LRTAB

I agree with RaS - the doctor is only looking to make sure that you are a viable candidate for surgery. Your insurance company wants to know that this will be a success and that your weight problem is not due to some mental health issue that will cause you to sabotage your success, or that you have unrealistic expectations about the surgery. Coming to grips with weight issues, including the depression that I'll bet most of us have shared partially due to the struggle, will be therapeutic and I advise that you use the time to be a little introspective. Learn something about yourself that you can use to your advantage in losing the weight PERMANENTLY this time. Unless you are mentally incapable of having surgery, they are going to approve you. Mine, too, was no big deal. Face it, your surgeon is not going to recommend a psychologist who sabotages his/her patients without a just cause. Enjoy it and learn from it!

Same day for me - July 19th! Good luck!!!

Well, it's now official... I am one of you! :smile: Ending a nine month process, I have a surgery date of July 19th! I battled insurance companies, complacent office staff at the surgeons office, my own impatience and finally got to this point! Diet begins on July 5th, so July 4th really is MY Independence Day as well. I'm in Little Rock, Arkansas...and can't wait!

Same boat as you, here! Insurance company approved me on 5/28 (yay!) but the surgeon's office is awaiting the formal letter before my first appointment (boo!) I am so eager to start it's killing me... lol

Agreed! I got nowhere until I took matters into my own hands and started calling my insurance company and tracking my documentation every step of the way. Best decision I ever made! Great advice and great job taking action! It's not always easy...

The surgeon I will be using was recommended by my primary care doctor who I trust explicitly. He has an outstanding success rate and his former patients rave about him. But his nurse who manages his insurance is horrible. Similar to you, it has taken NINE MONTHS to get approval. And I didn't have an insurance company requirement to try 6 mos of diet counseling, etc. They kept telling me that I needed X, or Y or whatever. Truth be told, I think that she had enough patients backlogged that she just processed the ones she knew were sure things and ignored me (my company has a PPO plan with a company in California, and it is not common with most businesses in my home state). After the year ended, I let it ride because I knew my wife's scheduled gall bladder surgery would help us hit our deductible this year. Once we did, I took matters into my own hands. I called my insurance company and got the list of pre reqs and *I* managed the process. I confirmed with the nurse that I had the right process, then I did all the prereqs myself. When done, I called all the people I had to see (Psychiatrist, nutritionist, etc) and made sure they had sent the paperwork and when. Then I asked her to submit or refer me to another surgeon, which she did and two weeks later I was approved. Also, I called my physician who may have helped shake things loose with his peer as well :biggrin: Bottom line is, this is your health and your responsibility. Don't let someone you don't trust own the process. If you aren't tied to the surgeon, find another referral. Call your health insurance provider and get the list of requirements and approved surgeons. Call them all. I believe this surgery will be the greatest decision I ever made (except marrying my beautiful wife!). Its worth fighting for! Best of luck to you, and don't give up!!

Thank you so much for sharing your story with us! I just found out today that I was approved by my insurance for the lap band procedure. I sat at my desk at work after the call with my insurance company experiencing as much fear as joy. Your testimony about your beautiful mother and the example you have been suddenly reminded me why I began this journey in the first place. My beautiful daughter is 9 years old...and skinny as a rail. She hasn't experienced the food issues that I have, and I want to be a better example for her. Someday I want to walk her down the aisle at her wedding, but at the rate I was going I won't be able to walk...if I am here at all. Again, thank you for sharing your story and hers. It is a tragedy that she is not here, but sharing her story has given me strength for my journey- thank you!!

My physician mentioned to me that studies of patients with lap band surgery has gotten lots of press recently in various medical journals - and they have all been positive. If yours isn't familar with it and the benefits, I'd be surprised. Best of luck! I've run the gauntlet of pre-reqs myself, and am now waiting on the insurance company to pre-authorize.

So, any news? I am still waiting...

Emma, I am in the same boat. I have diligently performed every prerequisite defined by my insurance company. I meet all the requirements and am now simply waiting for a response. It's frustrating - I called the insurance company last week and they said I would have a decision by last Friday. Monday, I phoned and was told by my (prospective) surgeon's nurse that they asked for additional information, which was provided. I phoned the insurance company again today to learn that it is still 'pending' review. My wife tells me that if I meet all the requirements, that it should be no problem. However, I fear that something will come up - they'll think I didn't try hard enough to lose weight, or that my high blood pressure isn't enough of a contributing factor (my BMI is 38.6 - it needs to be 40+ or I need to have another contributing medical problem like the hypertension), or maybe they'll pull my pharmaceuticals and find that I forgot a blood pressure medicine dose here or there... I literally feel like if I am accepted, that I will be on the path to return to a healthy, vibrant lifestyle and a bright, exciting future (my weight gain has been gradually up and down since a normal weight in high school 26 years ago). If not approved, I'm destined to suffer poor health which will eventually cause my career to fail, ending in an early, miserable death that leaves my family to fend without me. I am not normally this dramatic but I feel like this is my last shot. So I wait and I pray and I tremble. The waiting is hell...