Requirement of UHC

[acuttita 49]

So the doctors office just called me and scheduled my first appointment with them now that my insurance covers it but it’s not for another month They also informed me that per my insurance which is United Healthcare, it is a requirement that I meet 5 times with their nutritionist over a period of six months. That’s six months I have to wait for a date for the surgery which is very depressing to me. I have a wedding in October and I wanted to make some progress by then so right now I am feeling a little defeated. Anybody else go through this and what was the outcome?

[ajmsp8879 24]

This is really common actually. My insurance doesn't require it, but the surgeon I am going to requires three months of dietitian visits. That want to ensure you are committed to lifestyle changes and starting early.

[Diana_in_Philly 1,426]

While my insurance did not have a 6 month requirement, my team had a three month requirement - but by the time I got all the testing scheduled and done, it was almost 5 months before I had my surgery. My program required the information session (April 2016). Then I started with the surgeon's office in May and my surgery was at the end of August. What I can tell you is they are looking for your ability to stick with the plan you will be given. I was given a high Protein almost no carb plan to follow from the start - not very different than how I would be eating post-surgery. And I had to schedule the endoscopy, the pulmonary clearance, the cardiac clearance, the psych eval (which took more than a month to schedule and then another month to get the report back.)

The time flies. I understand your frustration, but the biggest part of making this work long-term is getting your head in the right place.

[cdealdec 40]

I have UHC as well and I did have the 6 month supervised diet but I meet with my surgeon each month and used that as the supervised diet. Meet with the nutritionist once and the psyh once. It goes by pretty quick. I was scheduled for surgery on the 4 visit so I knew my date. That is when it felt like it took forever. It gave me plenty of time to do all my research which made my visits a in and out thing cause I knew what was coming and what I needed to change. Used the 6 months to stop smoking and get it in my head I would not be able to eat a lot of the foods I loved then. So food funerals were an everyday thing the last month.