My wife is about 10 days post op and she was notified by the surgeons office. Then we received written notice from our insurance some days later. I got my approval letter in the mail on Friday, but have not heard from the surgeons office. I'm hoping to be banded by the end of May.

Hello,

I found out last Monday when a case manager from my insurance company called me. She was like "Hi I am calling because I see that you are having weight loss surgery and your plans provides you with a case manager free of charge to help you through your weight loss journey. I am here to answer any questions you may have before and after surgery. I just need to ask you a few questions to get started."

I was like "Does this mean that I am approved because I haven't heard anything from my doctor yet?" She then told me that as a case manager she was not allowed to say whether or not I was approved, but that she wanted me to call my doctor's office when I got off of the phone with her. I answered all of her questions and then called the office and they told me that I had in fact been approved (and that insurance companies have dumb rules). I was told that my chart had been given to the nurse and that she would call me to schedule my surgery. I didn't hear from her last week, so I will be calling tomorrow. I too hope to be banded by the end of May.

I was so anxious to hear I kept calling my insurance company (bugging) to see if a decision had been made and one day they said I was approved and that a letter was in the mail. I called my surgeon's office and informed them. I was so thrilled!!!

I received a letter from my insurance company (copying my surgeon's office) notifying me of approval.

I had called my surgeon's medical assistant/office manager on monday March 1st to let her know I had finished with all my pre-surgery work-ups and that she could submit my stuff to the insurance co. She informed me that she would submit everything first thing the next morning and that I should hear something by the end of the week/begining of the following week.

The next day she called and said "Hi Amy, it's Laurie from Dr. Mehta's office. Do you want to have surgery March 24th because you were approved?" I was speechless! I couldnt believe it was happening so fast! And I thought for sure she was going to say "Just kidding! You were denied!" Not that anyone would ever do that to someone but I figured with the way my luck was it would. LOL

Call your surgeon and good luck! :eek:

I submitted my paperwork March 19th and was informed that it would take about 3 - 4 weeks. So, like clockwork, I called my surgeon's office April 8th to see if they had heard anything. Apparantly the insurance company "misplaced" my paper work!!! So we re submitted April 8th. I figured I'd have to wait ANOTHER 3 weeks to hear anything back. By the 12th I received a phone call from my surgeon's office telling me I was approved. I of course could not believe it, so I called my insurance company, and had the lady repeat three times that I was approved!!!! LOL.....Surgery set for June 18th!

Thankfully - I go to an awesome center and they have insurance specialists there that dealt with my insurance company for me!

All of my forms were submitted at the end of October and about 6 weeks later, I got a call from my surgery center, saying that my surgery was approved and they had a date for me!

I'm glad that I got the call from my support team versus having to hunt my own info down from the crappy insurance companies!

I called my Surgeons office to ask if my blood results came in and asked if they submitted everything to my ins and she said - we did that yesterday and you were approved and I was like - they approved me already and she said Yup - BCBS is very easy to deal with! I was very excited and I also didn't belive her (sounded to good to be true) so I called my ins company anyway and they confirmed it for me - I was good to go!!!! 3 weeks to go and I start my new life! Good Luck!

My insurance company, Tricare, posts the approvals on the website so I was watching it like a hawk. It took a little over 27 hours from when the paperwork was submitted until I knew I was approved. About 1/2 hour after it showed up on the website and patient coordinator from Tricare called me and confirmed I was approved. The next morning my doctor had the approval letter on their fax machine and I was scheduled for surgery on May 5th.

After the paperwork was submitted everything went really fast.

My info was forwarded to BCBS on 3/22. I called BCBS on 3/26 to check the status of the approval/denial and was told that they had sent the approval notice to my drs office the previous day. Later that day, my doctors office called to let me know that they had received the notice and that I was approved.

I didn't get an approval letter from my insurer until I was practically in the OR ---weeks after my surgeon's office called and notified me--then scheduled me.

If you've gotten your letter, I'd give the doctor's office a call. You may have received the letter before they did OR they may be having a busy week. It's okay to inject yourself into that week to get a date :thumbup:

I'm scheduled for May 28, and haven't even been submitted for insurance yet- so I may be like you, Betsy, and approved as I'm being wheeled in to the OR! I'm not worried, though. Everything is complete except for one class I'm attending this afternoon, and I have excellent insurance, thank heavens.

I received a call from my suregon's nurse! She was the one taking care of getting me approved! When she called, I could tell I was approved by the tone of her voice. I was sooooo excited! :scared2: