Hello....anyone here have bcbsal with helpful info on exactly what i should expect...im just getting started met with the nutrionalist....meeting with the doctor next week.....:thumbup:

Hello....anyone here have bcbsal with helpful info on exactly what i should expect...im just getting started met with the nutrionalist....meeting with the doctor next week.....

You will have to go thru 6 months of supervised weight loss plan, so it will be 7 months until your surgery.

I had to do the diet plan for 6 months. First time you just talk to the dr about it and he will tell you what to do then you have to come back once a month for the next 6 months so it is a total of 7 months and I had to have a sleep study. They will give you a list of things to do and do everyhting on you list as soon as possible so when you 6 months diet is up then you will be ready for your surgury and wont have to wait on any kind of paperwork to be turned in from any of your test. I waited till the last minute to do my sleep study and turned up I had to have a CPAP machine and I had to sleep on it 2 weeks and wait on dr to clear me on my sleep study before they would give me my surgury date. I finished my diet plan at the first of June and it took me until Aug. 22 for me to have my surgury because I drug my feet.

I have bcbs(louisiana) federal, My first vist to the doctor was Dec. 18, my surgery is scheduled for Feb. 17. I had been on several other diet plans like ww, sugar busters, atkins. That is all I needed. I had to do a sleep study, psy. eval, blood work, medical release from my Dr. This is also covered my my insurance. I have a 36 bmi and co-morbities. I need to lose about 50-60 lbs, also have high blood pressure, chlosteral, bad back and foot.

I have BCBS/AL and was banded in December. I had to do the six months of dieting. BMI has to be >40, or >35 with co morbities such as diabetes, hypertension, etc. A psych eval. was required (ins. did not cover - $100) and I had to have a cardiac evaluation which included stress test, 24 hr. holtor monitor, and echocardiogram because I have a history of high blood pressure and mitral regurgitation. I guess it just depends on what additional evals. you will have to have depending on the individual and what kind of medical problems they have. Preadmission testing included chest x-ray, EKG, and labwork. If you have GERD, your doctor may require EGD. My insurance has covered everything except $100 psych fee, and I have to pay $800 because my physician has a physician's assistant that works with him. After all my paperwork was submitted to ins. co. it took about 1 week to get approved. Oh, and I had to pay $75 deductible for the one day surgery. I had my surgery at 3:30 p.m. and was on my way home around 9:30 p.m. that same day. Hope this helps and good luck!

thank all of you sooo much for responding :] its greatly appreciated..... that was a big question i had was if i was going to have to have the 6 month diet thingy...:[[ i was hoping not.... i have a bmi over 60 with no co- morbilities...

How long were you down after the surgery?

I was down for about a week but for about 3 weeks I got real tried easy. After about 3 weeks I was back to normal. Hope this helps. When is your surgury and what type of work do you do? I work in a warehouse, so I really have to work. If I worked in a office then I could have of went back to work in 2 or 3 days.

I have BCBS of alabama. I had to do a six month pre op diet. which included 6 nutrishionst vist, lose 10% of my body weight and mental health vist..lol ( thankfully i wasnt crazy). I started in January 09' . my final vist was on the 2nd of this month. My doc also requested a Barium swallow and a upper endoscopy :confused: (not fun). I was told some doc's require a cario work. thankfully i did not need one. So other than that am just waiting for a responcefrom the insurance. Good luck to you!!!:ohmy: