Question:
Record's everywhere!

I have lived in 5 different cities during the past 10 years. I have had 5 different doc's over the 10 years. How long to PCP's keep your records if you haven't been there in awhile. Anyone know? I've been on 2 different WL drugs (Merida, Redux) but by 2 different PCP's. How will my current insurance deal with this, or what should i do?    — Misty P. (posted on April 7, 2003)

April 6, 2003
Hi Missy, Good Luck putting it all together for "your case" to the insurnace company. Something you might want to think about is to call your insurance company and ask them point blank what is needed to get this surgery approved. My insurance company ..UnitedHealth Care PPO says as long as you are given a diagnosis of Morbidly Obese (that's me!!)it would be covered. I still submitted the packet the baratric hospital sent in the mail which basically I had to list every diet ever that I had been on. I, too, have a million records here there and every where. I just got my records from the last five years and I went through highlighting anytime my weight was mentioned especially if they wrote "morbidly obese". I turned in food logs I had kept with a dietician. My point is gather what you can, present it the best you can and hope for the best. To be honest, I think I was a little over prepared because all they seemed interested in was the packet I filled out and the letter the surgeon was mailing in stating surgery was my best option for my obesity. Gosh, I hate that word!!!
   — kathleen-Joan piper

April 7, 2003
Have you had the same insurance company? The reason I am asking, is that the insurance company would have records of all of your doctors visits, tests, hospital stays, etc. I would call them. Also, I was only required to have one year of medical records, so you should ask them what they need, how many years of records, and again, they should have them on file, find out how many years back the surgeon needs of your medical records.
   — cindy