I had already met my 6 month supervised diet requirement in May when I officially started this journey. My PCP and I had already been monitoring weight and diet for a year. I'm still waiting for my PCP's office to submit all the correct records to the bariatric office for forwarding to insurance. I've been delayed three months because of this. In the meantime, I met for the psych eval, had a consult with the dietician, and met with the bariatric nurse practitioner. Also while waiting, I had all bloodwork and a scope. I have met all the requirements as of a month ago and still nothing has been submitted to my insurance. Insurance will take up to a month, and then I'll have to wait for an appointment to meet the surgeon (a month), followed by waiting for the surgery. I'm looking at late November, probably. That's a six month wait AFTER meeting the 6 month diet my insurance requires. In the meantime, I've been dieting. My BMI was recorded at my first visit with the NP at the bariatric clinic, and it was 40. I have lost more weight since, but insurance will use the weight at my first visit to determine eligibility. I'm getting close to wonderland but look forward to the surgery as a tool to manage my weight loss and achieve my goal weight. It's a long process, but I've been using the time to get used to the changes I would have had to make for surgery. Best of luck!

i havr bcbs and didn't have a supervised diet restriction, but my surgeon made me lose a certain pecentage of my body weight before surgery. he did make me follow a liquid only diet for a week before surgery, which was the hardest part. i followed the ketogenic diet during my 6 months prior to surgery to lose almost 50 lbs (more than my surgeon asked) to show my committment to this lifestyle. per my insurance, i had to have the following: 2 dietician appointments, 1 psych eval and appointment, 1 cardiologist appt, 1 pulmonary dr appointment for a sleep study (where i ended up with a cpap, UGH). also had to have a swallow test to check for hernias (test did not show a hernia but he had to repair it once he went in to see it). all in all it took about 5-6 months from my first appointment with the surgeon to finally have the surgery. i pushed to get my appointments in fast because i was so impatient! no regrets. would have the surgery all over again. i am a smaller size than i was in high school and i have a ton more energy.

I have united healthcare community plan through medicaid. I have to have 6 months monitored diet and a psych evaluation and a letter of medical necessity from my doctor. The scope and sleep study are required by the surgeon. My insurance covers it all as long as the appointments for the pcp say that they are about weight loss. I just started in July. I go to my 3rd appointment with my pcp on September11th

I was self pay. 1 psyche clearance. 1 pcp clearance. wait time < 3 weeks. If you have that option, take it.