hello all new to the site...again

Hi My name is Stacy I am a 45(almost 46) year old female in Euclid Ohio I have wanted to have this surgery for 5 years and have done a lot of resear*****luding visting this site to read on how all of you are doing. I couldnt afford to self pay and my insurance at my job didnt cover the surgery i recently changed jobs and my new insurance started on 7-1 and guess what I see no exclusions listed. Can anyone give me any info on how things went for them with united Healthcare Choice Plus? time frames for acceptance/denials I have chosen St vincents Bariatric Center I believe for the surgery. I am reattending their seminar on the 6th of July to get the ball rolling Any info anyone can share on support groups in this area would be helpful also Thanks everyone

Stacy best of luck i had united healthcare and they were really easy my husbands job switched while i was in the middle of approval the old company wasnt bad but they were reallllyyy slow as soon as we submitted to UHC i was approved in 2 weeks i would call them and find out what thier requirements are and get started especially if you need 3 or 6 month dr supervised diet ... i will finally be having my surgery tomorrow in akron with DrZ . St Vincents is awesome too my best friend had her surgery there ... Missy

Wow congrats on the surgery date must mean Independence day has a whole new meaning for you. I have wanted this for so long it seems unreal to me it finally may happen. My personal physician is all for me having this done He talked to me about it well over a year ago adn i know he will help me where ever he can I have arthritis in my knees severely shortness of breath, havent had the sleep apnea study done yet but Im sure I have it as my ex husband had it so severly he had to have a tracheotomy and Im well versed in the symptoms. I have high blood pressure etc.. so I think medically I will be fine. thanks for the response and BEST OF LUCK to you please let us know how it all goes.. Stacy

Stacy Best of luck on your journey for WLS surgery, don't worry about the insurance part the people at St. V's will take care of it for you and they'll make sure you get approval they do that everyday and they are awsome at it. I had my surgery there on May 31 with Dr. Schreiber, the whole program there is AWSOME. If you have any questins about the program I might be able to answer feel free to email me. Jim

Jim thanks for the info i am really excited and I feel St Vincents is the best place for me to be. How did your surgery go? How are you feeling now? Theres a million things to ask .. I want to know all i can Stacy

Hi Stacy, I too, had my surgery at SVC. Can't tall you about United Healthcare but it took me about 4 months to get my approval with Aetna. Then once the approval, the surgery was scheduled for 16 days from the approval. We have a support group that meets in Mentor. I know that there are others too, and of course you can go down to SVC. I will be in your city tonigh****ching fireworks of course! We always go to the car dealership on the corner of Babbitt and the freeway. Good luck and if you want to email me or call me, please feel free. I am in Euclid every week at the TOPS store. I do the magazines. I would be happy to meet up with you there, too. Linda

Wow 16 days from the approval thats amazing I had been told that even if the approval came quickly the sugery could be months off How long ago was your surgery? How are you doing? Euclid has the best fireworks we usually sit at the YMCA My seminar is this thursday and then we go from there I hear that UHC is not bed for getting the approval if your primary doctor recommends it which mine has. I grew up in mentor Are the meetings for post op? Thanks for your reply Linda Happy fireworks

Is the support group just for post ops? I am pre op with 5 denials so far but I am still hoping...........I don't have a car right now but would be interested down the road to attend. How often do you have them?? I am in painesville..