Newbie...What's next?

I am new here and I have thousands of questions, as I am sure that most newbies do.  Just this past week I had my Nut Consult, Psych Eval, Stress Test, Sleep Study and EDG, in that order.  I was told that once I get these done, they would submit for approval to my insurance (which is ChampVA, by the way).  How long before I know something.  Should I call them or wait for them to call me.  I really want to get this process done before the end of the year (co-pay reasons).  Anybody have any experience dealing with this insurance.   I told you that I had thousands of questions.

 All of those apoointments usually take the longest. If the insurance company doesnt require anything else then i was told that they have 4 weeks to make a decision. Mine only took 2 weeks. My preop is the 17th and then i get a date. Congrats on getting through that long process so quick. I had to do a 6 month supervised diet too. Good luck and welcome aboard.

-Anna

It was a whirlwind because I did all of those visits in two days.  Unfortunately, I live in Central Louisiana and I have to travle about 5 hours to Dallas, Texas because none of the doctors in this state take my insurance for Bariatric Surgery.  The good side of that is, I have to make the most of the trip when I go, so they were very accomodating in getting everything scheduled for me during the time that I was there. 

I did have one disappointment.  I wanted the sleeve, and initially I was told that my insurance covered it, but I recently learned that they will not cover it because they feel that it is experimental.  So now, I have to readjust myself and my thinking over to gastric bypass.  But hey, no complaints!

I was also told that my insurance did not have a diet requirement.  They do have a BMI requirement. 

 Hi PC,

Welcome.

The surgeon's office coordinator took care of everything for me and because she always did what she told me she would do I trusted her and left everything in her hands. I never had any issues and was approved in 3 days after BCBSIL received the info from the surgeons office. I never called my insurance but some do. I did get a letter of approval from BC about a week after the surgeon's office informed me of the approval

Find out who at your surgeon's office takes care of this process. Then call her/him and ask them what you should expect. Then follow up with another call when the expected time has arrived. The people who handle this know how enotional we all are, plus know the surgeon is depending on them to complete the process, so I believe if the insurance company doesn't drag their feet, you will have your answer pretty quickly.  

Very excited for you!

Sharon

You're doing great... it's overwhelming at first for sure. You might ask on the VSG board about insurance and getting them to approve VSG over RNY if your heart is set on it. There are reasons, medically, that you can request them - including the ability to still take NSAIDs. I don't know all of it, but someone there might help - I was self pay so chose my own. LOL

I was in the process last year at this time. My surgeon's office has a coordinator who handled all the paperwork.   I had to have 3 nut visits and psyche eval before they would submit which was all done by the end of September.  I got my approval the middle of October.  I had all my testing done by Thanksgiving.  I could have had my surgery in December but was diagnose with sleep apnea.  I had to be on the machine for 1 month before I could have surgery.   I would call to make sure they have all the paper work they need.  I had to sign papers to give approval for the Psyche eval to be sent to the surgeons office.  No one told me..It was never sent  that was the only glick I encountered.  Because I am older I also had to have a cardiac clearance.   The rest went pretty smooth.   Good Luck  this is a great board.  Ask all the questions you have,