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Insurance Updates
Hello all,
Hope everyone is doing well. As for me, I have been spending the last couple of weeks trying to decide about pretty much everything as it pertains to this surgery. *SIGHHHHH* I now have AvMed insurance which requires 6 months of visits with a nutritionist and PCP, I have hated the idea of that since I found out. However, it is now open enrollment at my job and we are able to change up our insurances if we would like to. If we change them, they will go into effect January 1.
So I looked into the other insurances that my job offered and came across BCBS aka Florida Blue. I think I aggravated Ms. Ashley to death(Dr. Wizman's patient coordinator) but she was so patient with helping to find out what the requirements would be for BCBS versus what I have now....AND THANKKKK GOD, they only require a letter of medical necessity, psychological evaluation, initial nutritionist consultation, and a blood test. Listen y'all, I am ecstatic about this!! So ecstatic that I decided to give Dr. Wizman another chance to get on my good side LOL. Ashley explained to me that I could get started on those things now and as soon as January 1st rolls around, she will submit to insurance for approval! BCBS only pays 80% of the surgery but as I understand it, insurance companies give the surgeon's office an amount that they will pay and I am responsible for 20% of it. With my yearly deductible being $250, the 20% of surgery fee, and Dr. Wizman's program fee....I am going to have to pay just under $1,000 all due 2 weeks prior to my surgery. I am a happy camper :-). As of now I have my psychological evaluation scheduled for 10/31, that's step 1.
Anybody else have Blue Cross Blue Shield? How's it going for you?
Hope everyone is doing well. As for me, I have been spending the last couple of weeks trying to decide about pretty much everything as it pertains to this surgery. *SIGHHHHH* I now have AvMed insurance which requires 6 months of visits with a nutritionist and PCP, I have hated the idea of that since I found out. However, it is now open enrollment at my job and we are able to change up our insurances if we would like to. If we change them, they will go into effect January 1.
So I looked into the other insurances that my job offered and came across BCBS aka Florida Blue. I think I aggravated Ms. Ashley to death(Dr. Wizman's patient coordinator) but she was so patient with helping to find out what the requirements would be for BCBS versus what I have now....AND THANKKKK GOD, they only require a letter of medical necessity, psychological evaluation, initial nutritionist consultation, and a blood test. Listen y'all, I am ecstatic about this!! So ecstatic that I decided to give Dr. Wizman another chance to get on my good side LOL. Ashley explained to me that I could get started on those things now and as soon as January 1st rolls around, she will submit to insurance for approval! BCBS only pays 80% of the surgery but as I understand it, insurance companies give the surgeon's office an amount that they will pay and I am responsible for 20% of it. With my yearly deductible being $250, the 20% of surgery fee, and Dr. Wizman's program fee....I am going to have to pay just under $1,000 all due 2 weeks prior to my surgery. I am a happy camper :-). As of now I have my psychological evaluation scheduled for 10/31, that's step 1.
Anybody else have Blue Cross Blue Shield? How's it going for you?
28 Year Old....ready for a Life Changer!!
I found out about the sleeve from scrolling through the Instagram explore page. I would come across the pages of a few amazing women who explained that the sleeve was what changed their lives. I watched those pages for weeks, watched hundreds of YouTube videos and read reviews from real self. After checking my BMI and realizing that I could be a candidate, I was sold!!! I called my insurance company (AvMed) to inquire about my bariatric benefits. They told me that I did have a bariatric benefit but that's all they said. Guess I have to figure everything else out on my own.....
Shortly thereafter, I began to research doctors in the South Florida area. I came across Dr. Wizman and Dr. Shillingford who were both renowned bariatric surgeons. I did some research and made the call to Dr. Wizman first (he was closer to my home) to schedule whatever I needed to schedule. I was informed that I would need to attend an informational session at his office. On September 7, I attended the session with Dr. Wizman. I was led into a room with about 40 other interested participants. The lady who gave us most of the information was so nice, she was very patient and answered all questions asked. Dr. Wizman on the other hand came off as a bit arrogant, he disregarded questions and just seemed a little rude to me. My boyfriend didn't like him either.
