My posting for the day...

I'm ready to kick my journey into high gear. It's been 3 1/2 weeks since my referral was first submitted and I'm tired of being patient and sitting back waiting for my answer. I have not made a nuisance of myself thus far so as not to **** off my insurance company. I have only called about once a week to follow up. But I am tired of hearing, "It's still under review." How long does it take to read my height and weight, figure out my BMI and then say yes or no? I assumed they would say no right away, which is fine cuz I've had my grievance letter ready since before my referral was submitted. I had applied for the surgery in 2002 and found my denial letter a few weeks ago before I submitted my current referral. I started writing my grievance letter because I have until October 22, 2004 to grieve their decision. After attending a seminar at Henry Ford Hospital given by the surgeon I will have, I got a chance to speak with him afterwards. He told me to just re-apply because if I have a BMI of greater than 40 I'd be approved. (my BMI is 54.6) So I thought what's another week to wait to send my grievance letter if HAP denies my new referral? Well, that little week has come and gone and we are coming up on 4 weeks. When grieving to HAP they get 30 days to respond. They may have an extra 15 days if they need to collect more info. As of today, I would have been 7 days away from that 30 days if I had sent my grievance letter in back then. GRRRRRRRR So if they deny me now, I have another 30-45 days to wait!!!! I am ready for this to happen....I guess I'll have to make it happen!

Mary, Are you sure that your surgeon's office has sent in your information to your insurance company? I got frustrated too. I called my insurance company and they said they hadn't received it so I called my surgeon's office and the bariatria coordinator there had not sent it in yet. Paperwork, as you well know, gets backed up and it was 2 months before they sent mine in. Once it got there I was approved in less than a week. My consultation was April 11th and I had surgery July 18th of last year. Keep the faith. What makes you think you will be denied? Your BMI is certainly in the range for WLS. Suzie