On a six month to one year waiting list, can't wait

I am on disability for chronic depression and have Medicare as my primary insurance. The doctors that are available to me have a waiting list for any Medicare or Medicaid patients. I saw other doctors, Dr.Givens and Dr. Strickland, but I was turned down because of a bad psychological consultation. I spoke too freely with the person doing the consult. She was not a psychologist. She was an MSW in practice as a therapist. Dr. Givens took her recommendation that I not have WLS as gospel. He would not take a letter from my psychiatrist of 15 years recommending me for surgery. That is how I got to Dr. Tribble and Dr. *****ett's practice. I went to their seminar in December and was very impressed. Actually I think they are better in their approach. They have a better followup plan with the dietician. I look forward to working with them, I just don't know when. The waiting is killing me!!!!!! I made up my mind to do this back in September.

Hi! My name is Sara. I just had my surgery done on 12/30/04. I can't believe what a long wait you have, just because of the type of insurance you have! I know the wait when I had mine done, here , was about 4 months. If you would like someone to just talk to, or if there is any questions you have or if I could be of help to you in some other way, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I too, had Medicaid, and had no waiting time, I didn't have to be preapproved by them, I didn't have to wait for an approval letter I mean. Sara

Hi Sara, Thanks for responding to me. Where are you located? I am in Columbia, SC and the doctors available to me only see 12 Medicare/Medicaid patients per year. Therefore, the wait is 6mos. to 1year. I did go to another practice that didn't do this but I was turned down after a psychological evaluation. I am permanently disabled by chronic depression and I probably offered too much information about the past to the psychologist. My psychiatrist offered to write a recommendation for the surgery but the doctor would not accept it. They just refused to do the surgery. This wait is excruciating!! I do like to hear other peoples stories. Tell me about yourself. How old are you? How much weight do you have to lose? How much have you lost already? Tell me about your surgery. Was it open or laporoscopic? Etc...... I look forward to hearing from you! You can email me at [email protected] Elizabeth