yep! it's about 80 pounds, if you have comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea [and a few others]. it's 100 pounds if you are otherwise healthy.
and different insurance companies have different approval hoops to jump through. they're on the lookout for people who can't follow directions, who think that this is a magic bullet, or who have psychological issues that should be addressed before surgery.
It's almost always based on BMI, not number of pounds you have to lose. If you are 60 pounds overweight at 6'2" or 60 pounds overweight at 4'9", you will have two very different BMIs!
In general (and according to the National Insitutues of Health) in the US, you qualify for surgery with a BMI of 40+ or 35+ if you have comorbidities.
jillybean720 , 02-28-2009 03:17 PM
