Hi everyone. I am lost. I have full Medicaid and found out it pays for the weight loss surgery. What do I need to do to get started? Any advice or suggestions to get me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

First find the hospitals in your area that do the surgery. They usually have free seminars on what to expect where you can ask questions. If they offer support groups, go to a couple of those also and talk to people there. The surgeons office or hospital can usually help with the insurance part since they deal with it all the time. Good luck. It's a journey.

2 hours ago, Dkae2719 said:

Hi everyone. I am lost. I have full Medicaid and found out it pays for the weight loss surgery. What do I need to do to get started? Any advice or suggestions to get me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

I started by researching doctors in the area who did the surgery and narrowed it down to one. His office guided me to a choice of two different hospitals. I met with him individually to decide on which surgery would be best for me. Then I went to a few group meetings at his office to discuss the surgery and met with a nutritionist. He also required a psych eval before surgery (most do). The last hoop was an endoscopy for him to scope my stomach pre-op.

Edited November 24, 20178 yr by Strivingforbetter

Keep in mind that not all hospitals or doctors accept Medicaid, and Medicaid may not approve all hospitals or surgeons, but it takes a quick call to the program to find out. Usually the program has an insurance specialist who knows which insurance companies, including Medicaid are approved for their program.

I had surgery at a Center of Excellence for Bariatric Surgery. These Centers of Excellence are available in many states. The Centers of Excellence provide a complete support for the surgery. There are many components that require a range of specialist beyond just a surgeon who specializes in Bariatric Surgery. They include nutritionist, psychologists, a hospital that specializes in bariatric surgery, staff that work insurance issues, pre-op testing, weight loss and exercise programs, bariatric surgery support group meetings, five years of post-op follow-ups. It is like a "full meal deal", no pun intended.

I started by checking into Doctors that took medicaid and then i was referred to some Surgeons that do most of the procedures around here. Medicaid requires you be under your PCP on a strict diet for 6mo. You will have to have proof of this before you will be able to go further,Once you have done that then everything else will fall in place with the surgeons and psychologist and so on. It has taken me since March of 2016 to get where I am now and my surgery is Thursday.

Edited November 25, 20178 yr by GoddessMoon

I think across the board the start up process is the same, go to a seminar/find out who accepts medicaid. The harder part is finding out the medicaid requirements which differ depending on which state you live in. I'm in Connecticut and a few days after the seminar, I was contacted by the surgeon's office to come in for a consultation. At the consultation he discussed with me which surgery I was interested in, which he thought was best for me, and my eating habits. The surgeon actually gave me the list of requirements for medicaid to approve the surgery. 7 months of nutritionist appointments, psych eval, upper endoscopy, cardiology, ultrasound, and a sleep study. I'm about to do nutrition appointment 2 of 7, and have already done the ultrasound, sleep study, and have appointments scheduled for next year for the remainder of my appointments. Also, its best to have a referral from your PCP for Bariatric surgery. Best wishes and good luck!