Linda78801

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  Well I'm pissed, I waited all damn month to see Dr. Patel and he strait up told me that my insurance wouldn't cover.  I explained to him that I spoke with Emily at Cigna and was told that with a letter from a physician stating it was medically necessary, It should....Dr. Patel in his arrogant way just shook his head and said, "NO!   I have seen this dozens of times and it won't work"  He then went on to compare my insurance with auto collision insurance.   Said If you didn't buy that in your policy and in the next couple weeks crash your not covered under collision.  Same thing!...Its your human resource manager who kept that as an exclusion.  He also went on to tell me to find another job that will offer better insurance.    So Here I go again!!  He advised me to go under medical weight management with his dietician.  So I am now on two meal replacement shakes (Bariatric Advantage) high protein shakes and one sensible meal per day, with 8 glasses of water, and multi vitamins and PHENTERMINE!  

Well, I'm going to see how this works!  This is the second time I actually go to see a doctor about bariatric surgery and couldnt get it done.  Maybe its really not too late for Mexico!    I'm just going to see about the financing that I can't seem to get.  AAAGGHHH!!!

 well I am Obessive Compulsive and I don't have alot of patience. LOL...with that being said, if I have questions I will cal my doctors office and ask...I just so happen to call last week to find out if they did check with my insurance to see if my insurance covers BS...anyways turns out the lady i spoke with told me i could call myself and find out....BIG FREAKIN MISTAKE!!  Hello this just made me once again discouraged to do it.  CIgna told me that they don't cover with my plan...It really upset me, because it took me 5 years to find a job with insurance!!  YES it took me this long.  When you live in  a small town, not much to choose from and openings for good jobs.  I did call my friend who used to be a bariatric surgery coordinator/Insurance verification director.  She told me not to worry...they usually always tell you they won't cover and that you will be paying for it out of pocket...she said let the doctors office handle insurance, The doctors office has been doing this for years and he knows what he can say to help you get it covered.  Well with that being said I felt so much better.  However I will say to the doctors office who encouraged me to call for myself...SHAME ON YOU!!  If you know something like this may discourage you from having such a necessary procedure, how dare you tell us to varify our own insurance??  SHAME SHAME ON YOU!!!
I am going to tell Dr. Patel when I go see him for my appointment on the 16th!

 I am so tired.  I am feeling just exausted everyday.  I can hardly keep my eyes open at work.  I know its all this weight, I know its killing me.  I thought about my life the other night, when I was more energetic a few years ago after losing some weight, I wanted to go into Physical Therapy.  Today I am thinking twice about it.  What I most wanted once, is almost an impossibility for me at my current state of being.  I really need to get all this weight off, it is affecting my priorities!!  

Wow, here I am 4 years after my first initial consultation for bariatric surgery...the Doctor that was following me on weight loss using Phentermine, well lets just say I ended up losing about 25 pounds in about 5 months..Not bad, but guess what??  Not even one month after I stopped seeing him (lost my insurance) I started gaining the weight back and then some.  When I last wrote on here I was about 99 pounds over wieght (my ideal weight is 115) I started at 125 pounds over, sorry too frightening for me to do the math and add those two numbers but I'm sure you can..  Okay back to telling you how much I have gained....Drum roll please.....tadadadadadada  I now weigh a whopping 261 pounds...I gained about 20 lbs more than when I started the the Phentermine pills.

Needless to say I'm back into looking into bariatric surgery...I'm going to stick with the same physician, (he has since opened a different facility and is working with a new team of doctors, hopefully staff as well) I once tried to get in with, only now I am working with a different company which offers insurance (Cigna)...This time hopefully I'm going to let them do the leg work to get it going for me.  This time I'm seriously considering the Vertical Gastric Sleeve.  My new seminar date with Psychologist and Consultation is scheduled for July 16th, 2011.  So I am hoping this time nothing will stop me.

 

Well, its April 2, 2007.  And my hopes of having surgery is actually down the drain...My insurance has made it very hard for me to have surgery (I would have to travel way the Hell out of town for the insurance to pick up only 50%)  I don't know about you, but I don't have  $12,000 just around the house...I can't and won't get a loan on my house equity.
so for now its a NO GO!  
I'm not at all upset, because the doctor who is treating me for the six months of supervised diet  has actually given me an appetite supressant called Phentermine.  And Woo HOO, I have lost about 4 pounds the first week!!
See I am exactly 125 pounds over weight, my insurance qualifications require me to be at least 100 pounds overweight, with this Phentermine, I will lose those 25 pounds and it will disqualify me from having surgery...Actually I am 121 pounds over wieght now.LOL.
So even if I don't get to have the surgery, I will happily shed this weight off, maybe slower than having surgery but atleast Its a Start!
Now to me its alot better than paying out of my pocket, especially for things that I wasn't told about would not be included, like Sleep Study, Labs, Pschologist..etc. etc.
 oh well, as long as I lose weight to be able to concieve and be healthy, I will be happy!!

So I went to this Seminar that was pretty interesting, However I didnt stay as long as I wanted to ...my representative told me that it would only take 2-3 hours long, I showed up at 8:30 and left at 12:30noon, and still hadn't got to see the dietician or the Phycologist.
I just couldnt wait, so I had to reschedule to have these things done.
The receptionist said that the whole thing should take about 6-8 hours long...I was never told that, and comming in from out of town I had to make use of my trip and take care of other things (only because I planned to only be there a max of 3 hours)

Now I am going to complain;  I have been on the phone with my representative(s) since early January, I had sent them copies of my Insurance card and picture ID, The person I first spoke to No longer works there, and now I got this new Representative, Again I had to send her my Insurance Card and she promised me that they would verify my benefits for my office visit, So did the first guy...However I get there and the Insurance girl had not even called..She hadnt even called because I had to give them my insurance card again the day I got there. This makes it three times I had to give them my insurance card.  Damn, I wanted to find out all my benefits and what they were going to do to get the ball rolling.  

Anyways, I did reschedule to see the Doctor again along with the Dietician and the pshycologist...Only this time I plan to stay much longer.
Oh and I got a call from Sauza Sleep study center to try and schedule the sleep study, said I was referred by Dr. Patel..So atleast thats on the ball.

Well, I finally have my seminar date scheduled for Feb. 21,07...and I have to say that I am excited about it!  I originally had it scheduled for Jan 27, but I really got scared off by my insurance company telling me that its not covered unless I go to one of three hospitals way the hell accross Texas (Houston, Dallas, and Plano).  Anyways, I learned here on OH, that Insurance companies will try to scare you away from it because they don't want to pay for something like that..just to let the Doctors and staff handle the inusrance.............So I went ahead and rescheduled to see Dr. Patel.
I really do hope that he is able to talk his way into my inusance company allowing him to do this surgery.  All I can do is wait, and why not, I've waited all my life, why not some more.?