I made the call in January, filled out a mountain of paperwork, had my first appointment in February where they did all the blood work and explained the process. My surgeon did a scope April 1st, I got cardiac clearance at the end of April, then consult with Dr Weiss at the first of May where he gave me a surgery date of May 21st.

My total out of pocket was $750 but after co-pays for the scope, cardiac clearance and other appointments I only had to pay $157.82.

I decided to talk to my PCP in Sept 2013 and I got my surgery May 21, 2014. No out of pocket cost.

Wow! You're lucky! I met one lady at my surgeons office and she had to pay $5000 out of pocket.

My insurance covered (most of) mine and I could have gotten it done within 6 weeks of making the choice. I really liked that I didn't have a lot of hoops to jump through like most people. I do end up paying about 2k total though out of pocket for everything but that's better than the 9k total!

Tricare is awesome

I started the process in May of last year and I had my surgery in December. It went by fast, but I had to do the 6 month nutrition program that was a requirement. That I hated! But I understood why I had to do it. Since I had met my out of pocket max for insurance that year, the surgery didn't cost me anything. I have BCBS of South Carolina through my husbands employer.

I went to seminar on the 30 of April, first Dr visit on the 5th of May, psych eval on the 12th of May, nutritionist appt was Tuesday, paperwork was submitted at 9 am yesterday morning and granted approval at 3pm yesterday afternoon. Just waiting on surgical department to call with surgical class and pre-op physical testing and surgery date and then I start my preop diet two shakes , one low fat dairy snack, and 3oz protein and half cup of vet for two weeks prior. So after all said and done will be approx a month and a half by the time I get the surgery done!

It was 3 months for me

I have anthem bcbs through my husbands work, also. Everybody's journey is so different. I would hate to have to wait six months. I heard that was the norm for a lot of people.

About a month.

Anyone have Aetna? My daughter just completed all the steps, the hoops, etc.... They sent the docs to her insurance today. Not sure how long it takes for them to get approve or deny. I have BCBS... Took them 2 weeks to approve. I started process in Dec and finished in April. Surgery date is set for mid June. I am praying my daughter gets her approval fast so that she can join me on this journey.

I have Aetna, so I'm interested to see how long it takes her to get her approval

I will post when we have the news. Just praying it will be approved!!!

Wow! A month? That's quick!

I will post when we have the news. Just praying it will be approved!!!

Good luck!

From the time I went to the first seminar to the time I had the surgery it was a week shy of a year. I will say that some of that time was due to my own scheduling issues. probably could have been around 7 to 8 months. But I had to have 6 months of nutrition counseling before BCBS even approved me. The hospital I went to also required 6 months as part of their program. I didn't get approval until March of this year. Had the surgery early this May.