bensdad03

Did you actually try and submit a claim or did you decide on self-pay on what they said?

I am not a Dr. Lin patient, but all 3 surgeons at Emory hold the same seminar - they just take turns. The seminar is actually pretty uninformative because everything that I wanted to know I got from LapBand.com. My suggestion is to go ahead and visit your primary care physician, get them to get your weight and figure out your BMI. If you have any co-morbidities (High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Diabetes, Fatigue, Sleep Apnea, Back and joint problems), make sure they include those and go ahead and get a letter of Medical Necessity. Contact your insurance company to get information on what will be covered. If your insurance will cover it at any point in time, go ahead and have the psych eval done - everyone has to have that done no matter what. The seminar is necessary because that is your ticket to getting pre-approved for becoming a candidate. They will contact you shortly afterward to let you know that you are approved and you can schedule your meeting with your Dr. Hope this helps!

How was your first fill? Can you tell a difference?

My eval was on December 27th and very much like candy8360's experience. The interview consisted of about 20 minutes of me telling my history, my motivation and my expectations. Then there was a 400 question test that took about an hour. There are some odd questions on there, but she stated that they have been using this tool since the 1950's and it works. Some of the questions are really obvious as to what illness or issue they are for (self-esteem, paranoia, little green men taking over the world :-) ). She stated that, out of all the bariatric evals she has ever done, only one person required some additional counsleing and, after 2 sessions, they were approved. I believe that, as long as you are doing it for the right reasons, you won't have any problem with the evaluation.....

I appreciate the information - I hope that it won't get to that point, but I want to be ready and educated just in case. I have been unable to find the nutritionist information anywhere in our Healthcare Provider information. I am going to try and contact our benefits department and see if they know exactly where to look...

Yes - I would love to have the number - thank you so much!!!!

Hi All! I am from Griffin, GA, about 40 miles South of Atlanta. I have started the journey and hopefully will not have many more hurdles. I did get frustrated recently because I contacted my insurance (State of Georgia Health Plan with United Healthcare) months ago with the Lap Band surgery code and I was told that a letter of medical necessity would be required and a 30 day (max) review by a committee. So I went to the seminar, got the letter from my Primary Care Physician, received approval from my cardiologist, met with Dr. Scott Davis at Emory and just completed the Psych Eval last week. But when I contacted UHC again regarding the nutrition eval, the lady stated that the State of GA would not cover any weight loss surgery.... PERIOD. The nutrition eval is my last step. I still have to write out my diet history over the last few years, but that will be fairly straight forward. I am going to go ahead and continue with the process to see what happens. I am praying that the first person I spoke with was right!! Once I am approved I will have to go to the $180 nutrition class previously mentioned, have the battery of tests and the EGD, then I will be scheduled for the surgery. For any of you that stated that you had to self pay, were any of those UHC on the State of GA Health plan? Also, does anyone that had the surgery with the Emory group know where to find a certified dietician or nutritionist that doesn't cost the $120.00 that the Emory folks do? Look forward to chatting with you all - Happy New Year!