Hi all. I am looking into getting banded after Sept sometime. I am hoping to

Choose a better ins plan for the whole year from my work. We usually have Bcbs but have higher deduct options to pick from so...hopefully I can get one for my out of pocket expenses to be less. Right now I would have to pay a minimum of $6,000. I do not have it. I am hoping for better things after Sept. My question is: How long did it take you to get banded from the first consult visit. I am just curious. I know everyone is different, especially with different insurance plans, but I just wanted to get an idea of what to expect. Thank you for your replies, in advance. I appreciate it.

I could have had the surgery within 1.5 months of my initial appointment, but we found out my insurance required a 6 month supervised diet. I started in October and had surgery April 12th.

3 1/2 weeks. Consultation was May 15. Surgery was June 10.

Thank you for the replies.

My goodness Cindy. What insurance do you have?

I have to have a 3 month supervised diet required by my insurance. I started my first appointment on March 30th. I've had 1 appointment per month. And my final appointment is next Thursday, June 30th. Then my file will be submitted and my surgery will be sometime at the end of July. I also have a psych and nutrition appointment next week. I have to pay $1,200 out of pocket for my psych and nutrition and then 10% of my surgery. So we're looking at about $3,000 out of pocket. I have Aetna insurance. Good luck! Hope you find a good plan!

P.S. I'm jealous of you Cindy!

Once I got the referral to the surgeon that I wanted, I was approved the next day. The referral process took the longest because there is a dip@#** working as office manager at my PCM office. So to answer your question I have Tricare and I was approved overnight!

I was selfpay (so insurance would have been a longer wait) and my orientation meeting was August 2 and surgery was December 9.

I had my consult on 5/25 and since it wasn't covered by my insurance I could have had it within 2 wks, but I waited until 6/29 so I could give plenty of notice at work.

Consult was Feb 11 and I'll be banded on 7/21. Even though I asked for 'first available' for every necessary appointment - it took this long. Good luck with your insurance - mine has changed (for the worse) every year for the past three years. If I had this done three years ago - it would have been paid at 100%. Now, I have a $1000 deductible for inpatient and WLS covered at 50% (in addition to the other deductible and copays I've had this year).

I currently have BCBS TRS Active Care. When I started the process in January it was only 3 month supervised nutrition visits. But in March BCBS decided to change it to 6 months. ( I was pissed off) I finish all of my visits June 1st including PSY visit. Initially, I thought I wanted the sleeve and the office sent the paperwork on Thursday and I was approved that Monday. Then I changed my mind and it took a few changes for the insurance to change everything. I will be banded on June 30th. So it has taken 6 months to complete all of the criteria. I will be coming out of pocket $2,500 for everything. Now the worst part, BCBS TRS Active Care come Sept will have a $5,000 COPAY for any surgery that is related to bariatric. In addition, to deductibles and out of pocket max. So I am praying that I will not have any complications with the band and that my insurance will remove the $5,000 copay. It saddens me that they would add such a high copay for this surgery and anything related to it. Good Luck

• Attended informational Seminar April 6 ( found out what my insurance requirements were- started making dr's appt the next day for first available)
• Psych Dr May 10
• Mandatory support group meeting May 11
• Last of 3 pcp dr visit May 20 (fortunately my insurance requires only 3 supervised dr's visits documenting ur weight, exercise type & length of time, & which diet- they also did not have to be consecutive but all within 1 year. Since i knew i might consider this last year, i had my pcp writing these things in the chart, so my first visit was last's year & i made 2 appointments the end of April and 3 weeks later mid May)
• They submitted my paperwork the day of my last pcp visit- May 20 (I faxed her my dr's progress notes from the dr's office)
• Approved May 26!!!
• RN assessment June 13
• Surgery date selected June 21
• I choose July 29- could have chosen July 8 however, i did not want to rush all the preparation.
• So roughly April 6 initial seminar and May 26 insurance approval
• Good Luck in your process

Thank you for your replies. I just need to focus mainly on the more positive posts because I get quite fearful when reading too many of the not such good experiences and get discouraged. I know they are just putting the info out there so I sure don't fault them for that. I worry that I would be the very ONE those things would happen to, but as another poster said on one of these topics, there are risks in every day life as well . I feel like this band is just what I need to stay on track. I know I can do the food part okay as far as eating right most of the time. Right now I am feeling ready for it.

2 weeks. I was scheduled for during my 1st appt (I did the seminar 6 weeks prior) and had already done all of my surgery clearance through my primary. I was cleared for surgery the day I was scheduled. I have Tricare.

Wow! LVgirl, that was quick. So..can you give me some tips on things I can do right while I wait? I work at a primary care dr office so I know I can do some of it there. Or is it too far away from Sept? Thank you.