I am trying to figure out a good surgeon to go to that can get me in fairly quickly. I was accepted in to Memorials program in Springfield but they dont have anything open until June. I want to try to get everything done within the year so I dont have to pay 2 separate deductibles. I have BCBSIL by the way. Thanks for any information!

I had my surgery in Indiana. Many states have Centers of Excellence for Bariatric Surgery. Since the process can get quite involved and require many experts along the way, especially in dealing with the insurance companies, it might be advantageous to go through one of these in Illinois. They are the full meal deal - no pun intended.

Seems there is no way to rush this. I thought I could too... finally got Insurance coverage for this, and that kicked in on January 1. So I thought back in October, let's get everything done so I can get on my way and have the surgery as soon as I am covered. Nope, they wouldn't even start the tests or any of the pre-op things until January 1st.
I went ahead and started on the 6 month diet plan on Jan 7th, so at least that can be done by June or so. I bet I won't even have the surgery until August at this rate. Dr's office called to schedule all the "testing", and I am really fairly healthy.. and the testing alone doesn't wrap up until the first week of June. Ugh.... THEN they send off to Insurance for approval.

I did hear from someone that attended the seminar I went to up here in WI that your Insurance plan, being the "of Illinois" variety is a rare example of BCBS not making you do the 6 month Dr supervised diet plan. That's a plus for you anyway.

Have you contacted Insurance to find out all the requirements? That may end up in delay as well. So if you haven't done that yet, be prepared!

Good luck! Hope you find a way to get things moving faster!

Edited April 6, 201610 yr by DannyDelToro