need advice

the supervised diet i turned into the doctors office wasn't good enough, now i have to do either the 3 month or 6 month supervised by my personnel doctor. what is the difference between 3 or 6 months what is the insurance company really looking for? i want to get this right because i do not want to waste any more time do i make any sense? if i do please help I have aetna pos

You need to ask them exactly what you need documented and what was missing from the prior supervised diet try. Usually what they need is that the weight needs to be charted, notes about s/he talking to you about your food intake and what exercise you have done. You cannot miss even a single month and some insurance companies get real finky if it is 5 weeks apart etc. Find out from them what the difference is in the 3 or 6 months. The insurance companies can get really sneaky and say that you need 3 months then come back and say that you need 3 more and then they need different info than was charted. From all that I have read on the other boards some of these companies are A_ _holes. Chris

thank you for your response and i will definately follow your advice...i just hope they are not talking about being supervised be my doctor and doing something like jenny craig or weigh****chers it already is a costly venture plus i don't like the ups and downs of it! which i can see already it's going to be

A supervised diet usually means that you are required to have weigh ins and check ups with your doctor on a regular basis. For some insurance companies, it's every two weeks.. for some it's monthly.. some it's bi-monthly.. but each insurance company is different and you have to go to them and ask VERY specific questions and keep pushing until you get VERY specific answers. Keep good notes as you talk and it's good to have a list of questions when you call. The insurance company wants your doctor's records.. it doesn't matter what food plan you follow. If you follow a low-fat, low-calorie diet your doctor gives you, that will probably be fine but they don't typically recommend anything like Jenny Craig or Seattle Sutton (that would constitute an endorsement and no insurance company will take on that kind of liability). The best thing to do.. and I talked a lot about this on my early blogging.. is to develop a relationship with someone at your insurance company. Early on, I started talking to one woman at my insurance company's customer service line.. she was so helpful and thorough and made sure I had a clear understanding of what prerequisites I needed to meet and what not to forget, etc... You can almost always find someone who's willing to be an advocate for you.. ask them for their name and extension and ask if they would mind if you called them directly if you have more questions. It almost ALWAYS is better if you have the same person to talk to. They remember things they don't necessarily put in their system notes. Just keep plugging. You will get there!! Stef

thank you stef for your advice after i read what you said i called the insurance company and felt them out....didn't care for the woman i talked to but i'm going to keep calling every day until i find someone i like. this is such a good web site for any problems! what surprises me the most is what the insurance companies will put people thru knowing 95% of the people will do everything they can to get approved! what do they think...that all of us over- weight people want to go thru all this? this is the last resort! and i'm soooooooo sick of people (skinny people) telling me what and how to loose weight! like we all haven't tried EVERYTHING already.LOL