Hi all...I know this thread may be offensive to some and I apologize if it is. However, trying to meet all the requirements can be near to impossible. I've read responses to people asking for quick help to meet a certain insurance qualifier and thought we might as well acknowledge the elephant in the room and it might be helpful to share our info. :wink2:

1-I've heard of people wearing clogs to weigh and loose pants so that during height measurement, you can bend your knees slightly. If you have this done at the banding office, they're not watching you too closely and they don't have prior records of your height.

2-For the psych eval, I told the truth but concentrated on how portion control was hard because I was physically hungry all the time.

3-For sleep apnea, you have to have a pretty high number to have it considered a co-morbidity. I heard it helps to take 3 benadryl before and not say anything about it. From personal experience, it IS difficult to sleep with all those wires and mess on so maybe it's just an evening out of the playing field.

4-I heard a person say to a friend of mine (who had to fudge a few things to get insurance approval) 'I hope you're happy. It's thanks to you my insurance costs are so high.' My friend's response was great. 'When is the last time your rates were lowered or you got a rebate because you DIDN'T use your insurance? Oh...never? I rest my case.'

This may be a justification but Fibromyalgia, bulging discs, bone spurs and joint pain aren't considered co-morbidities but make your life hell. So, I don't feel TOO horribly bad for thinking about 'enhancing' a result or two for a positive end. Besides...your med costs and RX costs are going to go down so your Insurace company benefits in the end, right? :crying:

I am not going to say I agree with any of this. Nor am I going to say I disagree with any of it. Suffice it to say that someone posted ways to get around the system if needed and others posted possible consequences. Is that not what this forum is about? Offering advice, information, etc. It is not a place for judgement. We read the information posted and do with it as we wish. I am grateful for every single thing I read on here. Not all of it is applicable to me, but I will never be able to express how much I appreciate you all. So everyone, please keep posting away! Differing in opinion is great. I just don't think we should judge each other.

Jetsy-

FINALLY! The voice of reason.

I have to admit, though...when I read Kuhl's line about taking care of 'insurance scammers', I blew Water through my nose. Talk about drama overkill!

For the record, kuhl thinks you're 'scammers'....I say you're creative and assertive. Perhaps that's the attorney in me. Go for it! :thumbup:

Back to the tips and tricks.

One of my husband's co-workers was 7 pounds short of hitting the necessary 40 BMI and had to pack it on in one night.

To do it, eat a banana and drink whole milk every two hours then eat a pancake or some other bread in order to hold the milk in your stomach. She registered an extra 10 the next day, sending her down the gastric bypass route.

I just read on another thread that if you have a low BMI and need a co-morbidity, sleep apnea is the way to go. The user said she took several Tylenol PM and it slowed her respiration down enough to score high enough to meet her insurance company's guideline of 14. (She hit a 15).

Hope this helps!

Well, it is fraud. i can understand your frustration for being so close to the criteria but not quite. i am a terrible liar and could not pull it off. Plus i,too work with health insurance. Most cheaters are caught sooner or later. Your height is a matter of record in many places including your driver's license. Your weight can vary but a significant change in a few days would be noticeable, unless you have a pre-existing problem with water retention. If caught, the insurance Co may not ever authorize the surgery. So , don't blow it

I am not going to get into right or wrong here. All I will say is that if you are under the BMI you know it in time to raise it before you start all of this. I found out before I started this process what the cutoff for the BMI was ( I met it of course..lol).

But if you know from the get go that you aren't going to met it why wait till you have Dr appt to try and raise it?

If it were me I would just gain steadily from month to month so that I did meet it. I mean how hard is it to gain 10 pounds or so in a few months?

For me that would be easy to do!

Anyway that is my 2 cents on this!

I just read on another thread that if you have a low BMI and need a co-morbidity, sleep apnea is the way to go. The user said she took several Tylenol PM and it slowed her respiration down enough to score high enough to meet her insurance company's guideline of 14. (She hit a 15).

Not gonna get into the argument, we all know what is honest and what is not and we have to live with our own choices, but I had to speak up on this part because it's dangerous. You should never take more than the recommended dosage of a medicine, being over the counter doesn't make it ok to overdose on it. And you should never take a medicine and not report it to the people doing the sleep study.

***DISCLAIMER***

Neither the owner, administrators, nor moderators endorse or support the practices recommended in this thread. If you choose to follow them, you do so at your own risk.

Thank you.

Susan, LBT Administrator