Question:
highmark blue cross blue shield ANYONE????

Looking for anyone that has Highmark Blue cross blue shield and has got approved- do you have to have a 6 month diet through your doctor? What else do I need and was it hard to get approved. Thank you so much for your time. KARI    — huntersavage (posted on January 13, 2006)

January 14, 2006
Hello Kari, I have Highmark BC/BS and I had my surgery on Dec. 8, 2005. Yes, I did have to have a 6 month diet and also, a letter of support from my PCP, a nutrition consult and a psyc. eval. After I completed all the pre approval stuff I was approved in 1 day. It's a long road but it's worth it.
   — janh

January 14, 2006
Same here Kari. Go to the website and pull up the policy. You won't be disappointed. I am 8 weeks out and down 45 pounds. Good luck, laurel
   — laurelg

January 14, 2006
I went through the required 6 months of dieting with the dr. and had absolutely no problem with approval. I had my surgery on 12/28/05. Good luck. Chris
   — CChappell

January 16, 2006
Kari, I have the same insurance. I told my doctor what I wanted to do and he supported it. Since he's been my doctor all my life and knows that I've been on a million diets...he really didn't hold me to any strict diet for those 6 months. I loosely followed a diabetic diet. We tried at first to send BC/BS forms from my doctor that I had done 6 months of medically supervised dieting before (cuz I had several times in the past) but they actually wanted a 6 month consectuive weigh in. So each month I made an appointment and pretty much just weighed in. My doctor himself was a bit frustrated with the process. While you are doing that get in touch with the surgeon that will be doing your surgery. He or she will evaluate you and give you all of the scripts necessary to get all the pre testing done to qualify for surgury. Then you will have an idea of what you have to do. Everyone is a bit different depending on your health and age. Whatever you do call right away because it's all the pre testing that takes months! Hope this helps. If you have any more questions I don't mind answering them. just email me. [email protected]. good luck! amy
   — drosch1