hurry up and wait

Ok, for the past many moons I have been tested, poked, straped up with electric wires , evaluated mentally and now that I have been running constantly and finished all that was required, suddenly everything has come to a screeching halt, now the days are rolling by waiting on the insurance to "approve" or "disapprove", does anybody out there know how long it takes for the insurance to reply after everything thats required is done? I have Cigna with Harrah's entertainment < its a little different from regular Cigna.

I called my insurance company myself and found out that they were waiting for more paperwork. I then called the surgeon's office and expedited things quickly. There are so many people getting this done that it's easy to get buried on the bottom of the pile. You're paying the surgeon big money, whether insurance covers it or not, so you can be a little aggressive in getting your services. I have Amerihealth and it took about one week for approval, and then another FOUR weeks to get my pre-op appointment with the surgeon. Hang in there..........the pre-op process is much harder than the actual surgery!

I have BlueCross/BlueShield. They said 1 week after all test results have been turned in. I haven't hit the "screeching halt" yet, but when I do, I will pick up the phone and start calling the doctor's office, insurance co and whoever else. Good Luck, maybe our dates will scheduled close together. I will be watching.

Oh Bettye do I EVER know what you mean about the screaching halt! You spend sooo many months with hours and hours diigently working on getting all of the requirements and in this stage YOU are in control. It's all up to you and you have to work at it getting everyone to do their part as well as getting to all the appointments. Then you submit to insurance and WHAM..... the balls out of your court and all you can do it WAIT. You suddenly have NO control. You're in the dark. You don't know if they are working on your case or it's sitting on some pile on someones desk at the insurance company. IT is sooo frustrating! I know just how you are feeling right now because it was just a short time ago I was there... it's only been about 6 weeks since I got my approval. I have BCBS and they told me it would take UP TO 30 days. It took them 3 weeks from the time they received all the paperwork from the surgeon. I called every other day and checked on the status. They finally did tell me over the phone that I was approved before they sent the letter out. Lots of people have said in the message boards that it's a good idea to call often. I don't know if that helps or not, but I did it just in case. Hang in there kiddo. I know this is sooo hard but like someone else said... this is MUCh harder than post surgery! -Marianne C.

Hey Thanks for the pep talk! I really needed it, you hit the nail right on the head, I have been having nightmares thinking after all this they are going to say "NO", hopefully it won't be long now, I will keep you posted..... thanks again!