OK-Where do I start this process- please help..
I am on Medicare and will be using it to pay for most of the surgery. My husband's insurance has an exclusion for WLS. Anyway, I just read that your doctor needs to be the one that writes the letter to the insurance people. The problem I have is that I hae not told my doctor all the stuff that would be important for the insurance to know - Actually she knows very little about the problems. This will sound stupid but I haven't even told her about the debilitating back pain that I have. I guess I just felt like if I told her stuff that I know is due to my weight she would just tell me to lose weight AGAIN and I am so tired of getting no help medically because of my weight. I had to go to the ER about a year ago and had to listen to the guys on the ambulance in Springfield talk about how fat I was and joking that they hope the other had a good back etc. I waited for an hour while in labor with my son while they stuck needles in my back trying to get my epidural only for them to tell me I was too fat to have one.
My question is what advise would you have where to starrt this process. I see a psychitrist and I have my regular doctor. Should I just make an appt with her(reg doc) and tell her what's up?? Thank You all. amy
Amy your first step would be to find a surgeon that accepts Medicare. Being your close to springfield I'd start there. I know there is a surgeon at St. Johns I think it is that does the Bariatric Surgery but Im not quite sure if he accepts Medicare or not. I had my surgery in Sedalia, MO with Dr. Hornbostel. I have Medicare and he accepts that. When you find a surgeon then the first thing they tell ya is to come to one of their informational meetings, that is where you start, from there you'll fill out paper work and so forth. Usually the surgeon submits the claim to Medicare, at least Dr. Hornbostels office does for his patients.
Good Luck and I hope this helps some.
Andrew
Hi Amy, Welcome to the board. First of all medicare does require it to be what is called a CENTER OF EXCELLENCE. I know Bothwell in Sedalia is one with Dr. Hornbostel. I too have medicare and Medicaid and Dr. H is doing mine. I am scheduled for April 2. Step (1) Find a hospital close to you that is a CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE (2) attend a seminar with the Dr from that facility who you chose to do your surgery (3)Do all your paperwork they ask for, it will be started at the seminar and you can ask questions so take a list (4) go to your primary care Dr and ask for a referal to this Dr. you have chosen, if you are morbidly obese they do not have a right to refuse you a referal.(5) start documenting all your history of being over weight you can remember,like diets, weight loss or gain, diets tried or meds tried. And if you have chronic pain, urinary incontinece, high blood pressure, diabestis, arthritis, gout, sleep apnea, asthma, or problems with the liver. Things like these are called co-morbidities. You don't have to have them all any one or combo with being overweight will work. (6)join a support group, I don't always get to go but this forum is great!!!! I have learned so much and met so many wonderful people on this site. Ask whatever you like, when ever. We will be here for you. I know this may seem like a lot but take it one step at a time and good luck. If I find a list of the centers I will e-mail them to you. Julia
Amy, to the left of this page is an area shaded in blue. It has bariatric hospitals listed. Click on that site and you will find the names and address's of them. Click on the one of your choice for more info. Hope this helps. Also Amy, I am a nurse, severe morbidly obese nurse, in other words very very FAT! But no health care professional has the right to ever judge or make fun of an obese person. Please please hold your head high, report them and let everyone know you are someone, a human being just as they are, and you will not be accepted for anything less. God bless and keep us posted. Julia
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicareApprovedFacilitie/BSF/itemdetail.asp?filterType=dual,%20dat
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this is the web site that shows all the COE places in the united states. There are 2 now in st.Louis and the one in Sedalia as far as i know . You can go to this and find the one you want. I had mine done in Sedalia with Dr. Hornbostel and in my opion you cant get any better. But like one of the others said the first thing to do is to go to a information seminar. and go from there. Hope you find what you are looking for and as far as a support group there is a new one that started in Fredericktown last week. I dont know how far you are from there but it would be a good place to go for support. Jan
Hi Amy, I too am new on this journey and I have Medicaid and couldn't find a doctor in Springfield to accept it, there was one but he left the practice and now they don't take us, BUT the Missouri Bariatric Services in Columbia does and they have a seminar in Springfield on Feb. 10th (that's the one I'm registered to go to) the phone number for the Columbia Center is: 573-882-5673, so far they have been very nice with all my dealings with them, I have even started to get things lined up such as the pysch eval, before even attending the seminar and they have been very encouraging and helpful, like faxing over the questions they want the pysch. doctor to ask and such....and I know exactly how you feel about not telling health care people every complaint for fear of hearing the weight loss lecture yet again, I have been the same way..but this coming up monday I have a appt. with my primary and I'm coming clean, I'm going to document EVERY little ache and pain and shortness of breath etc that I think I can pin to my over weightedness....document document document...I also picked a few books from the library on the surgery that I found very inspiring and helpful....good luck and keep posting this website is great! Kim
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