After hearing all these wonderful things about Dr. Cirangle, I have decided to check out the program and attend next month’s orientation. I have been to two orientations thus far, one for Kaiser and the other for Alta Bates, so I am little reluctant to attend another one. Have any of his prior patients had BCBS FED PPO insurance? What has your experience been like in regards to insurance? Thanks!

I was not his patient, but have BCBS Fed. They approved me within a day of meeting the requirements and paid all but $100. My experience could not have been better.

I just checked he is in my network. I called his office and I am waiting for a patient cordinator to call me back...

I too, have BCBS Fed (basic) and have received billing statements denying coverage of pre-op required tests - even though they DO cover WLS. Do I pay these - or wait for final approval? Also, I am covered by my husbands BCBS of Michigan - any chance they would cover what my insurance does not? Thanks for any info ...

You should contact both insurances and see what coverages they provide for bariatric surgery it's very possible one may not cover certain costs that the other one will. Just be prepared. Make sure they have both of your insurances on file. I have been getting bills also for pathology tests and portions not covered by my insurance and they are supposed to cover 95%

Hi,

The best advice I could give is make sure that every doctor you go to is in the network. I used bcbsfed website to check. Good luck.

Thank you both!

Has anyone had any problems with approval if you did not lose a whole lot of weight during your 3 months? Mine has been during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthday (each month something) so I haven't really lost diddle (less than 10lbs) and I have not been motivated at all.

Sorry, I am just starting the process...

I have BCBS Fed. and it was so easy to get approval. I had a weight loss requirement of 40lbs but that was by my surgeon not the insurance. Their requirements were documented previous weight loss attempts, 3 months of nutritionist visits, and a psych eval. I have my surgery on 2/18 and I started the process on 10/30 so it was that easy.

Thanks for the feedback but I am officially in the mix! Ive met with dietician,surgeon, and had my psych eval. I am getting some labs done tomorrow and have the dates for my three months of nut visits... yay