Once you receive your date it's that your insurance approved it correct

I believe that's how it goes. My surgeons office gives it a month between required classes/diets to gather all requirements and get approval for my insurance. Not sure about other bariatric doctors. I would call them and ask them how the whole process works.

Not with every surgeon. Mine requires that you have insurance approval before they will schedule you, but I've seen some here who get a tentative date before their stuff is submitted to insurance for approval.

I was given a "dummy" date that worked for both myself and my surgeon well before the insurance paperwork was submitted. It was done this way to reserve a time slot in the O.R. ahead of time, and to avoid having to wait even longer once insurance did approve. Once my insurance company approved my procedure, it was only about 10 days later that I went to the hospital rather than having to wait for a time to open up.