I was determined to self-pay, but I called my insurance company today and they will pay 100% if my BMI is over 40 and I do 6 months with a Dr. under a diet program first. I am 7 lbs away from my BMI being 40.

7 lbs is nothing right? I could gain that in no time. I know it seems silly to gain weight first, but it's only 7 lbs and I could keep my $15K I was gonna pay. Any thoughts?

I also have aetna. I only had to do a three month deal. My first vist was in 08/08/2007 and had my surgery 11/27/2007.

mmmmmmmmm you have to gain 7 pounds and you make 15g's. that's too good to be true!!!

Drink a gallon of water before your weigh in. Easy enough.

wear 2 1/2 pound ankle weights on each leg when you get weighed in. I don't know about your doc's office but I've noticed that most of the time at mine they don't even pay attention since who in their right mind would want to weigh more??? LOL :biggrin: Oh yeah and wear really long pants and bring a bag big enough to drop the weights in when they leave you in the room alone.

I'm sort of in your same boat. I have to gain weight to qualify for insurance. I do have comorbidities, they are "weak". So....I'm gaining the weight and it sounds fun but I physically feel disgusting, and am having a hard time looking in the mirror....and have outgrown all of my "fat clothes" I weigh in on Friday and if I "qualify" it will all be worth it but I am still one pound below my target, fully clothed. Oh ya, after watching Supersized I decided that would be the best way to gain the weight. After a week of fast food I was physically sick. I am not overweight cause I eat this way all the time, I do overeat, but not with fast food. It was fun at first to eat all the stuff that helped me gain weight. I literally made myself sick. My blood work came back with major Vitamin defecits, I now have high cholesterol, my blood sugar has a pre-diabetic curve, and so on...all made soooooo much worse by me purposely gaining weight. If I felt it was honest to wear ankle weights I so would have done that rather then gain the weight (about 10 pounds.)

just my 2 cents.

I don't know but be careful ...I'm in the same dilemma and I think they could ask to see past proof that you had a 40 BMI for the past year! I would check this out before gaining. I am 38.5 BMI ...it's so frustrating...if I only had not gone to the gym for all those years! crazy!