doing the anesthesia during the procedure. I called the ins co and they said that my employers contract with the insurance co allowed for them to bill twice if a CRNA (nurse anesthetist) did the procedure. They billed $1200 for the MD that was in the building "in case the CRNA had any problems" and $1160 for the CRNA. I was so angry I refused to pay my 20% copay for the MD... insurance companies are really ridiculous sometimes!

You really don't get it, do you? The insurance company didn't take care of me, MY EMPLOYER took care of me when they negotiated our plan coverage.

I didn't get fat from air popped!

Lmao!
Really I'm sad that this thread has hurt people so much! I really don't think the person that started it intended to hurt, but was more trying to vent her frustrations. Big, little-big, super-big, mega-big... no matter what your size I think we can all agree this is an emotionally frustrating ordeal. And don't even get me started on insurance companies, I'm a nurse and they are an enigma to me! ~Madeline

Does it have extra butter???

popcorn anyone??

I had a bmi of 49 but no comorbities. I went for my required 3 months of nutritional counseling and weigh ins that turned into 6 months and then 9 months. I finally had to hire a healthcare advocate and a threat to sue after being denied twice before the denial was reversed. The time I spent fighting was 18 months and I worked for a major insurance/financial company. Hang in there it will be worth the wait once you are sleeved.
Sent from my iPad using VST

I think it's highly likely that you don't understand what the word hypocritical means, because there is nothing even remotely hypocritical about what I said.
The fact that my employer negotiated a policy for their employees that provides WLS approval without requiring them to jump through hoops in no way detracts from the fact that the insurance companies exist solely to make a profit and care more about that than the people they cover.

She meant in general. Insurance companies are a money making business.. Simple as that. If they didn't make money off of our premiums they would go out of business. They routinely reject claims in hope you give up. It's just a job.

I pay $700 a month in premiums and so does our employer torwards our insurance coverage. No way in heck they don't make money. They didnt cover any of my weight loss surgeries or the $100,000 I racked up in complications. Even though I was dying from complications they refused to agree with the surgeons that it was an emergency medical necessity. my husband maybe sees a dr every few years. Trust me.. They're making money on most everyone or they wouldn't continue the business.

Wow!! you've lost 71 pounds - that is a huge accomplishment, don't forget that. I can only hope that I can do that.

1. It's the policy, determined by the employer, that dictates what insurance companies can and cannot provide.
2. It IS weight loss surgery, so yes, "exactlly how fat you are" should play a role
3. Insurance companies are all about lowering costs of health care, and they know statistically what is likely to increase claims. High BMIs fall in that category, and hospitals can even bill a higher dollar amount for the care of people with a BMI over 40 in Michigan, regardless of the reason for the visit. A known history of obesity with a BMI over 50 is statistically likelly to increase their claims.
4. I interpret your statement to be condescending and rude toward people who are heavier than you because they "...ate themselves up to a BMI of 50". We all contributed to our obesity, so please don't throw stones from your glass house. I understand you don't want to wait, so I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt in that you probably didn't mean to offend anyone.

I find this thread somewhat insulting. I weigh 375 was 422. My BMI is 64 and I have been working towards getting this surgery for over 2 years. I didn't get a fast date because I am fatter than most or my BMI is way high. I had to go through the motions. You must do the same regardless of your Size/BMI. There are certain things required because they don't want Suzie 29 lbs. overweight to go put herself through a surgery when she could diet for 6 mos and lose it herself.