Maya

> I am beside myself!! I just got approved for my lap band Yay! I went for my initial consultation in December, My insurance initially required that I join a fitness club, have a medically supervised diet and meet with a nutritionist for 6 months before they would even consider approving the procedure. So I took out a $2000 loan because my insurance doesn't cover that and started on my 6 month journey! Only to find out three weeks in that my insurance no longer requires that!!! So... I'm out $2000 BUT I didn't have to wait so I was happy anyway! My next hurdle was getting my letter of Medical Necessity.. My Primary Dr's office didn't have a clue about how this needed to be done, so I wrote my own letter of Medical Necessity, looked up diagnosis codes for each of my co-morbidities and took it to her so all my Dr had to do was put it on her letterhead and sign it! Yay! That was the best thing I could have done, it saved so much time and my Dr wanted to hire me to work for her! haha. I only had to wait 10 days to hear and now I'm scheduled for my Preop visit on February 4th and hopefully surgery soon after!! Woo Hoo! Thank you GOD! And thanks for reading fellow bandsters! >

Have your requested it and it's been denied? Do you have any of the co-morbidities? You may have to see your Primary care Dr to get these documented. If you do, you should be able to submit an appeal along with your medical records, find out what hurdles you may have to go through to get them to pay, just cuz your insurance book says it's not a covered benefit, you can submit an appeal to the medical director of your insurance.. it's worth a shot! Good Luck

That's so exciting!! Congratulations!!