I originally went through the process for the lap band in 2011 but the surgeon I was going to wouldn't do the surgery cause I didn't have any sucess with losing weight so I stopped and then my surgeon for the sleeve surgery, his office called me in November of 2012 and since i did everything to qualify me for the surgery in 2011 I was able to get it in January of 2013. So it was like a 3 year thing for me but it is inly suppose to take 6 months to get insurance to approve it