From deciding to have surgery to getting approved, I mean, for those of you who had insurance pay for the surgery. I decided to look into surgery in late October, went to a seminar in early November, had my surgeon's consult, nutrition consult, and psych eval in mid-December, and have just now gotten everything sent off to insurance.

Hi Laurend,

I went to initial consult (not with surgeon) in mid-October, had nutrition, Psych eval and meical clearance in November and submitted to ins. co. late November, approved 1st week of December, pre-op surgeon's consult Dec. 26th and surgery Dec. 29th. (changed from Dec. 21st). It moved very quickly for me. (BCBS-TX) I haven't yet been to a seminar.

Myrna

Well - I can't recall my actual join - date for LBT - you will have to look at the top of this post - but I decided about 10 days into my research here that this was the correct surgery for me.

I think it was 1.5 - 2 mos before I could submit to insurance... Then it took me a while to convince my insurance company... about 4 mos.

I had my surgery on Feb 6th - so you can get an idea of the time for me from decision to action.

Hugs!

I went to my first seminar around September 26th, 06. I had my first consult the middle of October as well as nutrition and psych eval. In November I had my abdominal U/S and end of November met with the surgeon and was given the opportunity to schedul my date. They had as soon as Dec 7th available but I was not free until Dec. 18th-so that was my surgery date. My insurance info was submitted the last week of November and approved the same week.

I went to the info seminar mid-November. Decided to actually go through with the paperwork mid-December. My consultation was - I THINK - at the start of February and the surgeon was booked out almost exactly a month. I had surgery on March 1.

So about 3.5 months, with a good chunk of that being my procrastination/ongoing debate. If I'd submitted my paperwork sooner, I probably wuld have had surgery in February.

Oh I should add, my process was a little different. My surgeon's coordinator handled everything. I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork and provide them with a copy of my medical records. Next thing I knew, I had a letter from ins that I was pre-approved.

i went to the initial seminar around 6/17. met with the doc a week later.

got the ok for my surgery in september. didnt get banded until 10/26 because i wanted my 2 week liquid diet to start after my vacation.

about 1 month but I was self pay