I plan to raise this with my surgeon's office when I meet with him on Thursday (and of course, eventually my insurance), but since there are a lot of people on the board who have successfully gotten insurance coverage for WLS, can others tell me how you have proven this to your carrier successfully:

− Evidence that attempts at weight loss in the 1 year period
prior to surgery have been ineffective

I know insurance companies vary and can change even from person to person regarding what they'll accept, but what have you all used to meet this type of criteria? Does it have to be something structured? Can it be loose? I'm really just curious about everyone's experiences.

PS - I also have this criteria "− Participation in a medically supervised weight loss

program, including nutritional counseling, for at least 3
months prior to the date of surgery.", but that sounds more structured.

I had to fill out a form where I was instructed to list every diet I have been on for the last ten years. When I was on it, for how long, how much weight I lost etc etc. Wow was that a long list! I not only gave it to the Surgeons office but when the insurance company wanted the same information I made a copy for them as well. There was no way I wanted to try to think of all that stuff again. In terms of the monitored plan, I had to do 6 months for my insurance company. It was monitored by my PCP's nutritionist. I went once a month. I was told by the insurance specialist in my surgeons office that whether I lost weight or not during the 6 month monitored program really didn't make a difference in terms of whether I got approved or not.