Hi all! After several attempts to lose weight with pills, insane diets, clean eating and thousands of dollars later spent on beachbody products, I have decided to get help. I feel this is my only option left. I am 5'3 and 268lbs (my heaviest) at 33yrs of age. I have done my research and I'm ready to change!

I have PCOS and I'm sure I have type 2 diabetes. My bmi is at 44 or so. Both sides of my family have a history of diabetes. About 3 1/2 yrs ago I was on the verge and was put on metformin for the PCOS. I was at least 40lbs lighter at that point. Anyways, my insurance covers bariatric surgery but has to be submitted for authorization. So therefore, they can't tell me exactly what requirements have to be met. I've heard some insurances make you wait 6months to make sure it's necessary? Am I right on that? Are there any cases where the insurance doesn't do that? My consultation with the surgeon is May 21st. How long has the process been for others as far as from the day of that first consultation to surgery?

Any and all info is appreciated!

The guy my husband talked to read from our benefits and it says our plan covers bariatric surgery and has to be submitted for pre auth. We have our book as well and I've read it from cover to cover and there is just the 1 section on weight loss. It will not pay for weight management programs but covers bariatric surgery and has to be submitted for pre auth. Same thing he said. Is it possible it's that easy? We do have amazing insurance. I just find it hard to believe it could be so simple. I have hope being I've seen others posts.

I thought the same thing... I thought the process was going to be alot more complicated, one of the reasons I put it off for so long. My advocate said I have awesome insurance and there was not a whole lot of hoops to jump through.

It could be that easy. My process was 4mths from initial consult. I went to an informational seminar the end of April. Had my initial consult in May, surgery in September. Of course there was the various testing and I had monthly meetings with my surgical team, but it was fairly simple. Not all insurances require medically supervise diets. In the end the process for most of us is a combination of program requirements and insurance requirements. However if you know for sure you want the sleeve, I would specifically ask if insurance covers vertical gastrectomy. Some insurance cover bypass and lapband but not sleeve and I would hate to go through all that pre-op testing only to be told that at the end my option are those 2 only when my heart was set on the sleeve.

I only have to do a liquid diet the last 12 days before to get ready. My doctor somehow gets by the 6 months. And is making 4 months. My start date is April 1st and end supposed will be in August. They say it's because if how they schedule all of it. I had 3 appointments my first visit actually.

@@BLERDgirl Good point -- that actually happened to me. BCBS initially told me that they covered band, bypass and sleeve. Yea me! Doctor and I decided on sleeve. Yada yada yada -- oops - they covered those three things in "grandfathered" (ie, older) policies, but in "non-grandfathered" policies (I purchased my policy on the Affordable Care Marketplace this past January), they only cover band and bypass. Go figure, no one could tell me why, not that it mattered -- that was what they covered, end of story. So I felt blessed they covered it at all -- so I had bypass January 29th and am very happy with that decision and doing well.

On a weird side-note -- I actually received an approval letter from BCBS approving "sleeve" - I said, wow, you now cover it? They (surgeon's office and BCBS) were confused as to why I was confused about getting sleeve covered -- then *I* had to point out to them that they previously told me that sleeve was NOT covered by my non-grandfathered policy (after telling me that it was, but I digress...)

All's well that ends well, but OY OY OY.

I only have to do a liquid diet the last 12 days before to get ready. My doctor somehow gets by the 6 months. And is making 4 months. My start date is April 1st and end supposed will be in August. They say it's because if how they schedule all of it. I had 3 appointments my first visit actually.

i will have 3 appointments my first visit too. Starting at 915am lasting until about 1.

It could be that easy. My process was 4mths from initial consult. I went to an informational seminar the end of April. Had my initial consult in May, surgery in September. Of course there was the various testing and I had monthly meetings with my surgical team, but it was fairly simple. Not all insurances require medically supervise diets. In the end the process for most of us is a combination of program requirements and insurance requirements. However if you know for sure you want the sleeve, I would specifically ask if insurance covers vertical gastrectomy. Some insurance cover bypass and lapband but not sleeve and I would hate to go through all that pre-op testing only to be told that at the end my option are those 2 only when my heart was set on the sleeve.

I specifically asked if it was covered and they said pre auth is all that is needed.

You folks are all amazing!

I called the insurance about the sleeve before I even had my first appointment. And I also wanted to know my part if the cost. It is only the yearly. $250 deductible. I also have called to now find that with a prescription a portion of my protein drinks will be covered. Very excited about that. Had found on insure.com sight the as t they may