Hi Everyone,

I'm new to posting but I've been lurking and learning for awhile. I went for my first appointment yesterday and I'm really excited. Everything looks like it will be fine for my insurance and I know Oxford is pretty good about approving people, my only concern is documentation of weight for the last five years. Has anyone else provided this?

They don't need to see a diet or anything like that, I just have to prove five years of obesity. This should be easy, but I'm concerned because between two and three years ago I wasn't going to the doctor regularly at all. If I went five years ago, then maybe a year later, and then a year and a half ago, does that seem sufficient?

I would say so..Oxford is really not that picky. As long as you have atleast three years they really don't hound you. I have Oxford and they approve ASAP!

That's comforting. I felt really good about it until the drs office started talking about five years. My BMI is 54 though, so surely they can tell that didn't happen overnight.

who told you that you needed a five year weight history for oxford? i have oxford (and am being banded at NYU) and that's not a requirement.

per the documentation oxford sent me, surgery is automatically approved (with out the need for a medical director review) provided that the patient has a bmi of 40 or above.

I hadn't heard anything about that requirement until I went to my dr's office (Dr. Kini at Mount Sinai). He just emailed me and told me I should be okay. When I called Oxford about a month ago they told me I needed a BMI over 40 and a letter from my PCP. Is it possible that they just have a generic checklist that they go over? It says it's oxford-specific but from everything I've read about oxford and what they said on the phone, it seems incorect.

And actually I just noticed that it's for United Health Care as well, so maybe thats for them?