Please Help!! My insurance Co (bcbs of TX) requiers a 5 year history of obesity...I don't have that!! I didn't go to the doctor as much as as I should have over the past five years. I haven't even seen the surgoen yet but I am trying to get everything ready now so I don't have to stall the operation when the time comes and I feel I've hit a wall with this one. I have had my primary doctor for about a year but there is a 3 year gap where I don't have medical records. I'm 24, can I use my childhood records if they are attainable? Ugh, I can't believe this minor issue could hold me back!! Is it possible to show pictures as proof?? Please Help me.....Advice anyone:confused2:

Coley,

I have BCBS of NY and it also states I need 5 years of a weight problem. Although I have it, the only thing I provided for that was my letter. The surgeons office did not submit the lette until she had all the paperwork to submit. You can view my letter I wrote on my blog, www.shrinkingalesha.blogspot.com . It is my very first post. The biggest thing they look for is the 6 month preop diet. If I were you I would make an appointment with a nutritionist now, even if it is before you see the surgeon. Get that ball moving soon.

Alesha

My insurance (BCBS of GA) required 5 consecutive year history of obesity. I also had not been to the dr. in quite a while due to various reasons. I gethered the only medical files I had during those times (which happened to be from my OBGYN during my pregnancies) and ended up having to write a letter to the insurance company stating I sent all the available records I had and to not penalize me on the one issue. If you can't get all your paperwork, maybe you could try something along the same lines. Hope this helps!

You may want to see if your insurance company will accept photos. I was told by my surgeon's office that BCBS of AL does.

I am the same way, I only went to the doctor when I felt like there was something wrong. My insurance didnt require a 5 year history though they just want me to do a 6 month supervised weight loss before I get surgery, so I am doing that. All I did was try my best to write down all the things I did and how much I thought I weighed. But I've definetly been obese for more than 5 years, pretty much almost 20 out of 22 years.

Thank you so much for the advice...I'll check out the letter=)

Thank you Snick, Godshelp and Froggi!! I will have to see if my ins. co accepts the pictures.

When I was applying for approval, I didn't have complete weight records either. So I gathered everything I could, and the weight loss program coordinator recommended that I write a letter of my own to the insurance company that she would submit with the rest of my paperwork.

I didn't have official records, but IU had a good idea in my head of how much I weighed and when, so I put it all down. This is the letter I wrote, and my insurance approved:

To Whom It May Concern,

I’ve been overweight since I was 10 years old and obese since I was 13 and have tried numerous times over my teenage and adult years to lose weight. I do initially, but after the diet, the weight eventually comes back and I end up heavier than I started. I do my very best to eat sensible, healthy foods in reasonable quantities, but it seems the more I use diets to try to lose weight, the more overweight I become in the long run, and the more I have to eat just to not feel hungry, causing even further weight gain.

Over the years, I’ve had many weight loss attempts, all resulting in gaining back more weight than was actually lost:

15 years old – counting calories – lost 45 pounds

17 years old – Atkins Diet – lost 40 pounds

19 years old – counting calories – lost 15 pounds

19 years old – Curves – lost 15 pounds

20 years old – Jenny Craig – lost 40 pounds

23 years old – counting calories – lost 12 pounds so far, attempting to lose as much weight as possible before surgery, to have a better start.

Many attempts at various diet pills with little to no results

June 2002 – xxx lbs, Nov 2003 – xxx lbs, Feb 2004 – xxx lbs, Dec 2005 - xxx lbs, June 2007 – xxx lbs, Nov 2007 – xxx lbs, Jan 2008 – xxx lbs

I have had intermittent back pain since 2004 and have been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Due to my family history, I am at very high risk for weight-related diabetes, as well as high risk for heart disease, and increased arthritis and back pain problems:

My family has an extensive history of weight-related problems:

• My father, mother, maternal and paternal grandmothers, paternal grandfather, paternal uncle, two maternal aunts, and one paternal aunt all have Rheumatoid arthritis.
  
• My mother, maternal grandmother, and both maternal aunts all have weight-related adult onset Type 2 diabetes.
  
• My mother, maternal grandmother, and maternal aunt have chronic back pain.
  
• My maternal grandfather had heart disease until his death in 1995.

If I cannot correct my weight very soon, I will end up like the rest of my family, with numerous weight-related problems, chronic pain, repetitive doctor visits and expensive medications. I don’t want to end up that way. I want to do anything I can to get permanent control of my weight and have a healthy adult life.

I am young enough that having this surgery and losing the weight permanently will most likely prevent me from developing the all problems the other overweight members of my family have had in the future. It would be far less expensive to prevent these problems now than attempt to fix them later down the road.

I am committed to this program for the long-term, have started nutritional education with a registered dietician, and have been trying very hard to lose weight before having surgery in order give myself the best advantage I can to start with.

Thank you,

Maybe something like this would help you?

Edited May 7, 200818 yr by SeattleSweetie

Wow thank you!! I think I may have to write a letter as well. Thank you ALL for all your help!!

This is what I did I went through my old credit card statements that showed nutri system, weight watchers and all the other ones that I paid for. If you do not have the old statements maybe the credit card companies can give you a history?