On 7/11 I went to my PCP to get a referral for wls. He said I was a perfect candidate because my BMI is over 40 and I have high blood pressure. He told me he was sending out the referral to his referral department that day and it would take 7-14 days to hear back from the insurance company. He also said to call in a week and check up on the status. So I called Monday and of course I get someone who does not usually work in the referral dept. UGH!!!! She said that with my insurance, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, takes up to 2 weeks for approval and that she did not know when it was sent but that she would write a note to see if it was sent already. I am impatient right now because I want to get the ball rolling with starting my 6 month supervised weight ins. How long did it take for you all to get your referral approved to start your wls program??? I'm just hoping I get a call in the next few days. Crossing my fingers

I didn't need a referral because I called the surgeons office myself and they ran my Medicaid number over the phone (and approved me for visits before even stepping foot into her office). I have Straight Medicaid, but everyone's insurance is different and may have to go through a referral process. I'm almost done with my 3 months of supervised weigh ins/nutritionist visits and hopefully will have surgery this upcoming September.

I have a BCBS plan and I didn't need a referral to go for consultation or info session this Friday will be #5 of 6 visits with my pcp so I am in the home stretch of the 6 months of PreOp supervision. It goes faster than you think! Hang in there!

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Congrats Kimba!! That is just around the corner. how exciting. Can't wait to see your progress.

@@busybeebug, I didn't need a referral to go to the info session for wls but I do need one to get my first consult with the surgeon and to start the program. I went to the info session last Tuesday. Now I am just waiting to start the whole program and get on with the weigh-ins . 6 Months just feels like forever.

So, I just called my doctors office again today and they had yet to work on my authorization to send it to my insurance for a referral. It's been over a week. So angry! The guy said that he will work on it today or tomorrow and send it in to my insurance company. I sure hope so!

I found out the other day that my primary insurance was my United Healthcare Tricare west region not My United Healthcare Community Plan with AHCCCS. So I called my UHC Tricare Insurance company today and the agent told me that my authorization was approved on 7/20. YAY!! He also told me that my servicing dates were from 7/20/16 until 1/20/17. Has anyone's insurance company told them that before? Does that mean that I will have to have my surgery before that date? I was told from my PCP that I would have to do 6 months of medical weigh ins and also from the Bariatric Patient Advocate. Hopefully that has now changed since my primary is with tricare and not the community plan/ahcccs