Question:
Insurance was denied, anyone else have this problem?

Hi, I was scheduled for Lap-Band surgery on December 15th and two days before surgery my insurance denied me. Has this happend to anyone else so close to surgery before? I have Health Care Value Management for insurance. I have been working with an attorney to try to get them to pay for it. I've worked so hard to get to this point, and now its almost a month later and still no approval.    — jennylynn13 (posted on January 4, 2006)

January 4, 2006
Yep. Been there, done that. It stinks, huh? Yeah, we tried the attorney route, too. It ended up that I had to self-pay for my surgery. When that became apparent I decided to rethink if the Lap Band was the surgery that I really wanted for the rest of my life or not, and since I was the one who was going to pay for surgery, I wanted to make sure I was happy with the surgery I wanted to live with! Honestly, the surgeon and the insurance companies were really the ones who were pushing me toward a particular surgery. Once I did more research, I learned that what I really wanted was the DS. That was over 4 years ago now. I did end up self-paying for my surgery with Dr. Aniceto Baltasar in Alcoy, Spain. I had the DS. I've lost 210 pounds and a boatload of co-morbidities. I've been nothing short of thrilled with my surgeon, my surgery, and my new life. I honestly consider those dark days when insurance denied me (twice! - with two different companies!) as a blessing straight from the hand of God now! If I hadn't experienced those road blocks, I wouldn't have been led to the wonderful place I am now! Best of luck to you! Blessings, dina
   — Dina McBride

January 4, 2006
MY iNSURANCE ALSO DENIED ME AT FIRST......MY FAMILY DOCTOR CALLED THEM FOR A PEER TO PEER CONVERSATION.....THEY APPROVED ME AFTER THAT. MAYBE YOUR DOCTOR WILL AGREE TO GIVE THEM A CALL....GOOD LUCK!
   — JackieK

January 5, 2006
Did your insurance have a reason for not approving you? If it is something you can fix, fix it. Otherwise, you should talk to your doctor.
   — Novashannon