articles / studies showing diets fail?

Hi all, turned down by insurance company and the peer to peer review. I have a note from my Dr. stating that she has monitored my weight for two years but no clinicals. I was on Jenny Craig for over a year, have quite a few health problems and saw my Dr. frequently. Nothing in my files. I'm turning 40 and hear the biological clock ticking as I type! I've also had 3 back surgeries and at this point nothing will help me except weight loss. I don't have time for 6 months of medically supervised diet. I'm trying one last ditch effort with my insurance company before we self pay. I was wondering if anyone could give me some ammunition as far as studies, articles etc. I am basically wanted to show the insurance company that the 6 month medically supervised diet would have a low percentage of success. (hey you never know it might work ) Thanks so much! Beth

Hi Beth, I had to fight against the diet requirements because my insurance company used them to run out the time on my policy so they could try to avoid paying. I was able to show this was not a valid criteria for medical necessity. It went all the way to an administrative hearing judge and took me a year though. In my case, I couldn't have done the diet as the policy had ended. They did end up having to pay for my surgery. In January, I gave copies of all my information to another person from this board to use in her appeal of a six month diet requirement. I heard from her this morning, and she won her appeal and is approved. That said, there is no guarantee of success, but I am more than willing to share this information, if you would like to email me your mailing address. Having been through so much with insurance myself, I am only too happy to help somebody else. Let me know, and I'll try to get it out to you ASAP. Judy