Monica_Lynn

My surgery date is September 28. When I talked to the patient coordinator she said they were scheduling in October but when I got the call it was September 28. It all depends how far out your surgeon schedules.

I too have BCBSIL and yes they do require 6 months of medically supervised weight loss within the last 24 months. Along with that you have your psych eval and nutritional education (I did thru my PCP). I started this in January and at that time it was only 3 month but that changed in March They also require your BMI to be over 40 without co-morbidities or 35+ with 2 co-morbidities. Once my 6 months was over my file was submitted and in 1 week I had an answer that they needed additional information. The additional information was faxed over by me on 8/17 and again by my surgeon's office on 8/18 and I received my approval on 8/25/11 but I did have to call to get the verbal approval. I hope this information helps...Let me know if you have any other questions I can help out with. I studied the insurance coverage and requirements so there were NO surprises!!!

I had been researching WLS for a couple years before but was never "big enough" according to the guidelines. I was ignorant to the Mexico surgeons and how well known they are. Then I was in to see a cardiologist for chest pains and high blood pressure. Then a second heart medication was added to slow down my heart rate. Everything spiraled downhill from there..I had a sleep study to find I had mild sleep apnea and my blood work showed I had high cholesterol. At that point enough was enough and I was determined to get my requirements in and have the insurance approve this life changing procedure! Now my surgery date is September 28, 2011 and my deductible has already been met for the year so this will cost me zero dollars and a lifetime of success!

Mine is also on the 16th and I was told that I will also be meeting with the anesthesiologist too along with the surgeon and signing all the surgical forms. Mine will be done is a round table setting with 3-4 patients having surgery on the same day.

That is great news but I agree with klus263...get something in writing!

What seems to have been taking forever is finally coming to an end. I got the magical call from the scheduler today and I will be sleeved on September 28 at 11:30 am. Time to get it into gear so my home is in order. I have 4 weeks from today...wow that is going to fly by!

This is all I have been thinking about since January...more so since August 5 when my file was submitted to insurance!

I am pretty calm now about the whole situation (after the initial excitement and happy dance around the house). Once I have to start the pre-op diet is when the reality stick will hit me. Can't wait to start on my healthy journey!

Oh no, I am sorry to hear that! I will pray for good things to happen. Keep me updated!

I got that magical call today...I will be a September sleever after all. My date is September 28!

I too have been at this since January. My insurance required 3 month medically supervised weight loss then in the middle of my 3rd month the policy changed to 6 months or I would be done I plan on going to the group on the 21st (for stress I think). I met with Dr. Schuster but I would also use Dr. Chen if he could get me in early. I heard high recommendations for both surgeons. I just called the nurse line to find out if they received my lab results from Friday's draw. That was all I was waiting on. I think I should have had my date after my insurance approved! I will keep you updated. Thanks.

I just talked to Eilleen on Friday and she said they were scheduling for October now. I too was hoping to be a September sleever but that isn't going to happen. I went to one of the January info sessions and met with Dr. Schuster a couple weeks after. Seems like this is taking forever! I have been to one of the support meetings but plan on going to more.

I too am waiting for my date from Banner Bariatrics. I wasn't informed of all the files waiting to be scheduled but I do know it took about a week for them to submit the file to insurance. I am so anxious I can't stand it!

Just let me start by saying UGH. I have been on this journey since January. Finally got the 6 months of medically supervised weight loss behind me. Insurance took a couple week to get the approval thru. Went and had my lab work done on Friday. My surgeon's office won't schedule the surgery until they receive the results of the blood work. I am just REALLY ready to get my new healthy life started. Maybe tomorrow will be the day it all comes together!!!

My mama didn't name me Patience for a reason....I have absolutely NONE! Although I am very excited that I have the approval from the insurance company in writing...that was the big thing I was worried about!

So I have read many postings how the pre-op diet is a real killer. I will have my surgery date next week and I know it won't be until the first week of October. My surgeon requires 2 weeks of a pre-op liquid diet. I have just ordered a starter kit from Unjury.because I am going to start bringing in liquid items into my diet way before I HAVE to. I have found that this has worked with soda, I have already quit that and caffeine is gone too. I think the only thing I will miss is chewing once I get to that 2 week mark. Has anyone else done this so it isn't such a shock to the system?

Don't get frustrated. Just yesterday I was in the same situation. My file was originally submitted on 8/5/11 then on 8/12/11 when I called the insurance company they said they needed additional information that I knew was already in my file. The duplicate information I faxed over and the following day my surgeon's office faxed over too. I still had to wait another week before my approval came thru. Next time you call the insurance company ask when your file was taken into review. I found out the files are taken in the order received so just because it was faxed over on a certain day doesn't mean that it was being reviewed on that day. Once you get that date, you should have your answer within 7 business days of that date. I also called everyday at different times of the day too. It is your right as a policy holder to keep yourself informed! I can say stay calm now but yesterday before I called and actually received my approval, I was a wreck wondering why they were taking so long and wondering if that meant they were going to deny me after all my work. Keep a positive attitude

So I called again this afternoon and the response came thru about an hour before I called.... APPROVED!!! Now I am waiting for the patient coordinator to call back so we can discuss surgery dates.

That was going to come after

Can you find my file and approve it

Heller, you have no idea how anxious I am! I am jumping out of my skin waiting for a response. I delivered my paperwork to the surgeon's office too. Then it took them almost a week to submit to insurance. Soon2BMiniMommy, wait 3 days then start calling. The paperwork goes into a queue line and they are taken in the order received. All of the customer service people I have talked to says they like to get a determination within 7-10 business days after receiving the information. As of this morning I still don't have an update but I will be calling again later this afternoon

I too have BCBSIL. My file was submitted on 8/5/11. I started calling on 8/10/11 and finally on 8/12/11 there was an update that more documentation was needed. I emailed the customer service line to find out exactly what was needed and faxed that over on 8/17/11 and my surgeon's office also faxed the same info on 8/18/11 and the patient coodinator called to explain where to look in the file for the documentation they were looking for. I have been calling every day since 8/19/11 and there is no update. However, I did get confirmation that the file is being reviewed and a response should be received by Friday! Good luck to all!