I received a call from my surgeons office on Friday saying I needed to draft a letter of motivation for insurance. I have no idea where to start or what to include. If you've been through this, please guide me as to what should be included. I've tried to do a letter, all 10 pages of it, but don't know if I'm providing too much information, or even if what I've included is relevant. I've basically documented my life and what has lead to my addiction to food.

Wow....never heard of an insurance company needing this other than for our doctors to provide evidence and medical reason as to why we would benefit from the surgery.

Did your doctors office make any recommendations as to an outline or some hints of what the insurance wants to see?

I agree with LosingItForMe, I have never heard of this either. Maybe your doctor could suggest what you need to put into the letter. But I'm pretty sure 10 pages would be way too much LOL!

In thinking about it...Motivation for surgery.

1. Better Health

2. Moving more freely

3. less weight on joints

4. (name any ailments that you know will go away or get better) Hypertension under better control or gone

Still you should check with your surgeon's secretary that completes the paperwork. They know first hand what the insurances are looking for and they are the ones who put the whole packet together to submit.

I had to do this too. They want to know if your motivations are correct for the surgery. Do you want to be a barbie doll or get healthy, i basically put down in a nutshell my long history of being overweight, how it affected my quality of life -missing out on opportunities-being called names-decreasing health snd mobility. Also had to write about my own efforts for weight loss and what the results were from those efforts - also include the impact on your self esteem as a result of the failures. Then I had to write about how WLS would improve my life. What were the benefits such as a future with no diabetes, controlled blood pressure - don't forget to include the good stuff like being able to enjoy healthy physical activities, doing things you were afraid to do before. Speak from your heart, you know why you want to do it and it will come through in your writing.

There are many sample appeal letters online. I googled them and found some. I would say one page, one and a half max.

I think the 10 pgs. is way too much information. Stick to the facts, list diets you have been on steady weight gain, list all the medical conditions you have from the excess weight. The only letter I had to provide was one that my suregon suggested my primary doctor write. The letter was a draft of what my primary should say. The draft letter was what the insurance companies want to hear and is what I listed above. Insurance companies only want what effects you medicaly.