Doctors office submitted my paperwork to insurance today. I know this wait is going to kill me! So I was just wondering, how long did you wait for approval from BCBS Federal (basic)? Did you call customer service for status updates? If so, how often?? Thank you!!

Congratulations!

I have bc/bs federal. My paperwork was submitted as outpatient. When I found out about this, I called the dr's office and was told the insurance will not approve sleeve surgery for inpatient???? So they submit the request as outpatient and then get approval for two nights stay. I told them that the difference between inpatient and outpatient is significant. I was told it will be just fine, don't worry. That just didn't sound right so I called bc/bs and was told they approve the procedure based on what the dr says is medically necessary. If the approval is stated as outpatient, you are responsible for 15%. If the dr requests two nights for observation, you are still responsible for 15% of the entire cost.

Has anyone ever had this problem with billing? I believe what bc/bs is saying and think the dr's office just does the minimal paperwork to get the approval. I sent an email to the director of the bariatric center and am waiting for a reply.

I got my approval yesterday when I called, yay!! it took exactly 7 days )

Looks like I will be in this boat very soon.... starting to get nervous about the approval process....

I had sugery 2 1/2 years ago with bcbs federal and I started the process at the end of Sept 2011 and had surgery Jan 2012. I had to go through 3 months of nutritional classes.

I started the whole process in late May and was told I need the three months of counseling, psych eval and some other paperwork. Everything went like clockwork with only a small hitch with the paperwork submitted by my PCP. One call got that fixed in just a few minutes. The center called and gave me a surgery date the next day. I have not experienced any problems at all.

My surgery is 9/8 and everything is a GO!

I have FEP BCBS Standard and live in Eastern Virginia where there is a huge Federal Employee population and FEP Blue is considered a gold card policy.

Edited September 3, 201411 yr by Pictou

Hi everyone! I have BCBS Federal, and I just got all my paperwork (psych eval, 3 months of doctor's notes, etc.) sent to the surgeon's office so they can review it and then submit to the insurance company. My first month of the 3 month physician weight loss program, I had a loss of a pound, then the second month I had another loss of a pound, but the third month I had a gain of a little less then two pounds. I'm so worried that my request will be denied because of that gain! Has anyone else had a similar experience? If so, were you approved or denied? Thanks!

FEP BCBS didn't request weights from my meetings, just that I attended them.