New Yorkers are pretty proud people (everyone wants to be like us!) and this is the perfect place for us to get together and rep the Empire State. Please share your experiences (especially those specific to NY), your surgeon/hospital info, and anything else you think will be beneficial to the NY VSGers!

*I'm from Noo Yawk...concrete jungle where dreams are made of...*

Hey im new here. Born n raised in da bx.....co op city. Im 22 n im being sleeved 2/1/12 by Dr choi at montiefiore on gun hill. Soooooo hyper lol

And I'm so exicited for you. I'm also a Monte Sleeve Alum.

hello everyone..fellow NYers..My name is Kim and I just joined this group, I am from Long Island and am going through all the pre-procedure stuff now and am almost finished ..only have a sleep study and endoscopy left.both to be completed by the end of this week..I am tentatively scheduled for 3/6/12 and my next appointment with surgeon is on the 1st of Feb. and they said if all was done they could move my surgery date up. I am more excited than nervous..but ready to start my new life..I had joined another sleevers group but there was nobody from NY or anywhere close but I got alot of great information from them and have been reading alot of posts here and I am more than happy with anyone would like to correspond with me.. :blush2:

I am from Brooklyn NYC. I go to my first consultation on the 31st. Im just counting down the days. Im impatient. I wish my insurance would tell me how long I'd expect to wait (Health Plus) but I'm assuming six months.

I am from Brooklyn NYC. I go to my first consultation on the 31st. Im just counting down the days. Im impatient. I wish my insurance would tell me how long I'd expect to wait (Health Plus) but I'm assuming six months.

Hi, once all your paper work is submitted you could be approved in a week. I had my paper work submitted in May and a week later I was approved but didn't have the surgery until July. The sooner you get all the preliminary work done and paper work submitted the sooner you can get approved.

I am in Manhattan and I was sleeved at Lenox Hill Hospital by Dr. Roslin on July 25, 2011.

Hi, once all your paper work is submitted you could be approved in a week. I had my paper work submitted in May and a week later I was approved but didn't have the surgery until July. The sooner you get all the preliminary work done and paper work submitted the sooner you can get approved.

I am in Manhattan and I was sleeved at Lenox Hill Hospital by Dr. Roslin on July 25, 2011.

You have Health Plus as well??!! I've been looking for someone with this insurance for awhile.

You have Health Plus as well??!! I've been looking for someone with this insurance for awhile.

I don't have Health Plus, I have Empire BC/BS ***. There should be a coordinator at the office that handles all the paper work and they know how long each insurance takes to approve and any special requirements the insurances have before they approve you.

Empire requires 6 months of doctor supervised weight loss before they approve you. My PCP had to fill out 6 forms, one for each month, stating my weight and what we did to lose weight. Once they had that I was approved in a week.

I have insurance also it is 1199 union insurance and the office staff at the surgeon last month told me that in order for the insurance to pay for the surgery I need 6 months of diet logs that my doctor signed off on as well as all the routine referrals and tests that most insurance require for surgery..I have one more thing that needs to be completed and that is the endoscopy which I am having on saturday and I am seeing the surgeon on weds. to review all the results and hopefully move up the date of surgery from March 6 to an earlier date..I am ready to get on with my new life...does anyone know where a cheaper place to buy the optifast online? I know when I see the surgeon next week he is going to want me to start the opti and it is very expensive..if anyone could give me a web site or any other place where i can get it I would appreciate it very much..thanks..Kim

Larae, So how many of the six months did you complete, the total six?

Do you think if I call and speak with one of the women that answer the phones at the desk she will be able to tell me how long my wait time will be based on insurance or is that a doctors call?

I had already been doing dr assisted weight loss for over a year so that wasn't an issue for me. If I had not done it already and if my PCP wasn't willing to just say I did then I would have had to wait 6 months.

You can call and ask to speak to the coordinator or the person that handles all the paperwork in the office and that person should be able to tell you something. You can even call your insurance and ask a rep. I did that before I went to see the surgeon to make sure my policy included Bariatric surgery.

Yea, I called my insurance three times. In a nutshell I have to go to the doctor and depending on my "necessity" for the surgery then I would know. Its crazy. I would assume something like this would be in writing.

When I called my insurance I was told by the rep that my policy covered it but to make sure I was approved to make sure my PCP put on the forms why it was medically necessary for me to have the surgery.

My PCP had other patients that had the surgery so she knows how to fill out those forms. Just make sure your doctor does, have a talk with him/her to make sure everything is on the forms that the insurance needs to approve it.

When I spoke to my insurance company they said its covered if it was a medical necessity. So if there are no comorbidies what would the doctor put? Im sure she can make something nice to put on it.

Having an extremely high BMI, high blood pressure, arthritis, herniated disks, constant joint pain was enough for me to be approved.

Can just having a high bmi be good enough?