hi guys and girls! i'm seriously considering the surgery. I'm going to start calling on thursday. I was wondering what are the steps. Like,

1. call surgeon

2.psych eval

3. go to classes?

4. get surgery date

Just an example, im not sure what ACTUALLY happens....

and my other question is ....how long after you decided to get the sleeve, did you have your surgery?

How much did you lose in your first year? (yes, i know everyones different)...i'm approx 255. 5'4.

any help or tips would be great

#1,2,3,4,5 and 6 should be calls to your insurance company. Check, double check, recheck, check one more time, confirm, then confirm the confirmation. Do nothing else until you've done that!

Oh and my info session was mid-November, my surgery was feb 6th. Less than 3 months from start to finish.

I don't know if you're paying for your surgery or will insurance is paying, but if your insurance is paying for it here were my steps

1. Go for a consultation to make sure you are a candidate, you have to have a Bmi of 40 or higher, or have a bmi of 30 with another health issue

2. You have to see your primary doctor for six month to see get monthly weigh ins.

3. Complete all lab work for clearence, for instance pulmonary, echo, psych Eval, and a few others I don't know of right now.

4. Once all of that is completed your doctor writes a letter stating how he/she feels you can benefit from the surgery.

5. Once they receive all those documents they contact your insurance and will call you with a date for surgery.

I live in New York and these were the steps I needed to take now if youre in a different state dont know if the rules change.... Either way good luck with everything. Please keep us posted.

As for me I'm still waiting for my insurance to approve the surgery and get my surgery date

I'm in NY and did not need 6 months of weigh ins. It's more down to insurance rules than state rules.

I'm in NY and did not need 6 months of weigh ins. It's more down to insurance rules than state rules.

Lucky you what insurance do you have

Thanks so much. I have BCBS carefirst. I'm hoping they'll accept it . my bmi is 43 (so says the BMI calc that i just checked) ....Do either of you know how much it is out of pocket? (incase my insurance wont cover it?) i've seen 10,000 and i've seen somewhere between 18-20k. My mom had gastric bypass a couple years ago she said she'll set everything up for me. Did you guys have to go through classes?

So check with insurance before surgeon? I've had the same family doc since i was about 10 so I'm sure he'll help me out...

Hi Futureskinnypants,

I have Tricare (military insurance). Just yesterday I finished all of my prerequisits. I know that every insurance company has different rules. Mine were:

1 Informational meeting

2 Another informational meeting

3 Attend 2 support group meetings

4 Attend 9 nutritionist appts (2 per month)

5 Psychologist Meeting

6 Blood work

7 sleep Study

(not necessarily in this order)

I do know that many insurances will require patients to be on a CPAP machine for 6 months if they are found to have sleep apnea.

My entire process began in January and I will have surgery on March 28th!!!!! I'm very excited!!!!

I don't know if you're paying for your surgery or will insurance is paying' date=' but if your insurance is paying for it here were my steps

1. Go for a consultation to make sure you are a candidate, you have to have a Bmi of 40 or higher, or have a bmi of 30 with another health issue

2. You have to see your primary doctor for six month to see get monthly weigh ins.

3. Complete all lab work for clearence, for instance pulmonary, echo, psych Eval, and a few others I don't know of right now.

4. Once all of that is completed your doctor writes a letter stating how he/she feels you can benefit from the surgery.

5. Once they receive all those documents they contact your insurance and will call you with a date for surgery.

I live in New York and these were the steps I needed to take now if youre in a different state dont know if the rules change.... Either way good luck with everything. Please keep us posted.

As for me I'm still waiting for my insurance to approve the surgery and get my surgery date[/quote']

Hi. How long have you been waiting for the insurance approval? I just went for my last visit to doctor today and signed all consent forms. Just wondering how long the insurance approval will take.

Well I called today to ask and they had a mixed up with my papers, but they did tell me once all of the documents are submitted it shouldn't take longer than two weeks

I have Anthem BCBS. I first went to BCBS.com and checkedn to see if my ins covered it and also to see who they were contracted with. Then I went to the seminar held by my surgeon, his educational seminar is required before scheduling a consult with him. During the seminar i filled out lots of forms and gave all my ins info. Within 24hrs they called me to let me know what my ins required for approval and all my out of pocket costs. I then scheduled my consult, psych eval and nutrition apt. Right after my consult I was scheduled for my upper GI, then a day latter approved for surgery and scheduled. The next week I completed my pre surg class and pre op tests. I did everything in a couple of weeks. My surgery is scheduled for this next monday march 5th.