So, I haven't posted to this blog in a year. I got mad because United Health Care turned me down. :biggrin: I fell into a funk, and pretty much just stopped trying.

And then something wonderful happened. I found out that I am eligible for Tricare Prime due to my husband being retired Army, and guess what. They pay for weight loss surgery! We already had Tricare Standard, but they would only pay a certain percentage and it was harder to get approved, so I bit the bullet, wrote the $115 per quarter check to get it started and enrolled.

It took 30 days to get the insurance started. So that was March 1. I called them and asked exactly what I had to do to get them to pay for the referral visits, etc. to my preferred surgeon, and they gave me all the info. Of course, this means I have to swap primary care physicians, but since I haven't been happy with my current one recently, that was not a big deal.

The PCM I went to see listened to me, asked all the right questions and spent time talking with me about the decision to have the surgery. And he wrote the letter. :smile: I will be continuing to see Dr M. I think this was a good decision.

So, on April 1 I have an appointment with Dr. E. Stahl, who is my endocrinologist/diabetes specialist. She was not happy that it had been so long since I last saw her, but she was pleased that I had managed to stay the same weight for a whole year. 269. I didn't lose anything, but I didn't GAIN anything. :wink2: That's the important part.

When she found out that I had jumped through all the hoops and had the OK from the insurance company to go see Dr. R. Stahl, her husband and my chosen surgeon, and had not heard from his office yet, she obviously made a phone call because that afternoon his office called and I have a consultation appointment on Monday! :crying:

I'm so excited I can't stand it. I've reread all the LapBand info a dozen times, I've literally memorized the brochure, which is good and not good, but Dr. E S thinks I'm an excellent candidate for the surgery. Hopefully, Dr. R. Stahl will, too!