Dr Schweitzer/General help

So here it is I found out on Thurs I was approved from Aetna.........sooooooooo I let my boss know and find out the only weeks that are available are the beginning of June or the end of Aug because people are taking vacations and such.  So I call the surgeon and they only have dates for July which is not an option at all with my boss. (My immediate supervisor is wonderful but the BOSS not so much.)  Anyway so I call Alice at Dr S's office and plead to my story and she said she will see what she can do.  So I am wondering have you had experience with her and/or how long was it from your approval till you got a date.  I think I might spontaniously combust if I have to wait till August and is there a date the I have to have it before for the insurance purposes????? HELP 

Hi, I got my date from Dr S's office either the same day I got approved or the next day. I worked more with Valerie  than Alice though.  I know they worked with some others on getting them dates that had dilemmas. That's not to say they can with you, but they do try. I had to wait about 2  months for my date to come because of the holidays so I definitely understand your anticipation.  Believe it or not it went faster than I expected. Congrats on getting approved! Teri

I see you had the DS with Dr S. I forgot to ask about if he has any out of pocket charges. I have Aetna. Also is there anything about going through this office that you might have done differently or something you wish they did but did not? I'm goingh through my 3 month diet right now at the JH's weight management center. I have till 7/30 to be done with that. Hoping it comes very very fast!!!

I have Optimum Choice insurance so I am sure it is different in some way to Aetna.  My insurance covered all but about $1100 of it, my deductible/coinsurance, whatever you want to call it. That was an insurance related-cost though, not a cost Dr. S's office required of me to pay him out of pocket.  I owed it to the hospital.  Your insurance may be different though.   I would call his office and your insurance company to find out. I felt his office was very helpful in the approval process, but I would recommend that you be your own advocate and make sure that everything gets done every step of the way. They are very busy in his office and as much as we like to think that technology moves us ahead in this world, well, sometimes faxes don't go through and it's you that will suffer if an important one got lost in cyberspace. I always followed up with everything, including anything that was faxed with both his office and my insurance office making sure they got everything as well. I recommend the same for you, with Dr S or any doctor's office or insurance company. :) I hope you have a quick approval process! Teri

CONSIDERING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SURGERY, I WOULD THINK THAT YOUR BOSS NOT LETTING YOU TAKE OFF WHEN THE SURGERY CAN BE DONE SOUNDS LIKE A LEGAL ISSUE. I COULD BE WRONG.

Hey There, Yea, I agree, I am not sure legally he or she can tell you, you can't have off for surgery.  I would check with HR, to tell you the truth!!!! Jen

Yeah it really pi$$ed me off that a person that weights about 140 lbs soaking wet is the person that could care less about my surgery date.  As I told my supervisor I am not having a nose job or something.   Yeah I think I will get on the phone with HR in the am thanks for the advise!!

Hey there!  Alice is a sweetie and will do everything she can to accomodate your request.  As for your job.  Do you have the time to take off?  If you have it you should be able to take it whenever you like.  As for a legal standpoint, technically this is elective surgery so I'm not sure that it would be easy to go that route, but definitely go to HR for details!!!  Good luck!

Since it is technically an elective procedure...they can make you wait... I was approved in mid December but had to wait until my co-worker came back from having knee surgery.  I wanted late January but she didn't come bac****il first week in february... I also wanted a Thursday (so less days off for my DH to run back and forth to hospital)which affected my dates available too... I had my Feb date in December so that 1.5 to 2 month window was about right then... They did have one opening sooner but it was right away and i couldn't swing that with vacation time. August isn't that far away though...Closer than you think.... only like 8 weeks... As for insurance...my approval letter from optimum did give a time limit. However, it was no problem for them to extend the approval due to my cir****tances. (needing to wait for time off approved and/or surgeon availability) Congrats and good luck though... Dr. S is great... ~K

HIPAA protects your privacy...you don't have to tell your employer what surgery or procedure you're having done PERIOD...if you do...it's your choice...but the only thing you have to tell them is that you have to have surgery...and need to be off..and provide them with a doctor's note...that does NOT have to disclose a diagnosis or treatment(s). PERIOD As for this surgery being elective...I don't believe that for a minute...MY life depended on it! That's MY opinion!