Question:
Medically supervised diets. Will the following i list be enough for approval?

I HAVE BCBS OF IL HMO THROUGH RUSH PRESBYTERIAN I WAS TOLD TODAY BY THE SURGEON'S NURSE THAT I WILL NEED TO PROVIDE PROOF OF A MEDICALLY SUPERVISED DIET...I.E. MEDICAL RECORDS WELL I FOUND OUT TODAY THAT THE 2 PLACES WHERE I HAD DONE MED.SUPV DIETS OF ANY REAL LENGTH HAVE SINCE CLOSED AND IM UNABLE TO LOCATE THE DOCTOR'S TO OBTAIN ANY RECORDS...OF COURSE THE NURSE AT THE SURGEON'S OFFICE WAS NOT ENCOURAGING SAYING I JUST HAD TO HAVE IT BUT IF I CAN'T GET IT WE WILL HAVE TO MAKE DO....WAS STARTING TO GET DEPRESSED BUT THEN I DECIDED I WOULD GET MY MEDICAL RECORDS FROM MY PREVIOUS PCP SHOWING THE PROBLEMS I HAD WITH MY MENSTRAL CYCLE DUE TO MY WEIGHT AND IM HAVING THE SURGEON SUBMIT A LETTER AND WILL BE ASKING MY NEW PCP TO WRITE ONE ON MY BEHALF AS WELL,IVE ALREADY WRITTEN ONE AND ALL THIS INFO WILL BE SUBMITTED. MY QUESTION IS DO YOU THINK WITH ALL THE INFORMATION I LISTED DO I HAVE A CHANCE OF BEING APPROVED? HAS ANYONE OUT THERE WHO WAS UNABLE TO SHOW ANY MEDICALLY SUPV. DIETS TO THERE INSURANCE COMPANIES WHEN THEY REQUIRED IT BEEN APPROVED? WHAT DID U DO TO GET APPROVED? ANY HELP WILL BE APPREICATED THANKS..    — DEIRDRE D. (posted on June 26, 2001)

June 26, 2001
Well, I can tell you from experience that I went to two medically supervised fasting programs. One did not send monthly reports to my regular physician, the other did. The one that didn't is now out of business and I'm sure the records are somewhere in Outer Mongolia. The other is still up and running and did fax my records to my surgeon. However, you should talk to your PCP because most places do send regular reports to them. If that's the case, perhaps your regular physician would be willing to provide you a copy of what was sent to their office, given the circumstances. I know that when I questioned my PCP about sending that information as well, they stated that unless there were extraordinary circumstances, they are not willing to send another doctor's records out to a surgeon. I would think this might just qualify as an extraordinary circumstance. In my case, I was able to get the records faxed over, thankfully, for the second program, which pleased the surgeon because he saw that I was able to maintain well on a restrictive diet for several months.
   — Dee P.