Questions,BCBS,Borgess,Sleeve

I have a ton of questions. I am in the process of trying to get approved by BCBS of IL I am worried about them not approving me cause my BMI is only 37 and at this point I have no other health issues. I will have a sleep test next week if I have sleep issues they say I should get approved.
Now lap-band or sleeve at first I wanted the band now after reading all the great info on this web sight I am thinking sleeve.
I am going to Borgess in Kzoo anyone else on here doing the same?????

It would be nice to have a friend on line to talk to about all my questions

Hi Biker girl,
I'm a Borgess alum for lap-band surgery. Will be available for you if you have any questions..
I assume you are seeing Dr. Verseman. The office will bend over backwards to get you approved.
Please contact me for any ???'s.
Deb

Good Luck to you. I had Dr V. He's great and the staff is superb.  I had the sleeve, but he would only do it on patients with a BMI over 50, as he said that is what BCBS approves. I have BCBS of MI, so not too sure if IL is different.  It is also the first part of the 2 part DS.  However, he said less than 2% of folks follow through with the second part.  I'm sure he will explain all of that to you. They are very good with answering all of your questions

Marcia

 I am an alum from Dr. V and Borgess.  I had RNY done on 9/14/10.  They are the best!  You will do fine there.   I live in Galesburg, so if you want to chat or e-mail me, go to:  [email protected].

Hi,
I've heard nothing but good things about Dr. V's office. However, I decided to go with Grand Health Partners/ Dr. Randal Baker. They have a very structured and well resourced bariatric practice. The Borgess program has one surgeon right now....so be prepared to wait a loooong time for a consult. My insurance does not require a pre-approval and I met all of the required criteria. Despite of this, I waited over 4 months with no contact from their office before finally deciding to seek out other options. They estimate that from information session to surgery it could be up to a 9 month wait! I couldn't believe it. With only one surgeon, they are simply under resourced. Just a watch out...Good luck to you.

Check out the sleeve forum for tons of great information and lots of really nice people too. 

BCBS of MI just changed their policy on the sleeve effective 11-1-10 so maybe BCBS of IL will also.  They now require a BMI of 35 with co-morbidities. 

Good luck with your decision.

I had Dr. Verseman, sleeve surgery, BCBS of IL. I got approved with 42 bmi and co-morbidities.