la.pereira

OMG I'm sorry..will this surgery help my brain too? Hehe Thank you very much for all the help and information. Insurance can be so confusing!

What insurance do y'all have? Also... My policy says both of the following: -Description of non-surgical weight reduction program (weight watchers etc) initial weight, end weight, duration. -Documented failure to respond to conservative measures for weight reduction ..etc etc etc So could that be sort of combined? I've done multiple programs on my own and with companies like Weight Watchers. And I lost weight but always gained it back.

Can someone translate this for me? I take it as they want me to fail a diet before seeing my surgeon and bring them proof. "Patients should have documented failure to respond to conservative measures for weight reduction prior to consideration of bariatric surgery"

The three month period is SUGGESTED, not required, and no, not because you may not want the surgery - but for the surgeon to assure that you are sufficiently prepared for post-op life. If your surgeon is satisfied, no reason he or she can't get approval for surgery prior to three months after the initial consultation. As an example, my surgeon does required that I see an RD and have a psych eval - Blue Shield no longer does. And he wants those done before the initial consult. I did my orientation class in September and will have my initial consult in December, attending support group in the meantime. Depending on his schedule, I could be scheduled in January, and he will be able to document that I've been getting preparation and education for three months prior to initial consult even happens. Blue Shield's policy appears to be specifically written to take into account that different surgeons have different requirements. Believe me, if the three month period were required, rather than suggested, the policy would say so (I once wrote policies for a health plan). I hope this helps. That definitely helped! Question: I'm running into some Dr's saying that I need a referral to make an appointment with them..but I haven't had my consultation with the surgeon yet! I want to make my appointments now so I don't have to wait 2-3 weeks to see each specialist. (My surgeon wants me to see 6 different ones!) Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Oh thank y'all so much yeah it appears that my surgeons girls had no idea what was going on HOPEFULLY they don't also mess up my paperwork later on...yeesh! And thanks for that too because writing a letter is a ton of work anyway! Haha

I have Blue Shield and am wanting to bypass their 3 month "waiting period" recommendation. In which they suggest that you take some time to think about whether you really want the surgery or not. However I have been researching and thinking about it for the last 4 years. So I want to write them a letter addressing that in case they try to deny me because of the waiting period. (Which of course they will try to). Any suggestions?