hello, I am wanting to get this surgery but cant seem to get past the ins companies. I have morris and associates ans they want three years of supervised weight loss. What is that? I have been documenting my own personal weight loss for over a year plus and thats not good enough. I am physically disabled so exercise is out and that is also one of the qualifications. What can I do? My dr. says i really need to have this done but I can't afford it on my own. How do I get the insurance to cover this procedure? Does seeing my DR. qualify as "supervised weight loss"? Please sombody help me with this I am desparate.......!

Why not go to all your doctors and get them to give you all the weights for when you visted them over the last few years. I had to have 5 years and put it in the letter and doctor signed it and had no problems. I would even go to your OBGYN and get help. If you have any questions just ask. I cold even e-mail you a letter that I used to get approved.

Chris

I had to present several years of documented weight loss attempts for my insurance company too. I believe a majority of insurance companies have this requirement.

There are so many insurance requirements for WLS procedures that one has to suspect it is a tool utilized to weed out potential patients for this these types of procedures.

Personally, I had been seeing the same primary care doctor for over 15-years with most of that focused on weight loss. I had phen-fen, merida, and so many other weight los RX meds with my doctor for several years that it was easy for me to provide the documentation.

If you have any type of documented weight loss attemps with your pc, then this will help bolster your case.

As far as a supervised weight loss diet, I had to do 6 consectutive months within the past 12-months on top of the several years of previous weight loss attempts.

I know insurance companies can be frustrating, but if they will cover the procedure 100% or at a reduced rate, then it is well worth your extra effort to complete their requirements.

Good luck!

yes please send me the letter my e-mail address is lumpkins@winco.net

I had many obstacles along the way to approval. Find out all the requirments from the Insurance and start to mark them off the list one at a time. I started this process in Feb of 2008. I had to have a 5 year history as to my weight during that time. I had only tried weightloss on my own and not really through the Dr , but he had advised me a few times about I needed to lose weight. I had 4 surgeries on my feet and that Dr had done the same. So I went to each of my Drs and got weight history and letters of reccomendation from each. Followed the nutritionist program for 6 months required by my WLS Dr and on Sept 23 had my Band. If you have an underlying conditions, sleep apnea diabetes foot or knee problems and so on High blood pressure. All these things need to be put in the letters and how the surgery would greatly reduce your overall medical costs and complications in the future and save the ins company money in the longrun. You have to get specific to get the approval. Just my experience.

Thanks Jill