What does the timeframe look like from initial visit to surgery?

[jessgnc 167]

The subject line says it pretty succinctly.

I have a "pick your brain" meeting with my endocrinologist coming up next week. Barring some miracle cure for my issues with metformin and PCOS, I am on board the sleeve train! (That's the first time I've said that aloud, besides to my husband. I just got a little rush of excitement.)

So what's the timeframe look like? I'm going to an introductory event at my local bariatric office to meet the physicians. Assuming my insurance approves this and I can get an appointment in, how long does it take from first walking in to meet the doctor until first incision?

[mbuczkowski 272]

I am in the early stages. But I have come to the conclusion that if your insurance covers, depending on your insurance, anywhere from 3 months to close to a year. Average 6-8 months.

If self pay, like me, it is much shorter. But the pocketbook hurts.

Call the ins company and see if your plan covers or of it is a specific exclusion by your employer, ins company, etc. My SIL said a lot of ins companies are not covering it due to the lack of success rate. I don't get that feeling on here....but still have to live with my insurance exclusion. Good luck!

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[jessgnc 167]

@@mbuczkowski Thanks for the reply! I actually spoke with my insurance company on Wednesday. I'm really grateful for my company, we have fantastic coverage. I'll need to hit my deductible and max out of pocket and it'll be covered in full for the rest. So in other words, I'll be covered in full after $1800 out of pocket. Which isn't great but I can definitely swing that.

That's a long waiting period though! I've waited for the right tool for well over a decade. I'm ready to go!

[bostonmama 135]

Mine was about 6.5 months, even though I tried to speed up the process as much as possible, and my insurance didn't require any kind of supervised diet. The NUT on my surgeon's team required 3 visits over 3 months. It could have easily taken another month or two if I didn't ask for earliest possible appointments and call to ask my office to submit the paperwork to insurance right away (and called again when I found they had not yet submitted it.)

[James Marusek 5,244]

My time period was 8 months. I had to pay deductibles over two years because there are costs spread out over the two years. The initial cost were primarily for meeting the 6 month medically supervised weight loss program where I met with a physician every month for 6 months. There was also the cost of the psychologist visit, which was not covered by the insurance. The later costs which included an extensive array of pre-op tests, a second round of pre-op tests with specialist in their fields, hospital and surgeon costs, post-op medicine were the greatest.

[jessgnc 167]

My time period was 8 months. I had to pay deductibles over two years because there are costs spread out over the two years. The initial cost were primarily for meeting the 6 month medically supervised weight loss program where I met with a physician every month for 6 months. There was also the cost of the psychologist visit, which was not covered by the insurance. The later costs which included an extensive array of pre-op tests, a second round of pre-op tests with specialist in their fields, hospital and surgeon costs, post-op medicine were the greatest.

This was super informative, thank you! I see you had full bariatric instead of the sleeve. Any idea if the steps are more or less the same?

I'm actually really happy that there are this many steps. While I know I want this, it'll give me ample time to fully adjust to the idea.

[Vinasu 621]

My info meeting was March 11. Surgery was August 10. I had a mandatory three-month weight loss period.

It felt so slow when I was going through the process, but looking back, it was a whirlwind.

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[Weight Loss_221058 0]

I am in early stages and was told that my Insurance is one of the most strict that requiers me to do excercise and diet journal first. I also need to quit smoking for at least 6 months.

[tiffanyjo 12]

Mine was 6 weeks from consult to surgery date. I checked what things the insurance company wanted and made sure they were done before the consult so that made things go much faster and smoother. If they want a 3 month supervised diet , my suggestion is get it done before hand along with all of the other things the insurance company wants and then it's just going through the classes and little things. Good luck

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[genn 460]

Mine was a total of 7 months 6 months of classes and nutrition visits etc and then a month out for surgery date

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[agirlhasnofluff 57]

March 17 was my initial appointment. September 26 was my final diet. Surgery was approved October 5. Surgery was scheduled October 10. Surgery happened October 24. So, 7 months and 1 week. The time flew by as I spent a lot of it educating myself about the surgery and post op life.

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[teedsg 253]

@@jessgnc, I have BCBS of Michigan. So far for me, I'm on month 5 of 6 for my nutrition visit after that, it may be a month or less depending on how fast my approval comes back. So, in all it's 7 months.

[GoingRogue 53]

It's really going to depend on so much. It's taken me 11 months. I did the 6 months and then getting everything to the doctor and getting someone to call me back and let me know what else needed to be done was a pain. Faxes didn't make it from point a to point b, etc. Then I ended up needing more testing due to dysphagia that wasn't discovered until about a month ago. You are going to see answers from 6 weeks to a year or more. There is no concrete answer here.

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[Jill_Me 100]

It's truly different for everyone. A friend who referred me to my surgeon said she had her surgery within 3 months of her first consultation. I'm finally having my surgery next Thursday, 7 months after my initial consultation. I was required to have therapy and follow a diet for months before they'd approve me. It was tough.

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[teedsg 253]

@, yes! the waiting is killer!