Question:
Those of you who had to do a supervised diet .........

with your Dr. what all did you do? What all did you have to keep track of if anything? I just want to do what my insurance will require and want ideas from others. Thanks!    — MegLynnFinn (posted on November 7, 2003)

November 7, 2003
Well Meagan I looked at your profile and it didn't say which insurance you had. I had Aetna PPO and they required the six month supervised diet thing. All that I had to do was go in and get a diet from my doc and then come back once a month for a weigh in and I was approved after my six months were up! Good luck :)
   — Cinda R.

November 7, 2003
I'm not sure what your insurance wants. I had a year's supervised diet for my diabetes and weight loss from my doctor and I went and weighed in every 2 weeks for 7 months at my doctor's office and my insurance, Aetna HMO turned me down. My surgeon's office said we will appeal it, because we did everything they requested and with all of my health problems, I shouldn't have been turned down. I have diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, sleep apnea. They said I have a good appeal case. It took my insurance 10 weeks to turn me down, but my surgeon's office said we will have an answer to an appeal in 1 week. I'm very upset, but I'm not going to give up. I think that is exactly what my insurance wants me to do and I refuse. I know I really need the surgery. My asthma, pulmonary, and medical doctor sent letters to my insurance saying that with the surgery and weight loss all of my medical problems would pretty much disappear. You would think that would have been enough.
   — Debbie C.

November 7, 2003
Thanks for your answers i really appreciate it and good luck to you both! I have Medical Mutual of Ohio, they told me that I had to have 6 months supervised diet with my doc which I started in September but I have not gone in for weigh ins so maybe I should start that!
   — MegLynnFinn

November 7, 2003
I was just told this week I had to get 6 mo. supervised diet...It had to be a physicians supervised diet, and I had to be weighed in at least 1 time per month..so I have an appointment Monday to start my diet...My insurance told me I had to do this and they would not cover it..so I have to pay for physicians diet..Oh well I will do what I have to. Good Luck Robin
   — RobinGa

November 8, 2003
I had to have a 26-week professionally supervised diet. For that I used my Weight Watchers weigh in cards. Just in case, I started visiting my doctor once a month for a weigh in and had him note in my record that I was on a low carb diet. Good luck to you :)
   — April S.

November 8, 2003
I didn't have to do the formal 26 week diet thing, but the Aetna was questioning me about it pretty hard. Here is what I did. I had a lifetime membership with Jenny Craig. I went to all the Jenny Craig's that I had ever attended, and got photocopies of every time I had ever started there. I then went to my 2 doctors of the last 5 years and demanded a -full- set of copies of -all- my medical history. I then went through all that medical history, and looked for anywhere on there that my doc had made a note about my going to Jenny Craig. Thankfully, I found 2 places where my doctor had made a note that we had discussed my weight and agreed that I would attend Jenny Craig in an attempt to manage it, at "X" number of calories per day. I highlighted these with a highlighter, and moved them to the front of the medical information I sent to Aetna. I also found everywhere that they had prescribed weight loss meds to me, highlighted those,and moved them to front of my package. I then wrote a short one page explanation to Aetna, explaining that my doctors didn't offer dietary monitoring, but we had discussed it, and agreed that I would attend Jenny Craig as a way of controlling my weight. Apparently Aetna thought this was good enough, and accepted it as a "medically supervised" weight loss attempt. Now having said all this, they weren't as tough back then about the attempts having been within the last 2 years, so your mileage may vary, but I thought it was certainly worth it, given the cost of this surgery, and I spent a couple of weeks finding and organizing this data. Remeber, make anything you send to them simple as dirt for them to read and digest. They go through a lot of paperwork for surgery requests every day, and suspect they don't spend a lot of time digging through all your medical records. Show them that you qualify.
   — Greg P.

November 10, 2003
I am still in insurance limbo He??, but since I have Aetna I have heard from others on this board that (with Aetna) you need to get weighed monthly and Dr has to write in your chart monthly regarding weight AND EXCERCISE. I did'nt think it was a requirement to get a psych consult or dietary consult, but I have done this anyway, and have since learned that it IS something that they ask for before approving. People with Aetna insurance can now submit for bariatric surgery after 3 MONTHS of dieting, but just can't have the surgery till 6 MONTH diet period is complete. I sent in my paperwork after my 3 mo period, and now at 5 mo (and almost 6 mo period), THEY STILL HAVEN"T APPROVED ME. I have heard others on this board say that for Aetna, they have a 30 day waiting time period that they have to give you an answer, but the Aetna people I deal with say they have a 45 day turn around period. Hope this was of some help.
   — bufordslipstick

November 12, 2003
Hi! my ins required 18 months of supervised diet history. My PCP's office has a sheet that they use with/for each visit and about midway down the sheet there is a section that has weight, exercise... and my PCP circled BOTH everytime I had visited her in the last 3 years. My insurance liaison said that as long as the word weight was circled it was DOCUMENTED therefore supervised. I also had to prove that I had been MO for the past 5 years, so I photocopied pics of myself dating back to highschool (18yrs) and sent them in also. I did all of this AFTER my denial from insurance, once I had the medical charts (I highlighted all the pertinent info for them) and the pics, I was approved FASSSSSSSSSST!! GOOD LUCK
   — Leslie N.