Hi there! I have my first consultation on Wednesday. I am anxious to get this done and am wondering how long approval will take. The question I want to post here is: How long did it take for you to get approval from the first consultation to the day of surgery? Thanks!

Bump! Anyone?:help:

Thank you for your reply!!

It took Feb to May for me. Not too long especially since I was going to school and had to wait till summer anyways. I was denied the first try and approved on the appeal.

Good Luck

Went to the doctor Thursday, schedule surgery for 8/31...not because I had to wait until then, but because that was the date I wanted. But then I am self pay...

I first saw the Dr. at the end of March. There are a battery of tests (lots of tests) required BEFORE any paperwork goes to the insurance company. Plus you need to get clearance from specialists if you have any specific problems, like cardiac. You need psych clearance and the nutritionist must be seen. Then I had to stop and do the taxes which takes me about 2 weeks because of our business. The last test was the lower endoscopy. Paperwork was submitted to the insurance company and was approved in 3 days surgery was scheduled for 2 weeks after approval, June 28th.

Here's a piece of advice, once you are sure you want to go through with the surgery, sit down and make appointments for everything! don't do what I did at first and make one or two because you may have to wait a long time to get in to see one of the docs or psychologists or the nutritionist.

I hated when they would say, he's booked up for the next 12 years!

OK, not years, but it felt like that.

Good Luck!

I went a seminar in Sept 06. Called my insurance co. Oct. 06 and ask what was needed for approval. Made a list as they dictated the info necessary for approval. Went to my family practice MD with my list. He scheduled my sleep apnea test, stress test, chest x-ray, blood work, and gave sent my medical records for past 5 years that showed my many attempts at weight loss and my health issues with BP, arthritis, back pain, family history of heart and stroke issues. He also sent a letter of recommendation for the surgery. My neurosurgeon that I went to for back pain also gave me a letter of recommendation for the weight loss surgery at my request. This all took 6 months to complete only because the dietician and the psych visits had to be scheduled by the weight loss clinic as well as the videos and questionaires. I was told I needed additional blood work to rule out bacteria in the stomach. It took two more weeks for that(actually 10 days). I was approved on March 23, 2007 and had surgery the following Thursday March 29, 2007. Hope all this makes sense. Good luck with your adventure!

I paid cash so for me it was six days.

It varies from insurance company to policy type really. Your best bet would be to #1 ask your doctors office how long it typically takes them to get approval on your insurance and #2 search the insurance threads for your insurance type and see how it went for others. There is also a yahoo group dedicated to this with a database of information for each insurance type.

My paperwork was submitted on a Thursday and I had approval by Monday. I have Federal BCBS.

My seminar was in February, my surgery on July 13th.

I took about 9 weeks for me, and it was mostly due to delays with scheduling the various evaluation appointments.

Thanks so much for your responses. I know what you mean about calling the Dr and they are booked up for years. I had to wait a month before I could even go for the consultation! I have my psych eval scheduled for Monday. They are going to do a pulse ox test at night and hopefully I won't need a sleep study! Ick!

They are going to do a pulse ox test at night and hopefully I won't need a sleep study! Ick!

Lots of slooooow easy deep breaths before the test...