porkytits

I know this is a month later, and I'm sure you've gotten your answer elsewhere by now but I have BCBS of Mass and I went to my initial consult 4/27. By the time I got to the appointment my surgeon's office had already contacted my insurance to gather the requirements. I was told that I had to do three weigh ins but was not required to lose anything, just not to gain anything. And I had to go through the surgeon's program which consisted of psych eval, nutrition class, endoscopy, blood work, etc. They gave me a surgery date within a month of my initial consult. I went through the program with no issues and the surgeon's office called me about a week and a half before surgery (8/6) and told me I was approved. It was really painless and was told BCBS of Mass is one of the easiest ones to work with. I hope this helps you on your journey.

On 7/4/2018 at 12:40 PM, kjuno said:

Shimmy shade you had to go off of your bc? My surgeon hasn’t mentioned that yet. Is that normal? I’m on implanon which is implanted into the arm.

I have Mirena and because I can't "stop" taking it, my surgeon is just having me do twenty days of the lovenox shots after surgery rather than the ten they usually make their patients do.

Me too! I’m August 6th for RNY.

lol that is so weird. I guess every situation and every policy is different.

If you are covered, your primary doc would most likely then refer you to a surgeon and then you’d go from there depending on what your insurance requires.

Just had my initial consult this afternoon and was told that my insurance with bcbs ma only requires 3 months of weigh ins but my doctor told me not to lose more than ten pounds because I don’t want to fall under the required BMI.
I don’t even have to make the appointments, I just have to stop by the surgeons office every thirty days just to weigh in.

We are looking at surgery in August.

Here is bcbs ma requirements.

Sweet! My initial consult is tomorrow. I’m so nervous but been waiting two months for this appointment so I’m happy it’s finally here!

I’m having a horrible time with the business office of my doctors office. I live in NC but my insurance is through MA. They keep telling me I have a 6 month wait/supervised weight loss program but no one I’ve contacted at BCBS MA sees that requirement. Just wondering if anyone else has run into this issue and if so what did you do? Thanks!

I hope all goes well on your journey as well!
I am sooo excited!!! I’ve already started changing my eating habits and I’ve been watching my 600lb life very lately...its very motivating

Good luck at your first appointment! We are starting this journey around the same time! My initial consult is on the 27th of April. I can’t wait but I’m super nervous. For some reason, I keep feeling like they are going to slam the door in my face but I have no reason to think that. Can’t wait to hear how your consult goes!

I had BCBS of MA and it was surprisingly fast. They didn’t have any special requirements beyond what the surgeon wanted and a BMI over 40. I can’t remember the exact time line, but I know I actually delayed my surgery for personal scheduling reasons by about a month, so had I pushed I could have done everything in probably 1.5 months. I didn’t need any specialist work ups (was in good health just obese), so if you need those it could stretch things out a bit depending on scheduling. BCBS of MA was really easy to work with. If you call their services line they can actually send you a packet with all their requirements and expected costs given your specific plan.

I know everyone’s experience varies but I was just wondering what other people’s experience was with this insurance? (BCBS of MA PPO)

They don’t require any certain amount of weigh ins or anything so I’m really not sure what to expect. My initial consult with my surgeon is at the end of the month.

How long did it take for you from initial consult to surgery? How easy/difficult was this insurance to work with?

Thanks!!