Hello all. I recently attended my seminar and I have my first consultation on 10/30/12. I started trying to get my medical records from doctors and so far have only gotten my records from my previous carrier, Kaiser.

After looking over everything they sent me, I think I have a problem….my BMI fell below 40 about two years ago…at the time I was losing weight for my wedding. Now I’m afraid my current insurance carrier, Aetna, won’t approve me because I haven’t been over 40 BMI consistently.

I do have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, but I’ve never been put on medication for either.

Has anyone else had the same or similar circumstances and still been approved for WLS?

Your BMI can be between 30-40 if you have a medical problem due to obesity. My doctor told me it was determined at my first weigh in at his office. If I lost weight between then and my surgery (which was 8 months), it was okay that I was locked in at that BMI for insurance purposes.

It depends on your insurance company requirements; some will want a weight history but it's generally a BMI over 40 or a BMI over 35 with two co-morbidities (the high bp and cholesterol work). My insurance (United) went off the weight at the surgeons office. Unfortunately, I had started my pre-bariatric surgery diet (high protein low cal) and had strep throat so literally had to gain 3 lbs before I weighed in because my BMI dropped below 35.