Hello everyone :). I have my first consultation with my surgeon in a little over a month. I cannot wait to get it all started and I'm excited. This is something I thought about and tried to do on my own for years and I feel as though I'm ready to now use vsg as a tool to help me be healthy and happy now at 35 years old.

With that being said, I called my insurance twice to make sure (I have Northwell Direct -ppo ) that they will cover all bariatric surgeries (especially vsg in particular) and to see if they have any pre-approval requirements. According to the two people I've called and spoken to, any bariatric surgery I choose is 100% covered since my bmi is 45, including everything associated with the surgery before and after. Also they both claim that there are no requirements on my plan from my insurance company to get do to be approved...(no weighs-in necessary, no 3 month or 6 month programs, no steps to take.) With that being said I'm assuming that it will be all in my surgeons hands, no?

Has anyone been told that their insurance only requires a bmi of over 40 or 35 with comorbidites, and than had a surgeon who had minimal requirements?

Has anyone had no requirements (besides bmi) from your insurance, but your surgeon still had you on weight monitoring and/or a 6 month plan?

Has anyone had no requirements (besides bmi) from your insurance and been fast tracked with your surgeon?

I'm sorry for all the questions, I'm just new here and to all of this and through my months of research it seems to be that the standard for vsg is at least getting bloodwork, getting a pysch evaluation, meeting with a nutritionist and a lot of the times getting a sleep study and/or seeing a cardiologist.

I have a ppo therefore I don't need pcp approval to see specialists. I'm hoping to get some feedback for others experience since I can't find one article, post or video on the internet about Anyone who has my health insurance and getting bariatric surgery so looking for tips or insight from others under my exact insurance has been a dud. :/

On October 5, 2011 at 5:45 PM Pacific Time, cabcab wrote: Tomorrow I fly to Texas for my 25th high school reunion. I haven't been to any of them yet. A year ago I wouldn't have even considered going, but I'll be there this weekend. I was kind of excited, but now I'm getting nervous. I've lost all this weight, but to most of these people I will have gained weight from what I looked last time they saw me.

I got a Spanx body suit, the kind that goes under the bust but the back is mostly covered. I figured if I was going to be doing a lot of hugging I'd want something to hold in some of the extra flab. lol

Today I went and got fake nails, a pedicure, my hair cut and highlighted, etc.

Wish me luck!

I would love to go to my reunion. I have a feeling it's going to be just unreal. To see all my friends who I cheated off of in the back of my classroom. I remember finding plagiarism free essay, using https://paperell.net/plagiarism-free-essay-writing for that. Those were really cool times. Something to talk about and remember. You can't forget it, no one could even if they wanted to. Because we spent 9-12 years of our lives there, together. Of course not everything was perfect and sometimes there were even tears. But no matter what anyone says, high school and college were great.

Good morning,

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Dr. Alvarez

You are struggling because you have a disease - obesity. I have a new doctor who is awesome and explained it to me like this - Obesity is a chronic disease not cured by surgery. You cannot control your hunger long term because our bodies and brains are somehow wired differently than thin people. There is a section of stomach that produces hunger hormones that comes out in your VSG surgery, but over time, your body figures out how to make these hormones in other ways, so you will regain your hunger as the years go on. I just started Contrave (the generic version - Wellbutrin + Naltrexone) - the side effects the first week were rough, I had a terrible brain fog - but it seems to be leveling out on week two. I decided to take it at night to minimize the impact on my day. It seems to curb my appetite and I am better able to stick to healthy eating. I recommend finding a good weight loss doctor (not your surgeon, my surgeon referred me out to the Weight Loss Center) and consider trying some of the new meds. Most of the injectables are not covered by insurance, but the combo I am on is available in generic and is very inexpensive. Again this is a chronic disease folks, it's really not just about willpower.

Good morning,
Don't forget to check out the latest episode of our Q&A section.

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Regards.
Dr. Alvarez.