YouKant4GetMe

I know it's not as exciting as NSV's or insurance approval, but I've been working towards this for over 2 years. I did my 2nd of my 3 required psych appointments this morning, and I got my call from the hospital for my initial consultation today...farther than I have EVER been in this process! I wanted to scream and shout and tell everyone about it!!!....but then I remember I've chosen not to proactively tell everyone...yet. I have my 3rd/last psych appointment Monday (which is just to go over my results), and I head out of town to the hospital right after noon! What do I expect now as far as a timeline goes?! (That's assuming insurance doesnt deny me.) Can I guess in the meantime that I may have my surgery before the new year???

I cant answer in regards to after having surgery bc I haven't had surgery yet; however, I've been on and off the hcg injections for a year and a half. I do not see how it could work with only having 500 calories a day and having to have the certain foods that you do because I don't know how one would get all of their Protein in. My doctor told me that anything that isn't the injections and isn't a prescription from the dr's office isn't true HCG. That is just my two cents worth.

What is the psych evaluation entail? I have mine tomorrow, and I am freaking out about what kind of questions he is going to ask. Obviously I'm not going to lie to him, but I was just wanting an idea of what kinds of questions he will ask?

I havent been sleeved yet, but I'm in Wichita, KS, and I will be getting sleeved in Topeka! Is everyone else sleeved already?

Wichita KS here! I don't have any info to add.. sounds like you are all way ahead of me in this game!! Im still pre op. Just completed my 6 month diet and waiting on doing my psych eval. I'll be going through Topeka with Dr. Hamilton hopefully. Nice to meet you all!

Hi, Laurie! I'm from Wichita Ks. I'm pre op still. But I'll probably be going through Dr. Hamilton in Topeka KS. Have you had your surgery yet? Would love to hear how things are going either way!

Congrats on your surgeries! Hope you two are still doing well. I'm sure it can be discouraging to see weight loss slow down, but I'd be so ecstatic over smaller pants falling off I'd probably forget I didnt lose as much weight as the week before!! I can only imagine how good that feels. I'm still pre-op. I am done with my 6 month diet, and I am waiting to get my psych eval done and go to my surgeons seminar. After that, I'm not so sure! lol thanks for sharing.

Wow that is great info!! I am definitely saving that!! Thanks!

I'm confused. Can you please explain the difference between the fmla and the short term disablity? I have FMLA for my migraines that I use on a weekly basis unfortunately, which means I'll be out of FMLA before my year is up for it and probably cant use it for surgery... how does short term disability work? Sorry for being a dummy.

I have United Health Care. When I first called them to find out about their coverage of bariatric surgery, I got asigned a case manager who I told I had been denied twice with Aetna in 2009. To make a long story short, she offered to see if those 4 appointments with Aetna in 2009 could be used towards my 6 appointments I need with UHC, and I went ahead and started my other appointments. She called me Friday, and she said she got it approved that my 6 months appointments are done, and I was approved to move on to my psych eval and call the hospital to schedule my consult. I got so excited about not needing 4 more appointments that I didn't clarify if that meant I was approved or not. I wouldn't have thought so; however, could I have been told to go ahead and call the hospital to see if they need anything more from me or my case manager before scheduling my consult? I'd make things easy by just calling her but I always get her voicemail and never know when she will call back. Any thoughts?

I just had my first appointment with my primary care physician today. I gave him what paperwork I had about requirements for the surgery, including the 6 month diet. All he said was to eat 3 meals a day, stay under 1600 calories, and document everything I eat to bring back to my next appointment. Is this going to be detailed enough to make some insurance approval person happy? I was totally expecting to hear him suggest an actual plan like Atkins, South Beach, etc.. Thanks for helping a newby out!

