Wrong Questions??? Empire BCBS

Hello everyone....I hate to keep nagging when it comes to Empire...but man I cant seem to get anywhere.  I was first told 30 days so I kept calling and was told "allow 30 days" ok so I did then I call back and am told well you need to talk to Medical Management (?) hmmm never heard of that department before so now i am thinking i am gettin somewhere. Then says well we dont have any paperwork for you it is still in Customer Service ( member services) okaaaaay so I go back and she says well this could take 60 business days ya know...again okkaay then she started saying well we have your papers they will be sent to Albany at some point for the Dr's to review which is the 60 working days.  But in the process everyone kept asking if this was for Pre-authorization or pre-certification??? I tried to ask her and she just huffed so I gave up.  Her last words were are you going to have this even if we don't pay for it? Or only if we pay for it?  What the He** I just dont know anymore................any advice

sorry everyone it is me I didnt realize I had 2 profiles must have been a while back when I forgot.....Sorry 

Hi, I have Empire BCBS as well. They told me 30 days but it took much less. They did ask my surgeon for additional info (I know this because I happened to call my surgeon that day) but then it was approved. I'd say it was less than 2 weeks and had I not called my surgeon, I would not even know they asked for more info. I know you must be stressed but from what I read when I was in my waiting period, Empire BCBS is good about approving Gastric Bypass surgery. I'm assuming your BMI is high enough? Keep us posted! Hugs, Karen

WOW Problems with Empire????? That's odd. I had them with my surgery and they took care pf everything. I had an approval in 24 hours.  I actually didn't have to even deal with them. My surgeons office did everything for me. My surgeons office has a team that deals just with indurance and aperwork. All I did was give them a copy of the insruance card and they took care of everything. I had a 650.00 copay on my surgery and that was it.

Wow....that is awesome......Congratulations.........I will just keep calling I suppose until I can figure something out.

Your surgeon's office should have a contact w/insurance co's. when Oxofrd didn't approve after 3 days, my doc's insurance coordinator called, found out the "NY rep" was behind in her work, got a supervisor and received my approval right then. I would definatley check w/my doc's office. Good luck.

Thanks for the info........I have tried calling my surgeons office and they keep telling me this will take some time.........especially with BCBS ...........I guess I will call Empire first thing and hopefully get someone who will explain all this to me.  Thanks for all everyone

I also have BCBS and they were wonderful. Had approval in 1 day and they covered everything.  No hassles right so ever. My Empire case manager even called me to let me know that I was approved and gave me her contact information in c ase I had any questions about the surgery or had any problems.  She also gave me some great advice such as make sure that I get out of bed the first day in the hospital and walk.  And then walk and walk some more. I could not have been more pleased.   Good luck. - Barry