has anyone out there been banded through kaiser.i would like to know how long it took for them to approve everything and get it done:faint:

The first thing we need to know is where you are from. This makes a whole lot of difference.

I'm going to the So. San Francisco Kaiser and right now I have heard that it is taking 16 weeks just to get your first appointment after orientation. If things go as they have in the past after that, it will take you probably at least a month to get through your appointments (if you're lucky) . Once you meet with the surgeon it's another 2 1/2 to 3 months until surgery. That means you need to be patient because the process is taking close to 8 months at this point.

I started in June and if I am lucky I will have surgery in January. At the time of my orientation they predicted 3 to 6 months. I'm not setting my hopes on that.

During this time you will be required to follow their pre-op meal plan which is really a 1200 calorie diet. They don't want you to call it a diet because you are supposed to be changing your way of thinking about that and adapting a new lifestyle.

It's frustrating sometimes but the only other choices I have would be to self-pay and I think that I can be patient rather than do that.

i live in denver colorado and its been over a month sence i've heard anything from kaiser . i really want to get this going!

Yeah, it was that way up here too. The old hurry up and wait routine. It was 6 weeks from orientation until I received information on my first appointments. Then it was another 6 weeks before I got to see the surgeon after those appointments. I have been doing this since June 5th. I will not hear anything from them again until probably January since they are so backed up for surgery. So it's going to be a long 3 months now.

The Kaiser here views this surgery as elective. I readily disagree with that since we will all develop life threatening illnesses if we don't loose the weight. But I haven't had any luck changing their minds. So much for a loosing crusade.

I don't know if you have the Kaiser webpage available to you but I watched that and saw my appointments long before I got their cards in the mail. So if you have it available, watch it. Back here the only thing that will not show up is the psych appointment.

Hang in there. It will be worth it in the end. Contact me through personal messaging if you wish. We all need to be supportive through this process.

Oh yeah...they told me on the 17th when I went to see the surgeon that it will be late February for surgery.:cry

Hi! I have Kaiser insurance in Colorado as well. It is difficult getting approved, but I finally did. I sent in my paperwork at the end of May and was approved in July. You have to have a BMI over 50 with no comorbidities or a BMI between 40-49 with two comorbidities, or something like that. After I was approved in July, I didn't hear anything until a couple weeks ago when I received a call to get some blood work done and come in for a couple appointments, which I did. I start the mandatory 8-week surgery connections classes on Nov 5 and was told as of now I would probably be looking at surgery in either Feb/Mar. Kaiser doesn't have its own weight loss surgeon, but is contracted with Dr. Thomas Brown at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center and Dr. Frank Chae at St. Joseph Hospital. Going through Kaiser is kind of slow, but from what I understand they are a lot faster than what they used to be. Good luck and keep me updated!

Hey Pookie -

So you'll be getting your surgery about the same time as I will. Yes, they are slow but I can't beat the price. Also, they are very thorough and make sure that they find out everything that could be a detriment to you. Actually, doing their pre-op meal plan (diet) has let me loose weight and plan for what I am going to do during those first weeks of bandster hell. Hopefully I won't have all the problems other people have gaining weight because I'll just be doing what I am doing now.

California, unfortunately, is not getting better as far as Kaiser's bariatric departments are concerned. They are so overwhelmed. From what I hear they are getting 250 new patients per week at just the hospital I'm going to. At that rate it would be extremely hard to adjust fast enough. So, we are slowing down. I think that in the near future they will have to open up some of the other northern California Kaisers to the program. Right now they only have 3 up here. I would be happy if they would just do fills in my area. Driving 6 hours round trip for a fill isn't going to be fun but right now that's what I have.

At least going to the classes will keep you feeling like they aren't forgetting you. It's when you don't hear anything that's the worst. Even knowing that it might be as late as the end of February is better than not knowing at all.

Good luck on your journey!