Just wondering on the AVERAGE, how long from when you went to the seminar to actually receiving The Band? I didn't realize it would take so long, I've heard rumors of 6mos - year......Anyone else heard that?

That all depends on your ins. Some require a 6-12 month supervised diet before they will cover it. I have Uhc and they do not require it and from the simanar to surgery I waited 5 months. It would have been four but I had to add a Gall Bladder surgery in that time frame. LOL good luck it is WELL worth the wait!!!

It took me about 4 months, and that was really pushing the doctor's office. I wanted to be banded before year-end because I had already met my deductible for the year.

i only waited didnt even have to wait 2 months from 1st visit to operation.. i had all my pre op test with in 2 weeks. then i waited a week for approval from my insurance and they gave me a date.. (14 days fromt he the the called)

I already had more than six months of Weight Watchers along with my documentation so I did not have to do medically supervised program with my doctor or a nutritionist, which is utimately what holds the process up.

Just wondering on the AVERAGE, how long from when you went to the seminar to actually receiving The Band? I didn't realize it would take so long, I've heard rumors of 6mos - year......Anyone else heard that?

Just a question on these same grounds...does Medicare have a mandatory supervised diet, and if so... how long?? That would sure help me kill the time! lol

~Patti

no they dont have supervised diets..

I have UHC through SBC, now AT&T......I went to seminar 8/31/05 and had my surgery 9/16/05.......DH went to seminar on 1/20/06 and had surgery1/25/06.........the insurance required nothing more than a bmi of 40+ or 35 with other medical conditions (hbb, diabetes, etc). My bmi was 40 and DH was like 42 I believe. I'm very thankful that we were fortunate enough to have insurance that covered the band, I wouldn't have been able to afford it for a few more years otherwise (We only have a $20 copay and the first 3 months of fills are covered 100%, then $20 copay)...........now if only I can get them to cover a tummy tuck and boob lift!!!!!!

Loveulots, thank you thank you thank you!!!! And Dena, will you adopt me? It will only be temporary (until I get my surgery) and you KNOW I wont eat much! LOL :hungry:

Dena, I have the exact insurance with AT&T, just waiting on my first appt next week, and hopefully I will be good to go asap!

I will be 7 weeks from 1st appt to surgery. I had insurance approval in 3 days (CareFirst, Blue Choice). I did already have 6 mos of Dr. supervised WL and 9 mos of WW.

1st appt April 28th and still waiting for my surgery date! Nurse-zilla in the pulmonary doc's office is dragging her butt -and the doc promised me an August date...wait till i go for my follow up....gonna tell him he hired nurse-zilla!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH Man Bettina, that would stink! Good luck, I hope you still get it done in August!

~Patti

I have United Ins. I hear it's one of the best for fast approval, minimal requirements, etc. I went to the seminar on March 28; 1st appt w/dr. on June 12; approved shortly after that, and got a date around the end of June. In between there were blood tests, the psych test, they made me do a sleep study, etc; the all-day seminar was July 17th; and then surgery on July 27! I was required to lose 12 lbs and I lost exactly that. I pretty much did that the last two weeks before surgery. I'm writing this on August 7th and feel great. I went in for my post-op check up a week after on Aug. 5 and had lost another 4 lbs and am holding steady with that until my first fill on Sept. 5th. I can't wait for that. I'm going into my 2nd week on full liquid and getting tired of it, can't believe I'm looking forward to pureed stage. I've been taking small bites every once in a while of "real" food and chew it to within an inch of it's life. I feel great and think it was a total success! Just an FYI: they don't really stress the pain aspect enough, at least to me; I was a little surprised at how sore I was at the port site, and the 1.1/2" scar right in the middle of my stomach that's still healing. It does get better every day though. I never had any of the throwing up that they speak of, but I followed the rules to the letter, at least the first two weeks after. I've been watching this site almost daily and this is the first time I've responded. It's so helpful! Good luck, Andrea:)

correction, 1st appt after the first seminar was in May, not June. So it was almost 4 months to the day from the seminar. United paid 100% minus the $100 co-pay. I'm so grateful!

I used united healthcare. From my first seminar to surgery was 6 weeks. But thats deceptive. I actually started getting the testing done about 3.5 weeks before surgery. so actually the wait was really only about 4 weeks total. I got aproval for the procedure in a few days, which I understand is unusually fast.