Length of time from finished supervised weight loss to surgery
I was wondering how ong everyone had to wait after finishing supervised weight loss to find out if you were approved by insurance and get a surgery date. Please also state whether you had gastric bypass or lap band.
Thanks
It all depends on your insurance, your surgeon, what other requirements there are...
When I started this whole thing, I had ***S of NJ, and they specifically stated in the policy that if you did weighed more at the end of your 6 month diet than you did at the beginning, you would not get approved. However, I now have Aetna, and I have spoken with others who were approved despite having gained during their diets.
My cuse is currently with the insurance company awaiting what I'm praying will be an approval the first time around. Once I have approval, I know my surgeon is so busy they are scheduling about 2-3 months out, so even if I got approved today, I wouldn't be having surgery until probably March or even early April.
Oh, and I'm not getting gastric bypass or the band. I'm getting the DS.
Some won't approve you if you can't demonstrate you can follow directions and lose weight before surgery. They feel you won't be able to follow instructions after and the surgery will be wasted.
I had gastric bypass, had lost 22 lbs on my own before seeing the surgeon and had to show that I could follow directions and lose the first month of the Dr supervised (I lost 6 lbs) and then I spent the next 5 months hovering around that same weigh. I finished my 6 months in Dec. of 2007 and had surgery Feb 2008.
Angela
Last edited by missangelaks; 01-16-2009 at 01:37 PM.
I had BC/BS insurance. I went to the bariatric doc on Jan 3, 2007 and had RNY Bypass on Feb 12,2007. I am almost 2 years out and just now starting to struggle with keeping it off. I lost 160 lbs and have gained around 10 lbs back, but I think it is because of the holidays and am now getting a grip on it to take the 10 lbs back off.
How much did you loose during suprevised weight loss, I have not been able to lose crap all and I am worried they will make me do another 6 months
I lost about 14 pounds according to my doctor. I calculated only losing 8lbs. My Dr. flat out told me that if I gained weight during the pre-op he would refuse to operate. He was very serious about not gaining weight before surgery. I started kicking up my exercise and used the post-op guide to help me with food selection.
Last edited by worthylady; 01-16-2009 at 09:56 PM.
Well in 3 months I lost a total of 4 pounds from my start weight, I figure in the next 2 or 3 I need to lose at least that much if not more, I want my total weight loss to be between 10 and 15 pounds, they can't call that a sucess but not a failure either.
I started my 6 month supervised weight loss in March, had to attend a surgery seminar in September. I had 2 other surgeon appts, 1 nutritionist and 1 psychologist . My last surg appt was Dec 12 and I had approval by Dec 23. Just had RNY Jan 8. Also my insurnce changed in the middle of all of this. Originally was PA gateway and then switched to ***S
I am trying to figure out when I might be able to have surgery. I have my consultation on Wednesday. The insurance I currently have requires 6 months of supervised weightloss but I will be switching to one that only requires 3. I am hoping that to have the lap band procedure in early summer.
Length of time from finished supervised weight loss to surgery
