Anthem BCBS 6 Months Pre-Op Diet

[kakatlady612 1,053]

Hi how re all my Anthem buddies this AM? Anybody else got their surgery dates? Haven't got mine yet but I can send good wishes the way of those that have. Nobody said this journey was Donna be easy but it is ao worth it in the long run.

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[survive.sleeve.slay 31]

I like the red hair, and admire your commitment to lose weight following chemo! You got this[emoji4]

Thanks, I'm bleaching it out now. It was fun for ten minutes but I'm over it. [emoji23]

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[survive.sleeve.slay 31]

Hi how re all my Anthem buddies this AM? Anybody else got their surgery dates? Haven't got mine yet but I can send good wishes the way of those that have. Nobody said this journey was Donna be easy but it is ao worth it in the long run.

Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app

Still no date, got my approval but waiting on a date. I swear this process damn near makes a person lose it. I'm expecting a call tomorrow.

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[kakatlady612 1,053]

It will be 10 days tomorrow since they had every thing , no come to think of it it's 12, I am getting very impatient, told Amber to check and make sure I wasn't missing anything. Wouldn't want a misscrossed t or undotted I to screw me over. Amber is my Bariatric Facilitator, my buddy thru all this, I've known her since August 2015 when I first started on my journey. I had almost everything completed, my job terminated in January 2015 and I lost my insurance coverage. Restarted last fall and hopefully mid March, might even be early March. Some of my clearances carried over but most had to be resubmitted. Come on Surgery Day!!!

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[Apple203 1,314]

I've proactively reached out to my office manager, too, and offered to help chase down anything that was still outstanding so that the office can submit my package to the insurance company after my 7th dietitian visit next week. So close, can't wait!

[FluffyChix 17,410]

@survive.sleeve.slay You are so pretty! Congrats on finishing your chemo. Are you having radiation? You're so "lucky" cuz you have gorgeous eyebrows. I looked like a moonfaced, white rat. I had no eyelashes or eyebrows left, even when my hair started coming back (grey). Stone grey from brown. *sniff* LOL. But the lack of eyebrows and lashes was what really played with my mind and self esteem.

I lost weight during treatment (but that's unusual). Usually we gain 10-20% during treatment. But then, I went and had a huge regain while on endocrine therapy. I'm still up from my low weight of 218 with it.

Keep on getting stronger girl!!

******

At OP, I also had to have 180 consecutive days of a supervised weight loss plan with an RD. The first consult doesn't count as one of my 6 visits--so it's actually 7 visits. I'm down almost 10% from my initial weigh in. The RD told me that gaining 1-2lbs during a month is fine as long as I met the minimum necessary weight loss (for me that was 5%). But that in general, they want to see at least a 1lb per month loss. I gained during my 4th month and visit to the surgeon. She didn't beat up too much for being 3lbs up from the last visit, but told me not to gain anymore. LOL. The next month I was down the 3+ an additional 1.5lbs I think? So it was ok.

[survive.sleeve.slay 31]

Thank you so much! I actually have been done since August wit chemo, I had no hair at all during either. I documented it at:

I was a mess during chemo. I use Anastasia Dipbrow on my eyebrows, they have come in very sparse since treatment, I used to have caterpillar looking eyebrows! My hair came back my natural color, very light ashy brown. Congrats on your recovery, and on your surgery decision. I wish you all the best. Survivors have to stick together!

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[Jerseygirl4523 44]

On 12/30/2017 at 7:28 PM, Daily Encounter said:

I have Anthem BCBS and also had the 6 months of medically supervised weight loss. Anthem BCBS did not require me to lose a certain amount of weight nor did they advise that I could not gain weight. In fact, during the 6 months I'd lost about 6lbs and then gained 4 of it back. However, of the 4 I gained, I lost 3 of that when my paperwork was submitted. I was approved the exact same day. I had Gastric Bypass on December 18th.

I have anthem. What was your requirements for the 6 months? I’m using my primary and we’ve had an appointment every month. But iceberg heard some say it actually has to be at least 180 days. What did you need? Just 6 appointments in 6 months?

[Jerseygirl4523 44]

On 12/31/2017 at 12:29 PM, jlprn56 said:

I have Anthem BCBS also and on month 4 of 6 - lost 8 pounds. How long after you completed the 6 months was your surgery scheduled?

How long did approval take?

Did you have to do 6 appointments in 6 months or actually a 180 period?

[Jerseygirl4523 44]

On 1/18/2018 at 1:36 PM, Sadiebug said:

I had Anthem BCBS and didn't have a requirement to lose anything - but my surgeon had a requirement that we couldn't gain. I think I lost maybe 6-8 lbs over the 6 months but I did have at least one month with a gain. I was approved farily quickly (about 2 weeks). It might also depend on how your physician/program writes it up. I had to submit food and exercise logs for the whole 6 months for my program so going into it they clearly were showing that I had given it a good effort. Not saying that makes an approval guaranteed - but my program certainly went overboard with the paperwork they sent in to Anthem.

Did you have to do 6 appointments in 6 months or actually wait 180 days?

Edited March 19, 2018 by Jerseygirl4523

[Sadiebug 206]

10 hours ago, Jerseygirl4523 said:

Did you have to do 6 appointments in 6 months or actually wait 180 days?

I did 6 appointments in 6 months. My first one happened to be on June 1 so all of my subsequent ones were the first week of the month. My 6th appointment was somewhere around Nov 5 and then they submitted it a few days later and I was approved by mid-November. This was all in 2016 though. Requirements can change and every Anthem policy can be different so I would recommend calling your insurance directly to get their specific requirements. I know it can be really hard to chase down. My program has an insurance coordinator who makes all of those phone calls for us which was such a blessing.

[Jerseygirl4523 44]

On 3/19/2018 at 8:43 AM, Sadiebug said:

I did 6 appointments in 6 months. My first one happened to be on June 1 so all of my subsequent ones were the first week of the month. My 6th appointment was somewhere around Nov 5 and then they submitted it a few days later and I was approved by mid-November. This was all in 2016 though. Requirements can change and every Anthem policy can be different so I would recommend calling your insurance directly to get their specific requirements. I know it can be really hard to chase down. My program has an insurance coordinator who makes all of those phone calls for us which was such a blessing.

Unfortunately the last week it’s has been my pathway coordinator with my surgeon’s office who has been difficult to track down! My 6th appointment is April 5, so I’m eager to get an answer and submit to insurance.