Anxious about Insurance and approval process.

Hi All..I've been on this site a million times but tonight I joined! I just got BCBS PPO recently. Have Dr. Kligman as my surgeon, today I had my psych eval...I've done everything on my end, I just have to wait for my info to be submitted. However, I was just told last week at my initial Surgery Consult that as of Oct 1st BCBS in MD now makes a 6 mth supervised diet mandatory. :( I provided a 5 year detailed history of everything I've tried from Weigh****chers to Atkins, Curves...you name it I've done it! To be on the safe side I started the supervised diet with his nutritioist. Anybody have any thoughts? Thanks in advance to any feedback. :) :-S :)

Best wishes on your WLS journey! Hugs, Mo

Hi Elese, Is your BCBS plan Federal or MD State? If it is Federal then the physician supervised diet does not apply. I was told by my surgeon's office that a supervised weight loss record as recent as 15 months was acceptable. Records from Curves and Weigh****chers within that time frame are also acceptable. Here is the information about BCBS that is posted on Dr. Barry Greene's website: "Attention pre-op patients. Effective immediately, all Blue Cross Blue Shield/Care First plans (except Federal plans) are requiring 6 months of consecutive documentation (within the past 15 months) from your doctor or a weight loss program (such as Curves, Jenny Craig, etc.) or a combination of both. Visits with a doctor or a weight loss program can be combined for a total of 6 months of documentation as well. This documentation must include your weight, height, BMI (Body Mass Index), discussion regarding losing weight; any co-morbidities you may have (i.e. asthma, hypertention, etc.)." Hope this helps. Elizabeth