How long did it take for insurance to approve you & how soon did you get your surgery...

econvey
on 1/21/18 9:07 pm - White Plains, NY

I finished my 4 months of nutrition counseling, had my G.I. evaluation (all good), have my lung appointment this week, and am meeting with my surgeon/the rest soon.

Once you submitted to your insurance, how long did it take to get approved?

how soon did you get your surgery date? Do you get it after insurance approves? How soon after approval did you get your surgery date. And any other related info you might have for me :)

Cathy H.
on 1/21/18 9:40 pm, edited 1/21/18 1:41 pm
VSG on 10/31/16

Unfortunately, every insurance and employer's plan is different, so there is no way to gauge how long your process will take based on someone else's experience. You may, for example have Blue Cross/Blue Shield. But another person who also has it, may have different requirements that their company or employer has added to the plan.

Another factor is your surgeon's office/program, who may have their own requirements and timelines. All you can really do is make sure you've dotted all your I's and crossed all your T's, and wait to hear.

Livin' La KETO Loca!!
134 lbs lost since surgery, 195 overall!! Initial goal reached 9/15/17, (10.5 months)!
5'3", SW*: 299 GW: 175 HW 3/2015: 360 PSW* 5/2016: 330 *PSW=Prog Start Wt; SW=Surgery Wt

M1 -31, M2 -10, M3 -15, M4 -16, M5 -8, M6 -6, M7 -11, M8 -8, M9 -8, M10 -4, M10.5 -7 GOAL

econvey
on 1/21/18 9:50 pm - White Plains, NY

Yes, but I was asking how long it took YOU in your personal experience. I know everyone is different.

Liz WantsHealthForAll
on 1/22/18 4:52 am - Cape Cod, MA
VSG on 03/28/16

All Insurance companies and surgeons offices are different. It took about two weeks for me to get approval (United Health Care) and my surgery was scheduled for 10 days after approval (which was a yikes for me).

Liz 5'3" HW: 219 SW: 185 GW: 125 LW: 113 Desired maintenance range: 120-123 CW: 120 (after losing 20 lb. regain)!

Red2play
on 1/22/18 5:15 am
VSG on 12/14/17

It took three weeks for my approval but I didn't finish everything up until 5 weeks before my surgery. Wish I would have submitted at least two months before surgery to ensure everything went smoothly.

Trying to lose weight and change my lifestyle! My main goal is 220.

Nknerr
on 1/22/18 6:58 am
VBG on 12/07/17

I have a weird private insurance that actually approved the entire thing at one fell swoop! The only issue that happened is that the surgeon's office had trouble getting a letter from the insurance company with the pre-auth number on it.

However, I didn't get my surgery date until I had finished all 6 months of my program. (The 6 months is a requirement of my insurance.) However, I had all my pre-op specialists seen by that time.

Natalie

2/2017: 340 VSG: 12/7/2017 - 272 1/29/18: 253

lbalaw2
on 1/22/18 7:56 am
VSG on 09/19/17

After all my requirements were officially submitted to insurance by my surgeons office, it took 4 weeks for BCBS of TX to mail me a letter stating the surgery was approved. At that point I was able to schedule my surgery with the surgeons office and apply for FMLA for my job. The whole process for me start to finish took 7 months to fulfill all of BCBS requirements and surgeons requirements for medical clearance. Good luck!!

HWE 330, SW 272, CW 220, LTGW 160

Sparklekitty, Science-Loving Derby Hag
on 1/22/18 9:36 am
RNY on 08/05/19

From what I've seen over the years, 2 weeks seems to be the average wait time from insurance submission to approval. Surgery dates are generally not scheduled until approval is received.

My approval took 9 business days, and my surgery happened about two weeks after that. The surgeon normally has a longer period between approval and surgery day, but they got me in quickly because my mom was coming from out of town to help out, and they wanted to work around my mom's schedule.

Sparklekitty / Julie / Nerdy Little Secret (#42)
Roller derby - cycling - triathlon
VSG 2013, RNY conversion 2019 due to GERD. Trendweight here!

Jess Says Yes
on 1/22/18 6:23 pm
VSG on 10/24/17

My approval took a little more than a week. Once it came in, the surgery center called and scheduled me for surgery. My surgery date was about a month out.

Jess

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. - Oscar Wilde

Age: 36 Height: 5'9" HW:326 GW:180

Pre-op:-32 M1-26 M2-11 M3-13 M4-10 M5-13 M6-8 M7-12 M8-7 M9-7 M10-0 M11-11

Erin T.
on 1/23/18 3:49 am
VSG on 01/17/17

My insurance approved me in 2 days, but I still had one last requirement for the Bari center (a nutrition class, I think?) that I needed to complete before they would schedule me. I took that class just before Christmas and my surgery was on January 17th.

VSG: 1/17/17

5'7" HW: 283 SW: 229 CW: 135-140 GW: 145

Pre-op: 53 M1: 22 M2: 12 M3: 12 M4: 8 M5: 10 M6: 11 M7: 5 M8: 6 M9-M13: 15-ish

LBL/BL w/ Fat Transfer 1/29/18

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