Insurance Approval

I started thinking about having this surgery in April of 2007, I started looking into it and learned that my insurance through my employer did not have coverage for weight loss surgery. At first I was very disappointed, but with some further research learned that it was covered by my Husband's insurance plan. We had to wait for his open enrollment period and in January 2008 I was on my way. My insurance plan required six months of supervised weight loss before they would approve the plan.

I went in and saw my doctor seven times for seven consecutive months (I was told the first month would not count because that is when the doctor would give me the outline for diet and weight loss. I kept a journal at home and shared this with my doctor. At every appointment I showed up and told them I was there for a follow up for obesity. I tried Meridia but could not tolerate it because it caused me to feel very anxious. At every appointment they monitored my weight, blood pressure, pulse, height and respiration. The doctor took my vitals and we talked about the progress on my diet. It was nothing major. I'm happy to answer additional questions for anyone struggling with this part. I made sure that I went once each month, though sometimes the appointments were more than 30 days apart and were not always with the same doctor.

I was nervous about getting approval because I had heard some nightmare stories. While I was researching this surgery I stumbled upon the Obesity Help website and I got all the information I would ever need from that site. Unfortunately knowledge is not always power and after reading about everyone's problems with insurance I was quite nervous about the approval process.