Hi All - New here...

My question is regarding the 6 months supervised diet with dr. I am trying to figure out if it is possible to get this all in this year under one years deductable for Cigna. My 1st appointment is next week 6/21. Based on what I am reading I may be eligible sooner than I thought (if insurance approves of course). Here is what I am thinking.

1st Appt; 6/21; 2nd Appt: 7/15ish; 3rd Appt; 8/10ish; 4th Appt; 9/6ish; 5th Appt; 10/1ish; 6th Appt; 11/1.

I initially thought that it had to be 6 months so 6/21,7/21,8/21,9/21,10/21,11/21,12/21 so there would be no way I could get this all done this year.

Anyone with thoughts and/or experience with this please let me know! Thanks so much (I can not tell you how excited I am!)

Hi Carrierae, Welcome to the Forum.

I too have Cigna insurance. You must do 6 visits, so you should be able to be done by 11/1. My PCP sat down right after my visit and he and his wonderful nurse got all of the information together and faxed it that very afternoon to my Surgeon's office. The surgeon then submitted the paperwork on the Friday of that week (which was Good Friday) about 3:30 pm. They called on Monday morning to let me know I had been approved. My problem was after approval getting on my surgeon's calendar for a surgery date. He is so busy, his first available date was July 5th, so I had to wait 2-1/2 to 3 months...... Good luck, I see some people only wait a week or so to get their surgery.

Dawn

Hi All - New here...

My question is regarding the 6 months supervised diet with dr. I am trying to figure out if it is possible to get this all in this year under one years deductable for Cigna. My 1st appointment is next week 6/21. Based on what I am reading I may be eligible sooner than I thought (if insurance approves of course). Here is what I am thinking.

1st Appt; 6/21; 2nd Appt: 7/15ish; 3rd Appt; 8/10ish; 4th Appt; 9/6ish; 5th Appt; 10/1ish; 6th Appt; 11/1.

I initially thought that it had to be 6 months so 6/21,7/21,8/21,9/21,10/21,11/21,12/21 so there would be no way I could get this all done this year.

Anyone with thoughts and/or experience with this please let me know! Thanks so much (I can not tell you how excited I am!)

I did the Cigna 6months (6 visits actually) and it took 3 weeks to get approval. I started the process December 4th and my surgery is July 18th so 7 and 1/2 months total time. Hang in there it will be over before you know it.

Yeah, you can totally make that happen. I will not say it will be over before you know it because damn it, it feels like forever, but you will get through this. Just take one day at a time. Don't obsess, and read as much as you can. Know what you are getting into, so you can rock that sleeve! Good luck.

So I found out when I went to surgeon that diet doesnt have to be supervised by the surgeon. I for some reason thought it did. That is good news. All that work my PCP and I have put in isnt for nothing. Weight off shoulders! Silly me!

You may or may not be okay to beat your deductible. The end of the year is the busiest time for the surgeon, as everyone is pretty much thinking like you are - trying to get it in before the deductible rolls over. The surgery schedules are PACKED in December and usually are full for that month by the middle of November. (I worked for my surgeon doing this for years before going to nursing school).

This rush at the end of the year for surgery approvals (All types, not just bariatric) also SLAMS the insurance company and tends on average to make approvals take longer to get. If you do make the schedule, it will likely be around or after Christmas. It is worth noting that most surgeons will not put you on the schedule until approval is in hand.

I know this isn't what you want to hear......I am only telling you this so you are not livid/upset/disappointed if your approval doesn't get back in time to be on the schedule for December. It won't be the surgeon's or their office staff's fault if this doesn't come through in time....that time of year is insane for any surgeon's office. The up side if you don't make it in time will be having your deductible most likely met for next year very early on.

I wish you luck and hope it all works out.

All I had to do was weigh-in with my PCP monthly, which I did every 3 weeks to shave a month of time off! I had no supervised diet literally, just a monthly weigh-in with a form to send the surgeon's office. I just had to assure my surgeon I'd tried every diet plan known to mankind. Nothing was terribly rigid at all. Good luck to you. My insurance approval took about 3 weeks but you can make sure your surgeon faxes asap and calls you asap on everything. You do kind of have to watch over people at both the surgeon's office and Cigna! Good luck to you!

Hi All - New here...

My question is regarding the 6 months supervised diet with dr. I am trying to figure out if it is possible to get this all in this year under one years deductable for Cigna. My 1st appointment is next week 6/21. Based on what I am reading I may be eligible sooner than I thought (if insurance approves of course). Here is what I am thinking.

1st Appt; 6/21; 2nd Appt: 7/15ish; 3rd Appt; 8/10ish; 4th Appt; 9/6ish; 5th Appt; 10/1ish; 6th Appt; 11/1.

I initially thought that it had to be 6 months so 6/21,7/21,8/21,9/21,10/21,11/21,12/21 so there would be no way I could get this all done this year.

Anyone with thoughts and/or experience with this please let me know! Thanks so much (I can not tell you how excited I am!)

I just remembered another thing: I was able to count a month in July although I began the process to surgery in November. In July I had told my PCP I was considering the surgery and I attended an informational meeting about it at that time. Because I had mentioned it to her, that counted for one of the months! I had my surgery in early April. So my process took about 7 months but I've heard faster times with Cigna as well.

All I had to do was weigh-in with my PCP monthly, which I did every 3 weeks to shave a month of time off! I had no supervised diet literally, just a monthly weigh-in with a form to send the surgeon's office. I just had to assure my surgeon I'd tried every diet plan known to mankind. Nothing was terribly rigid at all. Good luck to you. My insurance approval took about 3 weeks but you can make sure your surgeon faxes asap and calls you asap on everything. You do kind of have to watch over people at both the surgeon's office and Cigna! Good luck to you!