Hi Susan,

I received the letter from Dr. Bell saying he was leaving Yale, and I am heartbroken as well!  He is the most fabulous doctor on this planet, and gave me something that is so precious.  WE NEED to continue to be successful for him!  I understand he is going into private practice in NJ.

Best,

JA

....... Then came the letter that Dr. Bell is leaving Yale Bariatrics.  I am so heart broken.  I can't imagine going to my follow up with another doctor.

Does anyone know why he's leaving??? 

I was so excited about finally making the decision to get sleeved. After being told my insurance would cover it, I went to the cardiologist, made appointments to see a nutritionist, a pulmonologist, etc... and then was told my insurance will not cover the procedure! I am so upset!!! Now i'm thinking about trying to get a loan to pay for this. Has anyone had to self pay for the sleeve? Any recommendations of good and affordable surgeons in CT?

Hi aliha, I have medicaid insurance and theres a whole list of stuff you have to do before approval. specifically I have Husky D which used to be called medicaid for low income adults. If you have A or B it's probably cuz you have kids, and C is for people who are elderly or disabled but not yet old enough/eldgible for medicare.

forgot to mention I am pre-op so i am doing the pre-op work up now! have you had you first consult with the surgeon yet?? and what part of CT are you??

The surgeons assistant gave me a paper with a list, theres a lot to do!! here goes: they only cover gastric band/lapband, gastric bypass/RNY, and gastric sleeve/VSG.....6 consecutive months of visits with a dietitian so thats one a month, psych eval, letter of medical necessity from your pcp, pulmonary clearance, sleep study to test for sleep apnea, GI eval which is an upper endoscopy / test of you stomach, and cardiac eval.

the only thing i am having trouble with is finding a doctor to do the psych eval and you might have to pay out of pocket for the dietitian unless you find one that takes medicaid

hope this helps....feel free to message me with anymore questions!!

Hi,

I need to convert from the band to sleeve.  I've done well, but my body is rejecting the band.  Has anyone had BC/BS cover the revision if your BMI is less than 30.  The waiting to hear from the insurance company is killing me.

Thanks