Is a supervised diet required?

Do you have to have a supervised diet before your insurance will consider approving you for weight loss surgery? I am trying to find out how many there are of us out there. Beth M

Hi Beth: My insurance does require 3 months supervised weight loss and exercise plan prior to surgery. Ins is Aetna EPO. It's a pain, but best thing in the long run. Our bodies will be so much healthier for surgery. How far have you gone in this process? I just went for my 3rd class at St. Lukes (Phx), done my Psych eval, meet with the dietician next Tuesday, and the Surgeon on 3/31. I also started back at my gym today. I am praying that I can have my surgery in June or July. Susan H

Yes! I thought I was the ONLY one on here! LOL So many hoops we have to jump through. I started a phsycian supervised weight loss/exercise plan in July '04, and started the process. I got my consult date scheduled for November, also scheduled my psych consult in November. That way it was past the 3 month mark (Aetna sometimes considers 3 mos dr supervised weight loss), but surgery would be in January so it would be AFTER the 6 mons supervised weight loss. Basically this doctor gave me a diet to follow that was like 900 calories. I called it a concentration camp diet. I'm like I'm over 300 lbs, you expect me to eat 900 calories a day, and he said that I can do what I can and it's my GOAL to eat 900 calories a day. LOL Anyway, so I just did what I could, and I saw him monthly to weigh in. ~~~~~~~~ Trisha RNY - 3/8/05 14 lbs lost so far