Hello Iowa.

Good Evening, Just wanted to drop a line to all you folks out there. I'm pre-op and have been actively pursuing this surgery for about 2 1/2 years. I've been denied twice by two different insurance companies and after I switched to BC/BS Alliance Select, I was informed by BTC that they no longer accepted BC/BS insurance. Ohh boy. Life is not so sweet on my end, but I praise the courage of all those who went through the surgery. Good luck with your continued loss, and if you have a favorite doctor within reasonable driving distance of Waterloo, give a shout out and tell me why he/she is a great doc. Also, if anyone has BC/BS Alliance Select, tell me how you got approved, what surgery you were approved for and who did it. (If you don't mind.. Take care you Losers (and future Losers , Sophie

I do not have BCBS but I can recommend a good surgeon- Dr Robert Keating from Cedar Rapids. I was really afraid of all the hoops I have heard everyone else has to jump through to get this surgery done but Keating is pretty laid back. I didn't have to have a psych eval, leak test, or go on a diet before surgery. I think he knows from personal experience how stressful the waiting can be. He has lost 100# in the past year on the Atkins Diet. He looks quite young but I've heard his praises sung by older patients who have had him for just general surgery. I also didn't have to wait forever to get into see him. He only performs 3 of these surgeries a week. Prior to this I checked out Iowa City and found that they do everything by the book and then some, which is commendable but I think that making you wait up to a year and putting you on yet another diet is insulting when most of us have probably spent the better part of our lives as professional dieters already. He leaves a little to be desired in giving out post-op dietary info- he just refers you to the dietician. But as you know, most ins companys won't cover that, and at $100 an hour, I'm sorry but I will go to a website and get my info! Hope this has been of some help and good luck in your decision making! Michelle

Hi Sophie, I do have bc/bs alliance select and I had no problems with my approval. I'm going to Mayo Clinic in Rochester been at it about 6 mos and my surgery is 9/16 So I'm just about there . Mayo is really strict about what they want you to do before surgery. such as behavior modification and also they do want you try to lose some weight to show them your really serious about the surgery. They will answer your question in more human way instead of Dr lingo . As a matter fact I really didn't have to do much for the approval the Clinic and Drs did all the work. Hope this helps you a little ...Sheila

I have BC/BS Alliant Select. I am going to have surgery at the U Of Iowa. My surgery is Sept 2. I went to my final appointment today and Iam there from 10am to 3pm. I have had all my tests and Iam ready to go. The only problems I have with the U of Iowa is that two of my appointments have been messed up. Both times the doctor was unavail but I was taken care by the staff. I was a little uncomfortable about that. I just hope my surgery date goes as planned. Good Luck with your search. I also had a problem with BTC. I went to the first meeting and than they sumit the info to insurance and was not approved. I wasted about three months. I was very frustrate. Did you have to meet with the doctors ect... before being told you were denied?

sophie, I Have blue cross ( I think) and I went to Grinnell, IA. which is only about an hour or so south of Waterloo. I highly recommend them. they got me in for the first appt withina few weeks, and did all the work to get the insurance to approve it. (actually the blue cross approved it right away, it was getting title XIX to cover the copay) and got to pick my day for surgery. that was cool. Had the surgery 3 days after my birthday (My own personal bday present) and the day after finals at college were done, so it worked great ! any questions about grinnell, feel free to email me Judi 5/15/03-360 now 8/21/03- at 283 open RNY

Hey Sophie, what's wrong with Cedar Falls? There is a great surgeon at Sartori who is doing wonderful business. Now, he is very careful & you do have to jump through lots of hoops cuz he is so particular and careful but I have only heard good things about him. He has regular seminars where you can learn about the way he does things. He does the surgery laproscopically, which I prefer. You can learn more at his website at http://www.obesityhelpiowa.com/ Oh, his name is Matt Glas**** & I am scheduled for 9/16. Dixie