Medicare Medicare

[Antonette 12]

Does anyone have Medicare? If you do, what did you have to go thru to get your surgery approved and how long did it take?

Thank You,

Antonette

[Hollisterfan27 26]

Sorry I don't know the process. I have HAP. You might to call your Medicare provider to see what the process us.

[Hannah55 79]

In MI you don't need approval, if you meet the criteria Medicare will pay for the surgery. I don't know if that's true for other states.

[SuperFab 689]

Lol with Medicare it's just if you meet the criteria. Ifound a Dr I liked at a Center of Excellence (required) and they do everything. The only reason I have a wait is because my bariatric center -not Medicare- requires 3 NUT appointments a month apart. They also require you to watch their seminar, a sleep study, stress test, 1 physical therapy appt and a psych eval. I have all of those already lined up because they schedule them for you. Shazaam! Easy as pie! Or a Protein smoothie, I guess...

[SuperFab 689]

Oh yeah... I'm in Oklahoma, but it should be the same for you and it took me a day or so to get approved. I called to get the bariatric center's packet sent to me to fill out and have them my Medicare info and it seemed like they called me back in a day and told me I was good to go and scheduled my initial appointment.

[crodrigu73 13]

And Medicare and Medicaid just removed the requirement for a Center of Excellence facility. 09/2013

[SuperFab 689]

That is going to help a lot of people out that have trouble finding a Center of Excellence nearby. I drive so far. But I am very happy with the surgeon I've chosen and the care I've received thus far.

[crodrigu73 13]

I am currently fighting a Center of Excellence requirement with BCBS because the closest one is 350 miles away, so I have been doing allot of research. Their rationale was that it did not decrease bad outcomes but reduced access to care.

[SuperFab 689]

I am currently fighting a Center of Excellence requirement with BCBS because the closest one is 350 miles away' date=' so I have been doing allot of research. Their rationale was that it did not decrease bad outcomes but reduced access to care.[/quote']

That's just crazy sauce!!!