Medicare???

does anyone know the requirements for surgery for someone that has Medicare part a-b? I also have Medicaid but my primary insurance is Medicare. I talked to 2 different centers and got a different answer from both. I am so confused right now. any help would be greatly excepted.

I had no problems through St.Joes East.I went to the seminar in october last year had my surgery in December.My understanding on medicare is it just has to be a center of excellence which St. Joes is and I believe Georgetown is also.I really dont know if georgetown takes medicare though. Hope that helps email me anytime, Beth

thanks. georgetown takes medicare. i called them first. the lady i talked to at georgetown told me i had to have medically supervised dieting and and other things to qualify for insurance approval. she was very nice and informational. she also said it would be january before i could get in to see the surgeon cause they were sort of backed up. i called st. joes next. the lady i talked to there was also very nice and friendly, she said i just needed some documentation showing i had at least tried to lose weight other ways and that if i had that it wouldn't be any problem to get it payed for. she said after the seminar that i could possibly have a surgery date within 4-weeks!! i was just confused cause of what i was told when i called georgetown. thank you alot for your input.

Sorry about the confusion from our center regarding the Medicare criteria. Medicare now requires a documented attempt at losing weight, not medically supervised diet documentation. Georgetown does accept Medicare and due to the high volume of patients, we are booking into November for first appointments. If you have concerns about the program please email Jo Wiggens, ARNP-Program Directorso she can address them for you. her email address is: [email protected] Thank You! Cathi Roskind, RN Education/Support Coordinator The Bariatric Center at Georgetown