How long after your approval letter did you have surgery?
I'm just curious as to how long after you received your approval letter from insurance before you got a date and how far away was your date? Days? Weeks? Months? I know every surgeon and hospital is different. I just want to see what some of my possibilities are. I'm just a little over a month from my 6th and last diet and exercise visit.
My surgery was actually scheduled before my papers were submitted to insurance. Scheduled it for five weeks out, because I had to get my c-pack machine and be on it for for weeks prior to surgery. I'm scheduled for May 14th, and my paperwork just went out a week and a half ago - waiting for approval any day.
I am very fortunate to have such an orderly doctor's office for my surgeon. I knew I had one of the top surgeons in the country and thought that I would be waiting months for my surgery but no. I was able to get an authorization for my surgery in less than one day. One day! The same day the auth came in I was called to schedule my surgery for a week later! I only had to wait a total of four months for the surgery but there were times I would get so frustrated waiting for test results. But once the office told me they were filing the auth it all went so fast. I was amazed and so thankful.
I have Medicare and they don't pre-approve WLS so I didn't get an approval letter. After I completed all the necessary pre-op stuff, I got a date. I think my surgery was about two weeks from then.
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.