Question:
How much detail needed when providing

As part of my appeal, the ins. company wants a record of my previous weight loss attempts. Those that were not doctor ordered go back 25 years! No documentation is available. How have others handled this situation?    — Rosie P. (posted on June 25, 2001)

June 25, 2001
I also had to provide a list of weight loss attempt history for insurance to approve my surgery. I simply stated the diets/programs I was had been on in a letter form with dates to my insurance company. ie, Weight Watchers, Quick Weight Loss, Dr. Adkins, Metabolife, etc. I did have one Dr. Supervised weight loss program and I contacted him and had his office fax me documentation of my visits. They just copied my chart and faxed that. My insurance company I am sure did not verify dates and programs. Good Luck to you.
   — psstanz

June 25, 2001
I went back as far as I could remember in the diet catagory and put together a table of period of time, weight loss, type of program and reason for quiting. I didn't have the doctor supervised liek they wanted but I had my PCP write a "request" for linency in that area, they sent him a paper to fill out and they accepted whatever that paper said. if you'd like to see a copy of the chart, send me an email and I can send it back to you =)
   — Elizabeth D.

June 25, 2001
I have never been on a medically supervised diet but a million of my own.. For my insurance approval I just typed up all the diets starting with the first I was ever on, the year, the length, what exercise I did, how much I weigh before I started , how much I lost and how much I gained back after, also the expense of each attempt. I was very specific, I even put note of all the exercise equipment I have purchased, video tapes and OTC diet pills, and my reaction to each.
   — Carey N.