Hi!
This is my first time ever doing this so bare with me!

I started my process with trying to get bariatric surgery officially April 2021! My first meeting with the doctor is on May 7th 2021. I’ve done all of my pre op tests that are required for me to meet the doctor and I’ve done my nutritionist appointment ( I have independence blue cross ppo, not too many requirements with this insurance).

I am very nervous because one of the requirements I have to provide for weight loss surgery is medically supervised documented weight loss attempts. I’m only 21 years old and tbh the job I’ve had now is my first full time job and before that I didn’t have insurance. I have done weight loss attempts but they weren’t medically supervised at all because I didn’t have insurance or a pcp since 2016. I’ve done multiple attempts of weight loss supplements, dr fisher pills, planet fitness, intermediate fasting, I even did Herbalife for a year.

Has anybody else had a issue with the documented weight loss? does anybody else have independence blue cross ppo and can give me some pointers? I meet all of the other requirements for surgery. A very high BMI and high blood pressure but idk I’ve never done anything like this before and I’m scared that insurance will reject my attempt

Unfortunately, most people have this requirement for insurance and most of us have to start at square one even though we've been attempting diets all our lives. I started the process in October and also started my once/month visits with a dietician then. It seemed like it would be forever but the 6 months of medically-supervised dieting passed so quickly.

Edited May 3, 20215 yr by muala94

3 minutes ago, muala94 said:

Unfortunately, most people have this requirement for insurance and most of us have to start at square one even though we've been attempting diets all our lives. I started the process in October and also started my once/month visits with a dietician then. It seemed like it would be forever but the 6 months of medically-supervised dieting passed so quickly.

My insurance doesn’t require me to do a 6 month medically supervised diet, they require me to provide documented supervised weight loss attempts, i typed out a document but they weren’t medically supervised. Do you think they will make me do a 6 month process if they don’t accept what I provided?

Not necessarily 6 months! But, yes, it sounds like they will make you start your attempts now. The thing you will have to get to the bottom of is how many months or attempts they need to approve you. My insurance policy, for example, required documentation of either 2 3-month long attempts in the last year, or 1 6-month long attempt.

Does your program give you an insurance coordinator of some kind to help you through this process?

I don’t have an insurance coordinator, just this one person in office we can contact if we have any questions! I should contact her. My insurance doesn’t have a certain amount of months just a list of documented weight loss attempts that I have done in the past! I have independence blue cross ppo

On 05/02/2021 at 21:24, muala94 said:

Not necessarily 6 months! But, yes, it sounds like they will make you start your attempts now. The thing you will have to get to the bottom of is how many months or attempts they need to approve you. My insurance policy, for example, required documentation of either 2 3-month long attempts in the last year, or 1 6-month long attempt.

Does your program give you an insurance coordinator of some kind to help you through this process?

I don’t have an insurance coordinator, just this one person in office we can contact if we have any questions! I should contact her. My insurance doesn’t have a certain amount of months just a list of documented weight loss attempts that I have done in the past! I have independence blue cross ppo

1 hour ago, Adrianna T said:

I don’t have an insurance coordinator, just this one person in office we can contact if we have any questions! I should contact her. My insurance doesn’t have a certain amount of months just a list of documented weight loss attempts that I have done in the past! I have independence blue cross ppo

You can call them and ask specifically what they are looking for. Also if you are being treated for your high blood pressure that may be enough to approve you as long as your doctor writes a letter that it is medically necessary. Good luck!

When I met with the nutritionist we went through the weight loss attempts I had made before - I had done weight watchers twice, lost a lot of weight through diet and exercise on my own, done intermittent fasting. Nothing had been medically supervised, except for taking a doctor prescribed weight loss medication (I lost weight with everything except the pills), but it all apparently counted. I have BC/BS but each state and each plan is slightly different. I still have to do their 4 months of group nutrition classes, and I've done two months of those.

I think it's good that you've done the documentation. You might also consider signing up for Weight Watchers, because they seemed to love that I had done that, even thought I lost more weight on my own. But that might just have been my surgery center.

On 05/03/2021 at 07:08, lizonaplane said:

When I met with the nutritionist we went through the weight loss attempts I had made before - I had done weight watchers twice, lost a lot of weight through diet and exercise on my own, done intermittent fasting. Nothing had been medically supervised, except for taking a doctor prescribed weight loss medication (I lost weight with everything except the pills), but it all apparently counted. I have BC/BS but each state and each plan is slightly different. I still have to do their 4 months of group nutrition classes, and I've done two months of those.

I think it's good that you've done the documentation. You might also consider signing up for Weight Watchers, because they seemed to love that I had done that, even thought I lost more weight on my own. But that might just have been my surgery center.

