I have been working with my insurance for 7 months now on this to get approved....and for some reason now that my operation date is only 2 weeks away, it feels like its going so slow!!!!!! I feel too exhausted to get excited about it, and now, I just want it to be over!!! I really thought I'd be so much more thrilled at this point but, the insurance company sucked all the give a sh** out of me. Dont get me wrong I DO want this more than ever....I just am not as excited as I thought I'd be, its kind of a dissapointing feeling. Anyone else feel this way??

Yep...know what you are feeling. I started the process Oct. 2 with my first surgeon sponsored seminar. Started my 6 mo. diet in Nov. Really trying to be patient but not easy. I find myself whining about it and I don't think I have whined about anything since I was 4 yrs old. Just such a long process and I don't have a clue if my ins. company will approve me or not and the end of this long process.

Did you get approval? I had a surgery date of Feb 19 but had to give it up cuz ins. company wanted to see my A$$ jump through a few more hoops. It will be worth it in the end. Good luck to you

Yep...know what you are feeling. I started the process Oct. 2 with my first surgeon sponsored seminar. Started my 6 mo. diet in Nov. Really trying to be patient but not easy. I find myself whining about it and I don't think I have whined about anything since I was 4 yrs old. Just such a long process and I don't have a clue if my ins. company will approve me or not and the end of this long process.

Did you get approval? I had a surgery date of Feb 19 but had to give it up cuz ins. company wanted to see my A$$ jump through a few more hoops. It will be worth it in the end. Good luck to you

Yes..I got approved...But it wasnt easy. The hoops I had to go through were....

1.) A total of 7 of those once a month meetings....(6 months worth) It came out to 7 meeting though.

2.) Had to get on prescribed diet pills that lined up exactly the entire 6 months. (or more)

3.) A letter of medical necessity from the Dr. (easy if you got a cool doc.)

4.) An exercize consult. (Your surgeons office will tell you where to go.)

5.) A nutrition consult. (Your surgeons office will tell you where to go.)

6.) A psychiatric evaluation. (Your surgeons office will tell you where to go.)

7.) Proof of 5 years of morbid obesity. (or if you were at least 35 BMI with other complications.)

8.) Get your Dr. to also document that you have tried various over the counter weight loss methods.

9.) Get all of your records and copy EVERYTHING...For yourself and your Surgeon....Good luck!!

Edited March 27, 200818 yr by mfbiznit

Yes..I got approved...But it wasnt easy. The hoops I had to go through were....

1.) A total of 7 of those once a month meetings....(6 months worth) It came out to 7 meeting though.

2.) Had to get on prescribed diet pills that lined up exactly the entire 6 months. (or more)

3.) A letter of medical necessity from the Dr. (easy if you got a cool doc.)

4.) An exercize consult. (Your surgeons office will tell you where to go.)

5.) A nutrition consult. (Your surgeons office will tell you where to go.)

6.) A psychiatric evaluation. (Your surgeons office will tell you where to go.)

7.) Proof of 5 years of morbid obesity. (or if you were at least 35 BMI with other complications.)

8.) Get your Dr. to also document that you have tried various over the counter weight loss methods.

9.) Get all of your records and copy EVERYTHING...For yourself and your Surgeon....Good luck!!

Similar to the hoops I have jumped through....is your insurance BCBS?

I know what you mean. I started the process on April 14th with a weight loss surgery seminar, since then it was the dr./nutritionist appointments every month (at first I was only supposed to go to 4, then it switched to 8), then my psych eval (which was absolutely pointless), finished all the appointments in beginning of December. In end of December, they called and said that they decided that I needed to get a letter from a psychologist stating that it was okay for me to get the surgery (which they were supposed to have let me know back in August). I go and get the letter, call them, and than they tell me that I don't need it. On January 3rd, I have the surgeon consultation, and a week & a half later I got the approval letter from BC/BS. Now, last Thursday I finally got a preliminary phone call about April 29th maybe having the surgery, but they were supposed to call back and let me know for sure the date & time, and whatnot, and I haven't heard anything since than. It seems like all I have been doing is waiting, I've called a few times because I've heard from other people where the hospital that I'm going through, has "forgotten" to call them, and all I've been told is that my "name hasn't come up on the list yet." This has been crazy, it seems like now each day I check my phone at least every five minutes to make sure that I haven't missed "the call" because I'm told that they don't call back. Hopefully soon...........

