Insurance Requirements--Easier then I thoughT!!!

Ok so I had called the ins company to get the scoop on requirements and all that....the women told me that i needed 12 months of drs notes in the past 24 months regarding my weight issues, well I was freaking....in the past 2 yrs I havent seen the dr for barely anything never mind 12 months worth of stuff.  SO I called today, I wanted them to mail me the requirements so I could look them over and take them with me to my consult! WELL it must have been my lucky day, I got the nicest women on the phone, someone who had had the surgery herself.  She was great!!!! She gave me soo much info, tips and all.  AND she told me that NO I do not need that 12 month crap.....just pretty normal stuff she said.  So she faxed me the documents I wanted and There is nothing out of the ordinary on there!!!! SO instead of 12 months I was dreading,,,,,,looks like I just need the 6 month diet, and submitt 5yrs of obesity records (which wil be easy) The ins women also told me to make sure I include my own person letter with lots of details and that sits really well with the reviewer. All the way down to how often you walk the dog she said they look at that as your exercise, and they should know about everything your doing!

hey, what INS you have?

YAY amanda... your on your way... 6 months will FLY by and in no time youll be sitting on the losers bench!!! Congrats hun!! Ill be praying for you =)

Katie

I have Blue Cross Blue Sheild of IL!!!!!

see .. i told ya... 6 months supervised diet .. it does fly by .. BC/BS isn't that bad!.. and you can do that right with the NUT. at NWH

Thanks Kelly,      how is the 6 month diet?? Just a weigh in every month??

  Yeah pretty much .. she'll weigh you and then you sit and talk with her about food and the changes you have made from the month before and what you've been doing for exercise  .. a few things she had me do right away was to change from white to wheat bread milk and splenda in my coffee instead of cream and sugar and she had me go from a med. to a small coffee ...you have to be totally off coffee altogether before surgery she had me start eating kashi for breakfast.. i didnt think i'd like it but i do  she'll ask you to give her an idea of what you eat daily... i started keeping a food diary on the day of my consult so i saw what i was eating.. she didn't tell me to but it's helped me alot   BC/BS  will also have you see the therapist a second time in that 6 month time and on the last appointment of the 6 months you'll see the NUT and Dr. Partridge again. When I first met the doctor she had me come back in 2 weeks to see her and the NUT again. and then they booked the sleep study.. it's done right at NWH. and on the day of your consult you'll have blood work done and a urine test done.. i'm not sure what they tested for but the bill showed they ran 14 tests.. that was almost $1500.00... I have to pay $355 .. the sleep study bill was for $2450.00.. I have to pay $1114.00 .. i'm just glad that I have now met my deductable! The program fee is $550.00, you can to paymets.. thats what I did.  You'll get a green binder to keep all your paperwork in and it has a lot of useful infomation in it. Also if you're a smoker i'd start now by trying to quit .. they won't book surgery if you smoke.. i know they test for that in the blood work. You're consult day you'll be there atleast 4 hours .. you have to pay to park it's $8.00 for the 4 hours. There is alot of waiting but there is plenty to read.. they have 2 before and after books in the waiting room of people who have had the surgery.. take a look at those its amazing. Everyone is very nice there and they make you feel very comfortable..   If you have any other questions .. that I can answer I will. ~Kelly