Thank you for that info! I did weight watchers for like 5 months but that was when I was like 16 which was in 2016

11 hours ago, Adrianna T said:

Thank you for that info! I did weight watchers for like 5 months but that was when I was like 16 which was in 2016

I did Weight Watchers years ago too, that didn't seem to matter, just that I had done it.

My GP happily wrote me a letter of reference that documented my own personal weight loss attempts and struggles with my weight over the years (I’d never been under a medical weight loss program before going to the Bariatric surgeon). Has your weight been a concern that was brought up to your GP before or possibly Gyno? Most are pro Bariatric and can help with this letter of reference.

05/04/2021 08:48 AM, Soon2bFit21 said:

My GP happily wrote me a letter of reference that documented my own personal weight loss attempts and struggles with my weight over the years (I’d never been under a medical weight loss program before going to the Bariatric surgeon). Has your weight been a concern that was brought up to your GP before or possibly Gyno? Most are pro Bariatric and can help with this letter of reference.

So I’ve only been with my pcp  together for a couple of months, my past pcp left the company and I wasn’t with her for long, it’s been alittle hard finding a steady doc that’s around me! but since I’ve been with her, they are very concerned about my weight. I’ve told her my attempts that I made in the past and stuff and she understands, I think she would write me one, I have an appointment coming up on may 19 to see her so maybe I can get one done quickly! At my office they give us a form for our pcp to look at and go over and she basically has to check on the box if she approves of me getting the surgery and stuff and she checked yes and all of that!

I'm also still in the process of getting approved. My advise while too late for these people but for anyone reading this at a later date is to start anything you think you might need asap. You can always cancel or drop out later if you find you don't need it. I wasted months thinking that what I had would be OK. Now I use "Overkill"! And I'm still just hoping that will work.

Hi!
This is my first time ever doing this so bare with me!

I started my process with trying to get bariatric surgery officially April 2021! My first meeting with the doctor is on May 7th 2021. I’ve done all of my pre op tests that are required for me to meet the doctor and I’ve done my nutritionist appointment ( I have independence blue cross ppo, not too many requirements with this insurance).

I am very nervous because one of the requirements I have to provide for weight loss surgery is medically supervised documented weight loss attempts. I’m only 21 years old and tbh the job I’ve had now is my first full time job and before that I didn’t have insurance. I have done weight loss attempts but they weren’t medically supervised at all because I didn’t have insurance or a pcp since 2016. I’ve done multiple attempts of weight loss supplements, dr fisher pills, planet fitness, intermediate fasting, I even did Herbalife for a year.
Has anybody else had a issue with the documented weight loss? does anybody else have independence blue cross ppo and can give me some pointers? I meet all of the other requirements for surgery. A very high BMI and high blood pressure but idk I’ve never done anything like this before and I’m scared that insurance will reject my attempt

I'm not sure about what insurance you have or if it matters but I only had to state what I've tried in the past to lose weight I didn't have to provide anything physical. Hope this helps.

On 5/2/2021 at 9:05 PM, Adrianna T said:

Hi!
This is my first time ever doing this so bare with me!

I started my process with trying to get bariatric surgery officially April 2021! My first meeting with the doctor is on May 7th 2021. I’ve done all of my pre op tests that are required for me to meet the doctor and I’ve done my nutritionist appointment ( I have independence blue cross ppo, not too many requirements with this insurance).

I am very nervous because one of the requirements I have to provide for weight loss surgery is medically supervised documented weight loss attempts. I’m only 21 years old and tbh the job I’ve had now is my first full time job and before that I didn’t have insurance. I have done weight loss attempts but they weren’t medically supervised at all because I didn’t have insurance or a pcp since 2016. I’ve done multiple attempts of weight loss supplements, dr fisher pills, planet fitness, intermediate fasting, I even did Herbalife for a year.

Has anybody else had a issue with the documented weight loss? does anybody else have independence blue cross ppo and can give me some pointers? I meet all of the other requirements for surgery. A very high BMI and high blood pressure but idk I’ve never done anything like this before and I’m scared that insurance will reject my attempt

My insurance has this requirement. In my paperwork from the Doctor, he stated in his write up that I had attempted these weight loss programs unsuccessfully and they accepted that as proof. You can also use the surgeon and the dietician for a period of time as a supervised weight loss program.

My insurance has this requirement. In my paperwork from the Doctor, he stated in his write up that I had attempted these weight loss programs unsuccessfully and they accepted that as proof. You can also use the surgeon and the dietician for a period of time as a supervised weight loss program.

My insurance requires six months of documentation of me dieting, so of course that set me back six months, I have BCBS PPO