19 year old in the process of VSG!

[BriAlexis 1]

Hi all! I’m a 19 yr old young woman in the process of getting a VSG.
WEIGHT: 358 lb

HEIGHT: 5’5

BMI: 59

I’m kind of doing this alone so I desperately need advice and answers from anyone who can help. I’m on month 3/6. So far, I’ve met with my doctor, I’ve had labs done, and now my next steps are to meet with the surgeon, dietician, and have my psych evaluation. I need to know when should I contact my insurance (sorry if that’s a dumb question). I’m on my mother’s plan, and we have BCBS (IL) Anthem w/ PPO Suitcase. Is the gastric sleeve covered with them? When will I find out if it’s covered or not?

Thank you for your help!

[catwoman7 10,925]

my surgeon's office contacted and worked with the insurance company. They'd worked with them before, so they were pretty sure it would be covered.

as far as it being covered, it depends on your mother's employer. Even if the insurance company offers coverage for bariatric surgery, the employer decides whether or not they want to include it in their workers' policies. My insurance did not cover it until this past year because my employer wanted to keep the policies as cheap as possible, so they had the insurance company exclude a lot of things, like bariatric surgery. So I had to change insurance for a couple of years so it would be covered (of course, now our normal policy covers it, too....but I'm glad I had it done back when I did it, even though I had to change policies at the time...)

[BriAlexis 1]

Tysm! I meet with my surgeon in a couple weeks so I will see what happens and go from there.

[Kris77 1,508]

Hey! Congrats on you taking a step for a healthier lifestyle! It was life changing for me!
This website is a wealth of info and so many people to support you!

[JMJames92 113]

Good for you for taking this step to better yourself. I had my surgery at age 23 and I am glad I did it so young. I lost a lot of weight very quickly and I do not have much loose skin at all (I have a little of course!). As for your insurance, it really would be impossible for anyone here to say definitively either way. You said you are on month 3/6 so I assume that means that your doctor's office contacted your insurance and they gave them a list of stuff they want you to do before the surgery? If that is the case then as long as you do the stuff and get approved by everyone that needs to approve you, you should be good to go.

I had Blue Cross of California when I had the surgery and I got approved right away as soon as I did my diet documentation, cardiologist visit, nutritionist visit, psych visit, and 6 months diet documentation. I think there might have been a one or two day class in there somewhere as well. My apologies for rambling a bit. I wish you the best of luck in this process!

-Joshua

[BriAlexis 1]

On 2/6/2021 at 8:49 PM, Kris77 said:

Hey! Congrats on you taking a step for a healthier lifestyle! It was life changing for me!
This website is a wealth of info and so many people to support you!

Thank you! This website has definitely helped me along the way so far. I’m very thankful that I came across this. I don’t have many people in my personal life who know I am doing this, so all of the support is very heartwarming ❤️

[BriAlexis 1]

On 2/7/2021 at 3:29 AM, JMJames92 said:

Good for you for taking this step to better yourself. I had my surgery at age 23 and I am glad I did it so young. I lost a lot of weight very quickly and I do not have much loose skin at all (I have a little of course!). As for your insurance, it really would be impossible for anyone here to say definitively either way. You said you are on month 3/6 so I assume that means that your doctor's office contacted your insurance and they gave them a list of stuff they want you to do before the surgery? If that is the case then as long as you do the stuff and get approved by everyone that needs to approve you, you should be good to go.

I had Blue Cross of California when I had the surgery and I got approved right away as soon as I did my diet documentation, cardiologist visit, nutritionist visit, psych visit, and 6 months diet documentation. I think there might have been a one or two day class in there somewhere as well. My apologies for rambling a bit. I wish you the best of luck in this process!

-Joshua

Thanks so much James! This was super informative. I’m also happy that I’m taking these steps while I’m still young, I feel like now is the best time for me, especially after spending my childhood obese. I really want my 20s to be a new chapter of life in every sense of the word. My Dr. hasn’t mentioned anything about diet documentation, but I will definitely bring that up, as I would hate to find out that I should’ve been doing that all along. Again, thank you so much for your response! 💓