Has anyone had to go through a 12 month medically supervised diet and exercise program in order to even be considered for bariatric surgery? This sounds extreme to me.

I'm going thorugh a six month...started in November and finish in April, surgery scheduled May 11th.

12 months does seem like a lot and I thought 6 months was bad.

Has anyone had to go through a 12 month medically supervised diet and exercise program in order to even be considered for bariatric surgery? This sounds extreme to me.

Is it your doc who requires it or your insurance?

If it's not your insurance company, I'd find another doctor...and if they're saying it is an insurance requirement, I'd talk to the insurance company myself. I interviewed 6 doctors before I made my final choice and one of the surgeons did have a 1 year diet and exercise program. Not surprisingly, this was an additional charge because the insurance company didn't pay for things like this.

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wow, 12 months? that's crazy. I was self pay, so didn't have to do any of that. It was only 3 weeks from my first consult to my surgery. I'm guessing it is the insurance that requires you to do this?

I had to do 6 month monitored weight loss and I was annoyed about that. 12 months is insane! I would look elsewhere

That sounds really excessive to me. My fiance has to do a 6 month program before his procedure as required by his insurance. I didn't have to do anything for mine, I just had to do tons of pretesting. Who is requiring twelve months? That's crazy.

Has anyone had to go through a 12 month medically supervised diet and exercise program in order to even be considered for bariatric surgery? This sounds extreme to me.

I went through it that way.... It was the Insurance co.policy.

When I saw my surgeon, and they explained that it would be 12 months of supervised dieting, and Dr. visits,

I was shocked on how they were going to do this. The surgeon told me don't worry about it, every month

you will see a Specialist, and be weighed each time. You get a file and every month that you see anyone

and are weighed, you ask for a print out, and start a file. So I did.

Shrink 1 month, Dietitian, Cardiologist, Physical Therapy, Internal Medicine, a couple visits to him,

to see how your doing, and the rest were at the Family Dr.. Every visit got a print out.

I took my file in, and the Ins. Nurse took care of it,and a surgery date was pencilled in that day.

I was put on 1200 calories a day, and Protein shakes (MUSCLE MILK).

After a year of calorie counting, I lost a large amount of weight, but not enough to be Disqualified.

They kept there eye on that.

Believe it or not, time went buy, he was right. Dr. after Dr., print outs it all added up.

I know it's along time. But see what your Doc's Plan is when it comes to 1 year of visitations

do to the Ins. Co...

Also,, do some checking yourself. Call them up and see if there are any Medical Problems,

will they shorten the time frame.

So yeah,, been there, and done it. You can too.

Any questions? Feel free to get back.

Shirley.

Well I talked to my insurance and yes they are the ones who require a 12 month program..Well I will hit my 12 months in July and I guess I will have to make sure everything is in order so there is not more delays for my approval..

You can do this ! Good Luck in your visitations.

Well I talked to my insurance and yes they are the ones who require a 12 month program..Well I will hit my 12 months in July and I guess I will have to make sure everything is in order so there is not more delays for my approval..

This is the best idea!! I wish I actually done this because I probably would have been banded a month earlier! Good luck with everything and July will be here before you know it.

A couple of years ago when i was first looking into Lap Band my insurance only required 3 months. Now they require six months. I figure in another year or so they will require 12 months too! Just another way for them to get out of paying stuff.

Actually, my insurance company is switching from 6 months to 12 months. My dr. wanted to hurry and make sure I had all my testing and approval done before they made this switch and I think that is happening at the end of June. Effective July 1, 2011, I believe that my BC/BS will be a 12 month diet...and I think that is insane. My physicians office said a lot of insurance plans are doing it now.