VIN_IN_AL

Thank you for the response and I absolutely agree with you 100%! I have absolutely NO intention to do this on my own, I should have mentioned that prior to moving forward with the weight loss boot camp that I had already been working with a surgeon that was recommended to me by my primary care physician. I already completed the psychiatric evaluation, scheduled my pre-op nutrition program and had already finalized my surgical procedure decision for the gastric sleeve. I had all historical weight loss documentation in place and all that was missing was the submission of paperwork to insurance for final approval and the selection a date for the surgery. It was then that I got cold feet and took an unexpected right turn and tried a final non-surgical solution. I am already in the process of selecting a new surgeon, had an appointment with one yesterday 2/13 and have an appointment with another surgeon next week as well as a follow up with my primary care physician. I joined this forum due to a weight loss surgery support recommendation from the office I visited yesterday. ?

I have gone from self-pay, tried to switch to insurance then back to self-pay. For me the attempted switch to insurance was a royal pain. BCBS, or at least my specific carrier provided coverage, but the requirements were to rigid. For example, I had already done 5 months with my current primary care physician in early 2019 for the “doctor supervised” diet. I exceeded all other requirements and already completed the psychiatric evaluation. I got cold feet at the last minute and decided to attend a weight loss boot camp for 10 weeks as an attempt to avoid weight loss surgery. That was a BIG mistake, my doctor warned me I would gain the weight right back and that is exactly what happened by the end of 2019. I decided to I move forward with surgery in 2020, was going to do self-pay at first since the weight loss boot camp was also self-payed. After going through my medical records for the last 3 years I felt I had enough documentation to use my employer provided health insurance so I immediately contacted BCBS for approval. According to BCBS since I did not see my doctor during the time I was attending the weight loss boot camp (which was in another state), I would be required to restart the doctor supervised diet requirement which I was told back in Feb/2019 was three months but now, for whatever reason in 2/2020 it was increased to 6 months? ? If I want BCBS to pick up the tab I must start over, that would be 7 months with the doctor since the first visit does not count, another 30 to 60 days for the approval process and 30 days with the surgeons office or more to get all pre-requisite tests completed and the surgery scheduled. VERY FRUSTRATING! I have appealed but was told it may be 30 to 60 days until I get a decision. When I ask my doctor for advise he simply looked at me and said “I wouldn’t wait…” so I am not, back to self-pay.

Weight management has always been an issue my entire life, I have gained and lost over 100 pounds THREE times in the last 15 years, hoping the FORTH time post-surgery will be the last. Whatever diet program, book, shot or pill that has come along in the last 15 years, most likely I have already tried it and unfortunately failed. If your “considering” non-surgical alternatives to weight loss surgery feel free to ask me, most likely I have used it at least once and have accurate records of what was used and what were the results and pros / cons of each. The “pill of the month” currently is Contrave Blue which I have been on since December 2019. I have been avoiding weight loss surgery for years. My sister had full bypass surgery 20 years ago and unfortunately, she has suffered complications for many years. At the end of 2018 I had ballooned to the heaviest I have ever been, started January 1, 2019 I was a “Big Mac and Large Fry” away from 400+ pounds. My blood pressure was extremely high, and my new primary care physician was very blunt during my first visit, “lose weight or die” was the basic theme of our health conversations. Even with that much bad news and new physician pushing for weight loss surgery, I still was trying to avoid surgery. I decided to take an alternate route, take some time off from work and attend a Weight Loss Boot Camp for 10 weeks at a cost of over $15,000 self-payed of course since health insurance does not cover this type of activity. Unfortunately, life has ways to make things difficult at the worst time and I only was able to complete 6 weeks For those interested I have a blog that chronicles my weight loss efforts at the weight loss bootcamp last year, good reading for those thinking about that route. https://vin1959.blogspot.com/ For reasons I will expand on in future messages, the weight loss boot camp adventure did not get the job done and weight loss surgery has now become necessary. At this stage I am not going to play the “pre-approve documentation game” and wait for my health insurance company to say I am covered, I am simply going the SELF -PAY route and will plan for the Gastric-Sleeve procedure hopefully in April this year.