Tobeornottobe

Peer to peer interivews can be very helpful.

Sending positive vibes.

I do have my date, December 9th. So I have a few weeks to get things straight. I'm a bit of a control freak :-).

When I received the call from the coordinator, she give me dates for my last 3 pre-op appointments, 2 with the surgeons and my last visit with the nurtitionist. I'm very happy not to feel rushed with everything.

My paperwork was submitted on Tuesday of last week. I got the approval on Friday.

That's excatly the way I thought. I actually called Cigna on Friday and they told me it was pending and to call back this week. So I put an appointment on my calendar for Thursday of this week. When I got home Friday evening, the coordinator called me to tell me the approval had been received.

It can happen, hang in there.

Awesome!! Good luck and let us know how things work out.

I have Cigna and I was approved in 2 days. I was actually prepared for a week or longer as the company line is 15 days.

Sending positive vibes your way.

I' m so upset. My surgery was scheduled for Nov.9 but I received a call this morning that it has to be cancelled. Per my doctor's office, my insurance company will not approve the surgery because the hospital is not a "Center of Excellence". My insurance is Blue Cross Blue Shield (Anthem).......Extremely frustrated. Anyone else had this problem?????

Anthem BCBS specifically states that the hospital must be a Blue Distinction Center of Excellence. You can log into your online account and check to see which hospitals in your area fall under this designation. You can also check to see which doctors are affiliated with those hospitals.

Hope this helps.

Good luck!

Good luck!

I thought my last visit was tomorrow, but am now devastated because my surgeons office is telling me I have to start over because I "skipped" October.

I went July 27, August 27, September 29, and have an appt for November 3. I could not go on Friday, October 30 which was the only business day that would have given me 30 days between visits but still have he last visit in October.

Any insight as to whether the surgeons office is correct and the 11/3 date is too late?? Thank you!

I have Cigna and the requirement is a 90 supervised nutrition program. It is 90 consecutive days or 3 consecutive months. You missed October so it's not consecutive. So sorry this happened to you.

Personally, I CMA by doing 4 months, July, August, September and October to ensure there were no surprises.

HTH

Another alternative is to buy your insurance via healthcare.gov and chose a plan that covers bariatric surgery.

Plant fusion, Vega (in a pinch), Naturade.

For yoga I like Hemalaya and Sara Ivanhoe. Also check out Travis Eliot (Yoga Foundations). There is such a huge workout of videos for fitness out there, Kathy Smith, Leslie Sansone. Ellen Barrett, Sadie Lincoln. Besides yoga, what are your interests?

There are also a ton of streaming sites and a lot can be found on youtube as well.

Squats help.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/333923-can-squats-help-reduce-cellulite/

I have a dilemma, my husband and I both have medical through our jobs. He has Cigna and I have Anthem. I talked to the folks at Cigna who told me about the 3 month nutrition requirement. Mind you, I've already started the nutrition classes as we were under UHC previously, there was a 6 month requirement.

I called Anthem 2 weeks ago and I was told there was no requirement for nutrition classes and once Anthem kicked in (Oct. 1st), it would be a go. Today I received a call from the doctor's office and they told me the info Anthem gave me and the policy they sent me was out of date and there is a 6 month requirement for nutrition classes. The bariatric coordinator suggested I drop Anthem and go with Cigna.

There isn't a need for us to have both health insurance companies. As a matter of fact, my husband has been the one carrying health insurance for years since most of the places I worked didn't offer it or it was too expensive. I'm not sure why I feel like I'd be cheating by getting rid of my health insurance. I'm feeling some kinda way about the whole thing.

What would you do?

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I am not ashamed of it but it's still so new that it's still a lot even for me to grasp. The coworker who knew had to know because of our job. To be honest, she could technically be fired (& actually it's against the law) because we work in healthcare where I had my surgery (thus why she knew) so it's a HIPAA violation. I knew people would find out eventually but I feel it should be my place to tell. I think though the part that got me was how she answered it as "she had surgery" inferring the "easy way" - which we all know it is far from. I will say though, I did use it as a teaching moment for the gal who got told. She is also overweight so had lots of questions. I already talked with the 'teller' and asked she zip it.... but she is now mad at me for "being a baby". Ugh. I give up...

Thanks though to all who felt my pain!

You have every right to be angry. You did not directly share this information with her, she read your file. I also work in healthcare and this is in direct violation of HIPAA law. Every patient file contains personal identifying information and is not to be shared. I personally would take a different tact and report her actions.