i am new...

My name is Trish and i am a single mom of an active 11 year old boy.

I have just made the decision to try to be banded...i am 33 years old..290 lbs 5'4" and a bmi of 49 i have tried to lose weight several times even did weight watchers but never meds, i have high blood pressure

I am waiting to talk to my doc about haveing the surgery although we have talked before about it I beleive he will approve it...then obviously he will have to try to get the insurance co to approve it...which they say is case by case...but they will cover the whole thing if i fit their standards (crossing fingers)

I have a ton of questions but my first is how long after getting approved by insurance (mvp) is it until you can have the surgery?

Trish, every insurance company is different. There are a bunch of test that you have to have to get surgery. My insurance company paid for all of those test before approving me for surgery. It took me three months from start to finish, I was an exception because I did not have to have a six month Dr. supervised diet. That is what takes the longest. If you have been visiting the dr. regularly you might be able to count some of those visits towards your six months. The one suggestion I have is to be your own best advocate with your insurance. Find out exactly what their requirements are and start working on them on your own. Every time your Dr. send something to insurance call to make sure it was what they needed. Good luck, I hope some of what I have shared helps. It is worth the wait.

As soon as my insurance approved me I was scheduled for about three weeks later. It had to be at least 2 weeks for your preop diet.

I also agree with the last poster stay on top of your insurance co. I have BCBS of Georgia and they tried every trick in the book to deny and they even did deny once but in the end I was approved and my only regret is that I wish I would have done it years ago.

Good luck to you on your journey.