Question:
Papers submitted 6.9.03 How long should I wait ...
to contact the insurance company & is there any certain person there I should talk to? The surgeons office said wait 30 days. That seems a little long to me. Especially if I end up being denied need to do the whole appeal process. I was thinking 2 weeks. Any ideas? Input appreciated. — Sarah H. (posted on June 12, 2003)
June 12, 2003
I waited 3 weeks, but what you can do is to find out if your insurance has
a site that you can be checking everyday to see if you have an update on
your approval that's what I did and also I was calling them after the first
week almost everyday, so I knew before my surgeon's office that I was
approve. Don't give up, and good luck.God Bless you...
— Rosa M.
June 12, 2003
My dr's office told me to wait about two weeks but I called after a few
days and was told that needed more info
— Amy G.
June 12, 2003
Hi Sarah,
It's been so long ago (lol) but I think that it only took my insurance
company three weeks to turn me down the first time as the referral was for
a doctor out of network and there was one in network. It was about the same
length of time for my approval letter to come through. My surgery is June
25th--12 1/2 days out now. Good luck on your journey. Sue-Ellen
— Sue-Ellen J.
June 12, 2003
I have BCBS and it took them about four weeks. Don't get discouraged, just
keep busy.
— Justin F.
June 12, 2003
My surgeon's office told me to wait one week and then start calling the
insurance company. I waited 10 days and had already been approved. Also, I
just talked to the person that answered the phone and she was able to look
it up and see whether or not it had been approved and where it was in the
process. I have BCBS PPO of Texas. Good luck!!! Cheryl -- Lap RNY 6/2/03 -
down 20ish pounds. LOL
— Cheryl M.
June 12, 2003
OH go ahead and call!!! You *DO* pay for your insurance afterall....who's
to tell you that you can't call? Ok..rebel in me speaking there. *wink*
Depending on how the Dr sent the papers (smail or fax) you may already be
approved or denied or like I was - pended for additional info.
— Robin J.
June 12, 2003
I called after a couple of days, just to make sure they had received the
fax. Well, they didn't. I got into "trouble" with the staff at
my dr.'s office, but you know, I pay for the insurance and if I wanted to
call every hour on the hour I would (I didn't take to that extreme!). They
were upset because I had caught them in a lie, they told me they had faxed
my info and they hadn't. I was told that I would make the insurance company
"mad" and they would deny my surgery. That was the silliest thing
I had ever heard. I would call and make sure they have the paperwork and
then at that time ask when you should call back to check on the status.
— Ali M
June 12, 2003
Ok, I realize I'm setting myself up for some major flaming here but I'm
going to go ahead and do it. It's friday and I'm feeling brave. I think
waiting a week or 10 days is very reasonable for the first call - after
that I'd call twice a week. I'd call Tuesday and Friday because that gives
the insurance company computers time to update. Here's what you're going
to flame me for: Calling "every hour on the hour" or twice a day
is not the solution to the problem - it's the CAUSE of the problem. I post
alot here and some of you know that I work in bariatrics for a large
hospital. Constant (and I do mean constant) calling from bariatric
patients slows EVERYTHING down whether we, as patients, want to admit it or
not. The constant calling is not making things better - it's making things
worse. The doctor's office staff are accused of being liars on a daily
basis because patients call the insurance companies and they don't have
requests for benefits yet. What most patients don't realize is that once a
request is faxed to the insurance company it can take a few days for it to
be input into the system and then up to 48 hours for the computer to
update. Just because your insurance company doesn't have you in the system
doesn't mean the doctor's office hasn't submitted it. I know that there
are times when requests actually don't get submitted and it's necessary to
follow up but I promise you - the constant phone calls slow down the entire
process for every patient.
Legally your insurance company can't deny you coverage because you've
called them a gazillion times and made them mad. However, the excessive
phone calling can make them impatient and angry with the whole obese
patient population. Someone may call the insurance company for the first
time after waiting 2 weeks and because there's been 75 calls (yes - 75
calls - this actually happened) where people were rude, accusing staff of
being liars, calling every 10 minutes, etc - and the customer service rep
is short tempered with this first time caller because of all the other
excessive callers before her. We didn't become obese in a day, a week, a
month or a year. The process of having surgery doesn't come about in a
day, a week a month or sometimes a year either. We must be careful of
becoming what I call Bariatric Bullies. It's one thing to stand up for
ourselves but it's another thing entirely to be obsessed and unrealistic
and downright rude. Being a bariatric patient and working with bariatric
patients has been the joy of my life. I know personally how bad we want to
start our journey toward recovery. I just know that we must be kind and
considerate and reasonable when dealing with hospital staff, insurance
companies, etc. We really are on the same team. Ok - I'm ready - let the
flaming begin. :) Thanks.
— ronascott
June 13, 2003
My surgeon's office allowed ME to send the info to the insurance company so
that I had a more proactive role and didn't have to sit and wonder whether
or not they had actually sent it. So I sent it priority mail, and called 2
weeks after I knew they had received it to check the status; they told me
that the day they received it they had called my pcp's office to request
office notes and hadn't received them. I called my pcp's office, and lo and
behold, they had never gotten the message. So I got the notes, again
mailed them priority to the insurance, and called 2 weeks later. They told
me that they had mailed me a letter requesting that I have a psych
evaluation. I got that scheduled, and a week after the evaluation I called
insurance to make sure that they had gotten my report and was told that an
approval letter had been mailed out the day before. I tried to be
persistent, but not a pest.
So, in answer to your question, I think 2 weeks is perfectly acceptable,
and that's even how often my surgeon's office recommended calling. Good
luck!
— Moysa B.
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