Question ; BCBS Ga. Psych eval

Shouldn't this be billed under specialist. I was thinking I would only have to pay a copay. I just saw on my insurance site that I will be billed for 88 dollars. A friend of mine with same insurance only paid co pay. Anybody know about this?

Darla, Are you going to Dr. Proctor? Your name sounds familar... Anyway, if you are going to him, you have a choice of two doctors. They will get the authorization for you, and you do only have to pay your copay. Mine was 20. and that is all I paid. Email me if you'd like. Kathy

Darla, I just checked out your profile. I think I may have met you at the hospital at the meeting. Did you go on Sept. 1st? Are you going to use Dr. Richards? He was called for active duty Have you made your appt. with the psyc. yet? Who did you choose? Kathy

Hi Kathy, I had my application reveiw in July. Psych on Aug 10th. I had an appt with Dr Richards, I liked him a lot. When I first heard that he got called I called and asked Connie at the bariatric services and she said that he hadn't actually gotten papers yet. So has he gotten them now? If so who is taking his place? Wouldn't they notify us if he was gone already. When I talked to Connie she said that it wouldn't Make it take any longer to have surgery. I plan on talking to her on monday, to let her know about getting my CPAP machine. And I actually slept very well with it today . Of course that could have been because I did a double from 3pm til 7 am. Do you go to the support group meetings? I have wanted to go but something always comes up. This time it is the Diabetes 101 at the Mountain Center, that takes all day.

Hi Kathy.. I am going through Proctor too I am going to the support group meeting tomorrow. I got a call last Friday from the hospital nurse, and my meeting with dietician and sleep person is 9/24.. I have been waiting patiently for the surgeon's office to call as well. Can you tell me if you had both meetings same day, or were they far apart ?

Hi Maureen, and everyone... When I had my meeting with the Candace(sleep study) and dietician (Ginny), I was able to see Dr. Richard the same day. I met with them, and Connie (the bariatric nurse) gave me some information...then I went over to Obesity Solutions. The surgeon's office is not in the hospital where you will go to meet them. I would just call Connie and see if you can meet with him the same day. She is the one who will set up your appt. with the surgeon. You may already have one for the same day. As far as having the sleep study done, Dr. Proctor/Richard does require it before surgery. But it is my understanding that the center they use is booked up well into October. I called my PCP and got a referral to a local hospital, and had it done before I even went to the appt. They were able to see me in a week. And that is fine with Dr. Proctor/Richard's office. Also, this is important...ObesitySolutions only uses 2 psychologists...one is in Gainesville, and the other in Atlanta. You shouldn't make an appt. through BCBS with anyone because they only use these two. For whoever is going with ObesitySolutions...I was told to wait until after I met with the surgeon to have my psyc eval. Once you get this information..call the psyc. office and set up an appt. with them, the psyc. office will call and verify your appt. with BCBS and you are set. I never even had to talk to them. It is not through Magellan, because this is not a "mental" thing, it is paid for through the "health" side of BCBS. There is only a 20.00 copay. And Barb..I agree about the PCP wanting certain tests. I guess I am just surprised that he would write a letter of medical necessity without these tests first. The letter has to include the words "SURGICALLY CLEARED". I know my PCP wouldn't even write my letter until I had all the test done to satisfy him, so he could "clear me" for surgery. Lyn...don't worry!! I was surprised about my test. I expected them to be horrible, but they weren't. And you usually know the results by the same afternoon, which is super! None of that wait and see game that we all worry about! You will be fine! Isn't this a great journey? At times it is so frustrating...but the closer you get, the more exciting it becomes!! Take care everyone! Kathy

BCBS usually uses Magellan for their psychiatric care. Check the back of your card. You should only have a co-pay, but it may be different. If you need a Dr.'s name, let me know. I have a great Psychiatrist. Holly

I was sure that it was only going to be a copay. My friend has the same exact insurance as I do and she just paid the copay. I am pretty sure he is in network. Unless they did it as behavioral services instead of a specialist consult. I already had the consult. It went great , I really liked him. Plus he didn't tell me I was crazy

Hi Darla; I have BCBS of GA and used Cele Covatta in Atlanta for my phys.eval. I had to pay the $300.00 up front and then send in the insurance form to BCBS. They reimbursed $86.00 (approx) of this to me. Dr. Covatta is a wonderful woman to talk with and I am so glad that I chose her for my evaluation. Kathy

I'm glad I didn't have to pay up front. I forgot to take my insurance card and thought it was in the car. He told me they would bill me for the co-pay. I haven't received the bill yet but from looking at my ins. online it looks like I will pay 88 instead of 15. which still ain't too bad.