New to forum! Going to my first seminar June 4th! I live in illinois and have Illinois Medicaid. My husbands insurance won't kick in for another year!! My BMI is at 43. I found a place in Herrin Illinois that accepts Medicaid so I'm hoping what they told me is true and there isn't a 2 year waiting list!! They said it takes about a month to get in to see the dr. and around 8 weeks to schedule surgery. Does anyone else have any experience or guidance for me???

Gabby welcome to the forums, I am sure if you look around you will find the information you are looking for or someone who has experienced some of the very same things you are experiencing.

Hi Gabby! Good luck on your journey! I don't know much about Medicaid, but I do know that the first thing you should do is contact them and find out exactly what their requirements are. Don't rely on the clinic to get that information for you, you need to hear it straight from the horse's mouth. They may only require some pre-op testing, or they may want you to do a supervised diet first. A lot of insurance companies require the diets, they can range from 3 months to 12. If Medicaid does require the supervised diet, they may accept documentation from a program like Weight Watchers if you have ever been on something like that.

I have never heard of a two year waiting list, but I know that depending on where you go it can take several months to get the surgery booked even if you meet all of the insurance requirements. The best advice that I can give is find out what Medicaid needs to approve you and get started on those requirements immediately. You will probably have to go to a few different appointments and the longer you take to make those appointments, the longer it will take you to get banded. Once you have all of the documentation it will probably take a while for Medicaid to approve you, so make sure you get the ball rolling soon! Like I said though, my experience has been more with private insurance than Medicaid so for all know they're even easier to deal with. Good luck to you!

im new to this as well and waiting on a approval from medicaide and should hear something this week,Crosses fingers,im ready to start this journey

Good luck to you Cathy!! I'm very nervous about the whole process