So it obviously took weeks to happen, but my case worker finally called me Friday and told me that she got it overridden for me to not have to have any more appointments because she got it approved to have my 4 months from Aetna in 2009 plus my 2 I've had while getting this started this year add up to my 6 appointments needed!! This is SO freaking fantastic I cried as if I was already approved! lol (That saves me 4 more appointments this year.) I'll be scheduling my psych eval within the next few weeks (because I have to wait on them to call me to schedule), and I'll be visiting my dr's hospital seminar in two weeks in Topeka. She said it is mostly downhill from here. Is it possible that at this rate I could be sleeved by the end of this year??? This just is starting to seem too easy now, and THAT worries me. :/ Even though I've been trying to be approved since 2009, I don't really know what happens from here. Could anyone chime in and let me know what kind of possible time line I am looking at here? P.S. I hope MeMeMeee got her approval....If you read this, let me know MeMeMeee!!

Since I applied for surgery 2 years ago with Aetna and did a 3 month diet requirement (before obviously being denied), my UHC nurse proactively told me she'd look to get manager approval to use those months towards my 6 I need now since they were less than 2 years ago, along with any other months my PCP can prove we talked about diet and exercise. I'm VERY surprised by this, and I'm still waiting to hear back if that will be ok. If this goes through, I won't need to do any more PCP appointments...HOW FREAKING COOL WOULD THAT BE!?!? I really don't want to get my hopes up, but how could I not when it wasn't even my idea?! Just like everyone else, I can't wait to be on the other side of all of this. It's all I think about every day. I might explode before I get my phone call! lol

This IS only a minor bump in the road! I see you've lost over 100# already.. you have to remember the good things and that all good things come with time! (Ok, so that sounded corny but hopefully it works!)

I am trying not to get my hopes up, but I talked to my case manager for the first time today. I explained I went through Aetna 2 years ago to apply and got denied twice. SHE asked when I went through my 3 month diet requirement because if it was in the last 2 years, she could probably get a manager to let me use those 3 months, plus the one I went to last week, and just one more to count for my 6 appointments! I was like WHOA! So, who know if that will actually work, as it will probably be next Monday before I find out anything, but that would be AWESOME!! I love United Health Care so much more than Aetna already!!

Hi group! I'm Jenifer, and I'm from Wichita, KS. I joined this group because I found out that with my insurance, I'll either be going through Topeka or KC for my surgery (so obviously I don't know who my surgeon is yet). I applied 2 years ago through Aetna insurance, and I got denied twice because I lost 50 # of my own over the course of a year a 3 or 4 years back (Who cares I gained 90 back then, right?). I was told I'd be eligible to start over again June 2011; however, my insurance at work changed to United Healthcare June 2011 so not only am I starting over, I'm going from Aetna's 3 month diet to UHC's 6 month diet requirement. I just had my first of 6 appointments last week...I'm hoping these 6 months can go by fast because I'm so tired of being this overweight (I never had a weight problem until I had my son 8 years ago). I'm not able to excercise currently because I've had 7 sprained ankles on the same foot in a year and a half, and the last time I sprained it in December 2010 it happened at work, and it ended up fracturing some small bone in my heel region which makes it painful to walk without my cam boot I wear all of the time. I have my consult with my orthopaedic surgeon in two days, so hopefully more will come of that soon. Sorry I'm rambling...So much I have on my mind about the surgery but trying not to go into every single detail. Hoping everyone is doing well. Thanks for letting me ramble! Jenifer

I have UHC, too! My work just switched over to it in June. Our plans must be pretty similar then. Good luck on your approval! Does yours go through a bariatric service through another company/party, too? I read somewhere else tonight that once you have done your 6 months, once you fax it it that it can be approved in 24-48 hours. Have you heard that?

Well, then that answers my question AND makes me feel better! That's so exciting having only 1 month left! I thought a 6 month thingy was going to be like 7 total appointments, because you have to have your last appointment be the follow up for the 6th month, but the paperwork that was emailed to me from the insurance lady only has 6 appointment slots on it to have the dr sign...so I'm slightly confused on that, but I have a scheduled call back on Tuesday from a case worker that is guiding me through it to answer more questions. I'm so super duper excited I could pee myself! lol