Question:
Has anyone had to be on a medically supervised diet to qualify for surgery? Principal

Principal financial insurance requires you be on a medically supervised diet 6-12months in order to qualify for surgery- along with many other requirements. It requires one vist per month with primary doc+ 3visits per month dietician. Unsure what to cover in meeting as that is all info provided by insur. comp. I dont want to go threw all these apts and then be turned down because I didnt cover something or diet was not strict enough- any sugestions or info on what type or diet plan/excercise plan or what to cover at apts and have doctors notate would be very helpful! Thanks!    — kristikat82 (posted on September 17, 2005)

September 17, 2005
I had to go through the 6 month diet. It was a lot of appts. The insurance is looking to see if you keep your appts. They want to see if you can follow directions. It is just another hoop to jump through. This jumping is better than paying $25,000.00 for the surgery. You probably will have approx. 24 appts. in 6 months. If you get approved each appt. you made rounded off to approx. $1,000.00 saved. It was worth it to me! Good luck!
   — aronsinvest

September 17, 2005
My ins. company also required 6 months of physican-supervised diet and exercise. I went exactly 7 times, exactly one month apart, took my diet logs and my exercise logs from the exercise center/initialed by the trainer. The doct wrote in her progress note things like "1500 cal, low fat diet. Exercising 3-4 times/week for cardio and strength training. Exercising to safe maximum considering arthritis and back pain." Don't hesitate to instruct your primary care doc to write explicitly like this, since this is what the reviewer at the ins. co. is looking for. And, yes, it's a test. They just want to see if you can follow the instructions. Just do it.
   — swdreamer

September 18, 2005
Your best bet is to call your insurance company (or visiit them online) and get the guidelines they use to determine when a person qualifies for bariatric surgery. That way, you will know exactly what you have to do. I had to jump through hoops for my insurance, too. I had to see my primary doctor once a month and get my weight-loss efforts documented, I had to see a dietician each month for six months and also see an exercise specialist. I had to get an evaluation from a psychiatrist to make sure I understood that the surgery was not magic and required a commitment on my part, and to ascertain if I were a good candidate, mentally, for the surgery. I also had to visit a cardiologist, a gastro-enterologist,and a pulmonary specialist.
   — Novashannon

September 19, 2005
i did have to with tricare prime military insurance most doctors would like to see if you could loose a little weight while going through the wls it would be helpful when it came to looseing the weight after you have the wls too
   — tmalotte