I attended a free Orientation session at my bariatric surgeon's office. Once I made the decision to go ahead with it, they contacted the insurance company and got all the approvals in place. They are the experts, so if you can leave it all up to them, do so. I had my surgery in July so almost all of my deductable had been met for the year and my costs were minimal. At 386 pounds, my weight alone qualified me. The high blood pressure and joint damage with arthritis I had were not considered because the weight itself qualified me, but those co-morbidity items sometimes come into play if the weight isn't high enough to qualify all on it's own.

I had my sleeve 3 years ago and I have to tell you, I love my sleeve! The ONLY regret I have is in not doing something about my weight years ago.

Pat

I am in Texas as well and have united healthcare and had no problem getting approval... It actually was very quick (about a week or so) and the insurance company did not have any pre-requisites before approval...

Call your insurance and find out what their benefit is. Some insurances require a 3 or 6 month medically supervised diet. Many require you have a certain BMI (typically 35 BMI w/2 comorbidities or 40BMI w/out comorbidities). Also the weight loss benefit is an extra option that employers can pay for and many opt out of the benefit to save money. My surgery was covered at 100%, all I had to pay was $200 for a psych eval.

Good Luck!