Went to my PCP today...

I posted this on the RNY board, so sorry if I'm being repetitive. I feel so relieved this part is over!! I was so flipping nervous! I still feel like I could throw up. He wasn't exactly enthusiastic, but neither did he shoot me down. He made me tell him what all the surgeon's office had told me, so I told him how I knew all about complications and it possibly not working as well over time and so forth. He asked me if I'd been to a dietitian. I wanted to say, "You're the one who sent me to one, for the love of Pete!" Same thing when he asked me if I'd ever had my thyroid tested. He also asked me if I'd ever tried Atkins (yep, dietitian put me on) and stuff like that. In the end though, he said I needed to find out what my insurance required & he would write me a letter. I told him I was having trouble finding that out (I have BCBS Federal Employee Program, and I've probably read 10 different things on here. All they tell me is the BMI and age requirements). He said he would write me a letter & have it ready by this weekend. I chickened out of giving him the letter I'd written for him... I thought it might offend him. So it seems as if he's reluctantly going to be supportive. I did give him a copy of my diet history. His secretary was a little snippy about making me copies of my medical records though. Usually she's very nice. I keep thinking that after this is over I should probably consider changing PCP's since I'm so uncomfortable talking with him about all this, but now I know he's going to write me a letter, I'll hold off on that. On a side note, I did call my insurance again, and I told the lady what I was trying to find out and that when I'd called before they just referred me to my brochure. She said that was honestly all they required - the BMI requirements, documentation of my co-morbidities and I have to be 18. She even double checked it and came back and assured me that is all they require. She said they don't even require any kind of pre-approval, but said a lot of the doctors want to do that to be sure they're going to get paid, and if they send it in, they will send an approval letter, but it isn't required. She didn't mention any diet needed or even a letter from my PCP (may have gone through this nervousness for nothing!) or anything. Weird. I'm not going to get my hopes up at all. But I'm really glad that part is over with. Kim

Wow, that's great insurance, if that's all that's required! Good luck with the approval process. I hope it does all go smoothly for you. Linda Vicory P.S. about the sec'y who was snippy about the records... I wouldn't pay too much mind to it. She might have just been having a bad day.

It is a lot of work copying the papers and keeping them in order.. I had to pay to have mine done. Federal Anthem is quicker than State anthem and state anthem is awesome... Linda

I have Federal BCBS also. My surgery was four and a half weeks ago and I had approval before I even had all my tests done. So far I've paid the hospital $100.00 and Dr. Evanson $160.00 out of pocket. I thank God that I didn't have to fight them like some insurance companies. They didn't even require letters of recommendations.

Thanks so much for that info! I just posted a question to the RNY board about co-pay. My brochure says I have to pay 10% of allowable charges, so I'm trying to figure out what that means in actual money & wheather my FSA will cover it or if I need to start stashing money. Thanks! Kim