Oh, and 1 more thing..

The customer representatives for BCBSofAL never say that I have to have a psych evalutation or an apt with a nutritionist/dietician.  My doctor hasnt' mentioined anything about it either (they say I do that after approval, that I dont have to BEFORE I send in my letter).  Anyways..I've read a lot of peoples post saying that they had to do that & they have BCBS.  I have also read that people say the customer representatives leave off a lot of information..so I was wanting to make sure that I shouldn't look into have a psych eval or nutritional/dietician consultation.  Any advice would help.  Thanks in advance. ~Erin

I have probably called BCBS a dozen times.  They tell me the same thing each time.  I need to send in the codes for the procedure, reason why I want it done and as much weight history as possible.  Thats all they will say.  After about 11 times I got fed up with this answer because my surgeon stated that they require a 5 year history, and 6 month sup diet, psych/nut ect but they have never told me this. EVER.

So the 12th time I call, I finally say listen, what about the 6 month diet, or the 5 year history. Do i need this or not.  The girl said yes I think so, I said can I please speak to someone that actually knows this, not just thinks.  I want a list in writing of what I actually need to do to be approved.  She told me that only the pre-approval department has that information and they dont tell the CSR's that information.  So I said can I please have their number which she says no, we dont even have the number.  She said if I wanted to I could write a letter to them asking for this information.  I am not sure but she is probably just wanting me off the phone. My surgeon says they do this because alot of people will send in the info, get denied and give up.  My surgeon wont even send in the paperwor****il I have all of these things done because she said she has dealt with them long enough to know what they will do. I realize that EVERY policy is different and I have heard of a few that have been approved right away without all the hoops.   In my opinion if you think you might need them, they cant hurt anyways, I mean you might learn something and take something valuble away from it, then if you need it or not, you already have it...  Good luck!