all kinds of questions....

I made an appointment for an initial consultation with Dr Lidor at Hopkins.  A couple of the things that the receptionist mentioned when scheduling my appointment concern me.  I haven't been involved with a monitored weight loss program for 6 months, in fact have never been.  And I haven't contacted my insurance company (United Health Care) yet.  From your experience, am I putting the cart before the horse to have my consultation???  Thanks for your guidance. 

Hi. Before I had my consultation I had contacted my insurance company to find out what they covered and what they required as regards documentation. I also had my psych consult done, a letter of support from my PCP and an appointment scheduled for my nut consult. I think being proacitve is good. Depending on the length of time to your consult you might be able to get some of this done. Good luck on your journey. Jo

I never contacted my insurance company.  I also have UHC. Part of the program with the surgeon included the 6 month weight loss. I would meet with the nutritionist when I went in for my visits with the surgeon and we would discuss my eating program. Once I was determined I was going to go through with the surgery, I made my appointments for all of my tests and I was approved.  Keep positive thoughts!!!

Even though others may have UHC, the way each plan is written for an employer may be different as well.   And the program each surgeon follows may be different as well..   Some may expect you to do a 6 month supervised plan with your PCP while others may do the program through their office. I had BC/BS (Carefirst) PPO when I had my surger in 2004, and I called the surgeon's office and made the appointment for a consult and they handled everything else that I needed .. scheduling other tests to be done and all the insurance work.   Some other surgeons offices are not that proactive. Consider the consult as an 'interview' of the surgeon as well.   You have to be comfortable with your decision to have this doctor perform your procedure.   Dr Lidor may not be THE one for you and you might need to see other surgeons before you make your final choice. Best wishes as your WLS journey continues!

A lot will depend on how patient you are with the process, and how helpful your surgeon's office is with the insurance requirements. I called my insurance company the day after my information session. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be in for a huge letdown if I proceeded. It actually wound up being a productive call, not only to find out the surgery is covered by the plan, but also to figure out that they had my birth date wrong.  If I didn't know it was wrong, I would have had trouble getting routine things covered, as well as possibly delaying my initial appointment with the surgeon.  So, I think it's a good thing to call the insurance company to find out what to expect, and to make sure they have all of the right information since during the process of preparing for the surgery you will use your benefits a lot for labs and diagnostics that your surgeon will require. As far as the supervised weight loss attempts, you can begin the 6 months now, and your surgeons office may be able to be the physician that supervises. My insurance only requires 3 months, and my surgeons office qualifies.  So, my suggestion is to meet with the surgeon, make sure you are comfortable, and use their program to help guide you through. At least at my surgeons office, most of their staff is quite helpful.