Does anyone have Medicare? If you do, what did you have to go thru to get your surgery approved and how long did it take?

Thank You,

Antonette

Sorry I don't know the process. I have HAP. You might to call your Medicare provider to see what the process us.

In MI you don't need approval, if you meet the criteria Medicare will pay for the surgery. I don't know if that's true for other states.

Lol with Medicare it's just if you meet the criteria. Ifound a Dr I liked at a Center of Excellence (required) and they do everything. The only reason I have a wait is because my bariatric center -not Medicare- requires 3 NUT appointments a month apart. They also require you to watch their seminar, a sleep study, stress test, 1 physical therapy appt and a psych eval. I have all of those already lined up because they schedule them for you. Shazaam! Easy as pie! Or a protein smoothie, I guess...

Oh yeah... I'm in Oklahoma, but it should be the same for you and it took me a day or so to get approved. I called to get the bariatric center's packet sent to me to fill out and have them my Medicare info and it seemed like they called me back in a day and told me I was good to go and scheduled my initial appointment.

And Medicare and Medicaid just removed the requirement for a Center of Excellence facility. 09/2013

That is going to help a lot of people out that have trouble finding a Center of Excellence nearby. I drive so far. But I am very happy with the surgeon I've chosen and the care I've received thus far.

I am currently fighting a Center of Excellence requirement with BCBS because the closest one is 350 miles away, so I have been doing allot of research. Their rationale was that it did not decrease bad outcomes but reduced access to care.

I am currently fighting a Center of Excellence requirement with BCBS because the closest one is 350 miles away' date=' so I have been doing allot of research. Their rationale was that it did not decrease bad outcomes but reduced access to care.[/quote']

That's just crazy sauce!!!