Ok, I have been going through this for a little better than a year now and am sick to death of playing BC/BS of IL. games. I was denied the first time because they said my doctor wasn't specific enough in her notes about my 6 month diet and she didn't put her signature on a required 5 year history form - It had the letter head and was included in the packet of information, but it wasn't signed.

I went through another 6 months of dieting and my doctor writing a book every time I seen her and she signed the 5 year form only to submit everything (once again) on June 2nd and be told on June 18th that it's still sitting at BC/BS and "they" are not sure why it hasn't been forwarded to the review board. I called today to check to see where the file was at - A very nice and perky rep. says, "Wow, you've been doing this for over a year now." - I gritted my teeth and nicely said, "Yes I have, please check on things and let me know where my file is and if someone has deemed this procedure medically necessary, thanks." She put me on hold forever.... (I admit I took this as a positive sign) only to tell me, "Yes someone has it but they're on vacation until the end of the week." AHHHHH..... I am so frustrated!

Thanks for letting me vent once again.

It did not cost me anything because my surgeon paid for it. I don't remeber how long it took for me to find out if they accepted my case, but it takes about 30 days for them to get your appeal info together, and then it took 3 weeks for my insurance company to make a decision. It was well worth the wait, and I felt better having someone else fight the appeal instead of me.

We communiated throughout the process by email and by phone. I was very pleased with them.