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Okay that makes me feel so much better. And problems oh yeeessss..... I am a diabetic, have high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Those are the majors and have some minors as well. So I pray this will all work out for me. BC is my provider I heard they were pretty good with approvals if you have all documented proof.

Blue Cross is very quick with their approvals. Mine took 6 days. Also, Melanie is the insurance gal at Mercy Capitol and she pretty much knows right off the bat if you will be approved. I heard once that she has had only two people get denied from BC/BS. She knows their guidelines forwards and backwards. They also mentioned at the last support group meeting that 80% of their patients have BC/BS so she knows what she is doing.

That is so cool! I have been praying things would work out for the best. I am so ready for this. Now, when I talked to the insurance company they did say they are behind a couple of weeks. And that they stay pretty busy around Dec-Feb. So we shall see. I will sure be talking to her when I go, the more and more I think of it the more I am leaning towards Mercy. So Cindy when did you get approval and when did you have the surgery. I have been hearing with mercy the average is 60-90 from start to finish if there are no problems. Not sure how true but hope it is.....

Just keep in mind that having BC/BS all by itself doesn't mean anything. It is all about what your specific policy states. I have Wellmark BC/BS (the policy that Mercy employees have) and it is pretty decent. I was approved in a matter of a few days. My plastics took longer to approve than my WLS request. Good luck. And as far as lap band goes......personally, I wouldn't go there. I needed a procedure that was 100% going to do the trick. I was sick of screwing around with weight loss attempts that didn't work in the long run. There is no way to fail with RNY. With a band, you can still eat anything you can get to go through, and that means if you can pulverize it in a blender, you can probably eat it, but blending it up doesn't make it calorie-free, if you know what I mean. Remember, the way the RNY is sucessful is that it works in two ways .... restriction and mal-absorption. There is no way to fail. So, even if you eat something a little high in calories, you aren't going to absorb all those calories. But, if you eat tons and tons of high calorie crap, then of course you are going to be taking in too many calories. but in the beginning that won't happen because your pouch is too small. The idea is that by the time your pouch stretches out enough to eat much, you have already established life-long practice of exercising, plus you will love your new small body so much you don't want to mess that up. That's how I feel anyway. I would rather die than go back to 265. My life SUCKED then. jean

The lap band was just a passing thought I will only do the RNY. I am just so excited that after this week I will at least have an appointment to get started. Well at least I think that is how it works. When you go to the meeting you can say you want to proceed correct??? Well I will keep you posted. When I spoke with BC they said as long is all is in order it should not be a problem with the approval. But God only knows and I can not wait to see. I pray within a couple of weeks I can get it but I know I have to go through the other process first, which is okay but I want to make sure I get all things in order.

Velda, I also have BC/BS insurance. And honestly, I didn't have alot of documented weight loss programs either. I mentioned my weight to my doctor several times but usually it was when I was in the clinic for something else so he never documented it. And I did try a few programs. Well, I was approved in 2 days with no problems and even Melody, the insurance lady for Mercy Capitol, was suprised. But has Jean says ever policy is different and do your best with writing everything you have tried down.

I am so grateful that I complained so much about my weight to my doctor, I am pretty sure he keep track but I see him this week and will see if he did just that and ask him for a letter for the insurance company while I am at it.

Hello Velda I just wanted to wish you good luck in this journey. As many have said patience is the key. It is hard to wait but it is all worth it in the end. Let us know how your 2 appointments go!!! Feel free to e-mail me with any questions.