Nesser, you are way more patient than me. I needed records from my old PCP and after 2 weeks of calling the medical records department, then the office manager, then the medical records department every other day, I showed up in person on Thursday of last week, and I picked up records yesterday. I'm sorry but I just don't see myself sitting around waiting for them to remember me... but I'm a bitch that way!

I applaud those of you who have waited many months for insurance; I am now joining your ranks! I decided that I was too scared to wait 8 months (I, too, have BCBS...what if I was up another 50 pounds!) so I managed to wrangle $17,000 and was scheduled for surgery today. My LapBand center (TruReslts in Scottsdale) told me that I could easily schedule for 2 weeks out and get the necessary clearances. The last two weeks have been a crazy juggling of appointments around my already crazy work schedule, and yesterday at 3:00 I was still trying to get the cardiologist to fax the results from my NUCLEAR Stress testing. When I finally accomplished that and thought I was cleared, the TruResults people told me that my sleep study results came in that day as well, and I have something called "moderate obstructive sleep apnea with a severe component during REM sleep" and that the CPAP didn't work for me. NOT CLEARED FOR SURGERY. So, the surgery today is cancelled and I decided to hell with this....since I have to deal with some more of these health issues first, I sent back the $15,000 I borrowed and I will just be patient and go through the insurance hoops. Here's a question, though...if I lose just 60 more pounds (done it before, and now I have the health issues to prompt me) my BMI will be 35...another few pounds and it will obviously be less. Then I would not qualify for the banding, but my history is to know how to take it off, but not keep it off. This can really "mess with your head". Oh, yeah...I've been on this 3-protein shake a day pre-op diet, and now have to return to eating.

Similar to the hoops I have jumped through....is your insurance BCBS?

UMR...a branch of United Healthcare

MFBIZNIT, I went through all the hoops you did too. Took me the same amount of time.. I even gained weight while waiting. LOL. And also felt the same way you did about waiting. But, when it gets two days before your surgery, the excitement will pop back up and then you'll be scared and nervous and start second guessing everything. And probably say "what am I doing?" like I did. But, it's totally worth the wait.. TOTALLY.

Similar to the hoops I have jumped through....is your insurance BCBS?

I have BCBS of Minnesota and I had to do all of this too.

I have BCBS of Minnesota and I had to do all of this too.

BCBS of MN here also

MFBIZNIT, I went through all the hoops you did too. Took me the same amount of time.. I even gained weight while waiting. LOL. And also felt the same way you did about waiting. But, when it gets two days before your surgery, the excitement will pop back up and then you'll be scared and nervous and start second guessing everything. And probably say "what am I doing?" like I did. But, it's totally worth the wait.. TOTALLY.

Thank you so much for your words of encouragement! I gained weight too!!! I GAINED 35 LBS WHILE WAITING FOR THIS!!! Horrifying...How much did you gain?? Congrats on your success by the way.

Nesser, you are way more patient than me. I needed records from my old PCP and after 2 weeks of calling the medical records department, then the office manager, then the medical records department every other day, I showed up in person on Thursday of last week, and I picked up records yesterday. I'm sorry but I just don't see myself sitting around waiting for them to remember me... but I'm a bitch that way! :tongue_smilie:

Thanks, if it wasn't for the fact that I'm just now waiting for the surgery date, I probably would've just given up. But I'm beyond frusterated with the waiting for the phone call. A lot of other people I've talked to have gotten theirs just a few weeks after having the surgeon consult, and I'm still waiting......

Thank you so much for your words of encouragement!:scared2: I gained weight too!!! I GAINED 35 LBS WHILE WAITING FOR THIS!!! Horrifying...How much did you gain?? Congrats on your success by the way.

I went from 284 to 298... it's hard to say actually. One doctors scale said 300.. one doctor's scale said 296... one doctors scale said 298. One subtracted four pounds from it... Honestly, all I know is I was about 296 when the 6 months was over. lol. On my ticker I put 296 as my starting weight, but I think I was more like 298.