Hello all. I have decided to join this group in hopes that it will help me with my up coming lap band surgery. I am in the process of trying to get approved. I have actually scheduled my surgery for March 24th because my insurance will most likely deny my claim. I was told in August that BC/BS of Alabama would except photos in place of medical documentation of weight for the past 3 years. I was pleased because I was going to have a hard time finding the weights. My BMI has been up and down most of my life. Well I did the 7 months of medically supervised weight loss supervision. In fact it was on the way to my last appt for this that I found out that my insurance no longer accepted photos. You can imagine my diappointment. I have spent all this time playing the insurance game. I actually gained weight in order to make sure my BMI was high enough. I have managed to find weight for every year except 2007. I have spent money on these apppointments because my insurance would not cover it. I had physcological evalutations, sleep studies, and emotional distress from all of this. So I decided to go the private pay way. Now my Dr.'s office says....why not try anyway. If I can get a letter stating that I don't have a weight for 2007 because they did not weigh me at these appointments, which is the truth. My problem is if I do this and they deny it anyway, it will drive me insane. I don't want to put this off any longer. I have not though about much else for over 9 months. I currently weigh around 256 lbs. I don't want to be super thin and will never be a model but I need to be healthy. Both of my parents and grandparents all died in their 60's. I will be 42 in March. I need to live longer. 20 years is not enough time. My parents were not really overweight and that is not the cause of their death but I need all the help I can get. So there you go...long winded I know but that's my story. Any help or advise is welcomed. Thanks in advance.

Kim Webb

Northport, AL

You might as well submit. Think of it as buying a lottery ticket. You don't really expect to win but if you do, it will be awesome.

I'm not sure where you got this information from, but the guidelines on BCBS website still says it accepts dated photographs in lieu of medical records (if they are unavailable), if accompanied by a letter from your PCP. My surgeon's office just submitted photos with my application this week.

I would go ahead and submit! If they deny, they deny, but keep fighting it! It *IS* in their policy guidelines.