BCBS Cruel Game

[Sluggo 0]

If you viewed the President Health Care speech last wednesday you might have caught a known fact here in Alabama,BCBS carries 98 % of all employers. Not much choice avaiable here:thumbdown:

You are correct LarraineM. Negotiating new terms through my employer with BCBS in AL is not an option. Therefore, I will self-pay and try to make a vacation of it. Expensive darn vacation but hopefully instead of a t-shirt and bad home movies, a souvenir for life.

[realtruelady 0]

I have Federal BCBS and so far haven't had any issues. I am not required to do a 6 month diet and I only need to have an approved psych eval and a bmi over 40. But I do have one question, who is responsible for being sure all the paper work is submitted? I have scheduled the appts and today my PCP said she will write the letter today and send my records. Should I call to follow up and be a pest?

[RestlessMonkey 7]

Alabama state law prohibits how much insurance companies can charge employers who purchase the coverage. So in a way, you already have socialized medicine down there. There's no competition, so you're stuck. Sorry; call your congressman.

[should_be_working 0]

I have Premera BCBS and didn't have any trouble. Have you done any diet programs in the last two years? I had done Jenny Craig and was able to go there to get my weigh-in data and it was accepted by BCBS even though it wasn't medically supervised and even though my weight for part of that period fell below the minimum BMI.

[gnortenjones 0]

Double check with BCBS and your PCP, and find out if the 6 months of "supervised" dieting would include documented past attempts, if you have any?

I have BCBS in New York, and because I had tried Weight Watchers in the past few years, and my PCP knew about it, it qualified as the 6 months of supervised diet.

Of course, then I had to do the bariatric surgeon's required 3 month pre-op diet requirements also.

[junbug178 0]

I have Federal BCBS and so far haven't had any issues. I am not required to do a 6 month diet and I only need to have an approved psych eval and a bmi over 40. But I do have one question, who is responsible for being sure all the paper work is submitted? I have scheduled the appts and today my PCP said she will write the letter today and send my records. Should I call to follow up and be a pest?:biggrin:

Funny you mention that, the hospital performing my surgery as a group called LifeHelp. They assist with making the appointments and follow up to make sure all of the documents are sent to the Surgeon. I have to admit this whole process was pretty seamless for me.

Also, they are super nice! I give them :biggrin:

Edited September 18, 2009 by junbug178