Expected time line?

Hello, I have a consult with my family doc on Dec 11th for a ref to a WLS doc. I have medicare and have read they cover WLS completely. Does it depend on the doc I pick as to how long this will take from beginning to end? I've read where some people have to go to counsling first and various other hoops, I don't need counsling. Thanks, Michelle (new to group)

Hi Michelle, It depends on your ins. or whoever is going to be paying for the surgery. Typically I have seen this senerio... You go to your primary doctor, he refers you to a weightloss dr. Then you meet with the wls doctor. They have you do the following; write about your weight loss history, listing all your attempts esp. doctor supervised attempts as well as all your comorbidities which are things that have occured due to your obesity like diabetes, back pain etc. You have to go to a counsellor (they give you this long questionaire to fill out too ) so they can give their ok to your doctor, it is not a matter of you saying you don't need one... its part of the wls regime. You go to a nutritionist, and then you have a battery of tests. You get an ekg, chest xrays, ultrasound, breathing tests, blood tests, urine tests ...the works. You finally get done with all of that and you go to see an internal med. doctor who looks at all the results and gives the final ok. Then you get a surgery date once you have the approval from your ins. since they have to see a lot of these results and your good to go. Once your ready to get your surgery you go to the hospital to get a pre op exam and your set. This is the typical scenerio that I have seen, there are variations but this is the most common. I am not sure about medicare. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply. I will have insurance through my company come January, so I will be double covered with Medicare also. I guess I better learn some patience huh.

Welcome Michelle.. Depending on your Dr as well as your insurance, each can require different things. My Insurance didn't require me to have previous proof of trying to loose weight. But, having co-morbidities have alot to do with it sometimes as well. You will have to have several tests done as well as a psych eval. You won't know that until you know who your WLS dr is and what he requires. I suggest once you find your dr, ask what all he will be requiring. You can also look what others have said about your surgeon as well as the hospital where you will be staying....Just go to the list to the left here and look them up under Bariatric surgeons/hospitals. This is where I made my decision on the Dr I chose. You can also check out information on your insurance and how helpful or not they are. How long it will take depends on each Dr. I have read where some can take a yr or more, some a few weeks. Me, I started my trek in Aug and my surgery is 9 Dec. Good luck on your journey and if there's anything you need just ask, we are a big family and you will find all the help you can use. ~~ Carla