Diet required for medicare?

I am getting my surgery through medicare (or trying to). I have heard that medicare does require a 6 month supervised diet. Then I have also heard that they do not. Does Anyone know where the info can be found? I called medicare and they don't know where to find the information which I thought was strange. I have a consultation with my surgeon on the 20th of February, hopefully at some point someone will know!!! If you have had any experience with this please let me know the requirements-thank you-Amy

Medicare is my insurer and I had surgery on 12/14/06.  I was told that they require at least a year (which I had), a strong letter of recommendation (referral) from your primary doctor, have a bmi over 40 with no co-morbities...35 with, must pass a psych evaluation whi*****ludes a 400 question test, hospital must be accredited as a center of excellence.  I do also know that they do not preapprove surgery.  If you meet their requirements, they'll usually pay, but I've heard some people had certain amounts to pay.  Also, their policy is to pay at 80% after your $250 annual deductible.  My surgeons office dealt with all of that and provided me with the information of what I needed to give to them.  Good luck on your journey, I wish you a smooth and quick one!

Medicare does not require any type of diet or letter from your PCP. Your specific SURGEON might, but Medicare does not at all.  Added: Medicare also does not require that lengthy questionairre, either. My surgeon just wanted a psych eval, and I had one with my therapist. Again, easy. Again, your particular surgeon might have requirements, but Medicare does not. Medicare is easy to work with. The surgeon decides if you need surgery and he does it and he submits the bill to Medicare and they pay.

I believe things may have changed in Medicare's requirements since 2 years ago...unless things vary by state to state.  See my post below on what Medicare did and didn't pay so far for me. Though I do agree it was fairly easy to get all things done.  Just getting them to pay seems like it's going to be a problem.

I just received an Explaination of Benefits from Medicare for part of my surgical procedures.  Here's how payment by Medicare went... Epidural-  billed= $800                     Medicare approved amount= $118.61                    Medicare paid provider = $94.89 (80% of the approved amount) OnQ anest.  billed= $281                          Medicare approved amount= $63.24                        Medicare paid provider = $50.59 (80% of the approved amount) Anesth. for surgery- billed= $1,265                                     Medicare approved amount = $221.34                                     Medicare paid provider= $177.07 (80% of the approved amount) Lap gbp rny (asst. surgeon) -  billed = $1,500                                                        Medicare approved= $299.24                                                        Medicare paid = $239.39 Medicare only paid $561.94 out of the $3846.00 they were billed.  They paid only 80% of the amount they approved.  All information I stated above was required BY Medicare and not the physicians office.  AFter all of my paperwork was in, I had to wait for the surgeon's hospital to become a center of excellence, per Medicare's requirements before I could have my surgery, unless I wanted to go ahead and self pay.  Perhaps it works differently in Missouri than it does in Michigan.  I figured guidelines were the same in all states, as Medicare is a federal program.