This past week a number of claims showed up on my insurance account for pre-op visits and testing. We all know these things are necessary for approval. But it dawned on me today that if insurance hadn't approved my surgery, I would be stuck with $4,000 in medical bills (counting only those that were initially denied) for appointments leading up to insurance submission.

Thankfully approval was a simple process with my generous insurer, but I don't want anyone left with loads of debt just because their insurer is nit-pickingly particular. If you are contemplating surgery and plan to use insurance, PLEASE check your coverage and pre-certification requirements carefully before scheduling your first bariatric center appointment (after the free info session). Make sure you are well enough over the insurer's weight requirement. If your insurance requires that you have been over a certain weight for a X number of years, be certain you can obtain acceptable evidence (some insurers require a four-year history!). If you only qualify on the basis of pre-existing conditions, make sure you have been formally diagnosed and recently evaluated. And so forth.

Wishing everyone the best!

Thank you for this information.