The next day, I decided to give Dr. Shillingford's office a call. They informed me that I would need to attend an informational session as well. On September 14th my boyfriend and I attended Dr. Shillingford's session and I LOVE HIM. He is definitely the surgeon for me. Completely opposite of the other guy. I was given all of the info about my insurance and was pleased to find out that my insurance covers my surgery 100%, no copay, no deductibles. Thank God!! However, I do have 6 months of this and that to do. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh....... I have to do 6 monthly visits with a nutritionist, 4 visits with my PCP, and meet with a psychiatrist. This is really so much work, I just wanna get my surgery already.....
Hello Everyone, I am so excited to be here.......
Hello Everyone, I am so excited to be here.....Here's my story!
I am a 28 year old woman who has been battling with my weight for as long as I can remember. I have to be honest though, I have only been overweight for the past 7 years. Though the scale has only reflected me being over weight for less than a decade, my mind has played horrible tricks on me my entire life. While I wasn't always overweight, I was always the "fat friend." My friends were pretty much stick thin and since I was constantly around them I would compare myself and automatically assume I was fat. My mother was a naturally slim woman and my dad was obese for a while but once he became diabetic he lost a lot of weight. My oldest brother is a big guy, my younger siblings are of normal weight, and then there's me!!!
I am 5'8" and I weigh 305 pounds. *Sigh* Writing that just made it too real for me! I am a naturally curvy woman which I love, however, the cute curviness I once possessed has become completely out of control. I remember in the past when I would tell people what I weighed, they would gasp and say "Oh my Gosh, you don't look like you weigh that much," since I was always heavier than I appeared and I guess that made me feel like I had a pass of some sort. I was more concerned with people not thinking I was fat not even realizing that I was using that as a way to not focus on my weight seriously.
It was my junior year in college when I started to put on serious weight. I was no longer active like I was in high school and I ate whatever I wanted. Entering college, I weighed about 155. My junior year, I weighed between 190-205. Still kept it very cute! I knew how to dress my body and got away with it. Right before graduation I tried the HCG diet. (Y'all heard of that right?) It's the diet where they give you these HCG drops and put you on a 400-500 calorie a day diet. COMPLETE FAIL!!!! Lasted 3 days, LOL. By the time I graduated, I was about 220 pounds.
The next 4 1/2 years is when I would gain the rest of the weight. So many life altering events (good and bad) contributed to the excessive weight gain. During those years, I have tried soooooooo many times to lose weight , personal trainers, crash diets, diet pills, diet shakes, eating right, and so many more. I would always lose weight, depending on the diet it could be between 13- 30 pounds at a time, but as soon as the diet was complete, I would gain all the weight back that I lost and then some.
Anybody who knows me would consider me overall to be a fun, social butterfly. However, in the last year I have become someone unrecognizable. This weight has caused me to be depressed so much that I hate going anywhere. I used to dress up to go to work and now because I've gotten so big, my clothes don't fit (AND I REFUSE TO KEEP BUYING BIGGER AND BIGGER CLOTHES) I just wear the few things I have that fit and could really care less about my looks. I don't like to go anywhere that requires me to dress up too much, it's all too much! I am losing myself......
I met my amazing boyfriend October 2014 and he is the bomb y'all. He has been dedicated to helping me with anything weight related since we met. He's such a trooper. I am so happy with him and completely in love. I know I need to make a change to take my life back and be the girl that I used to be. The time is now..................
I am a 28 year old woman who has been battling with my weight for as long as I can remember. I have to be honest though, I have only been overweight for the past 7 years. Though the scale has only reflected me being over weight for less than a decade, my mind has played horrible tricks on me my entire life. While I wasn't always overweight, I was always the "fat friend." My friends were pretty much stick thin and since I was constantly around them I would compare myself and automatically assume I was fat. My mother was a naturally slim woman and my dad was obese for a while but once he became diabetic he lost a lot of weight. My oldest brother is a big guy, my younger siblings are of normal weight, and then there's me!!!
I am 5'8" and I weigh 305 pounds. *Sigh* Writing that just made it too real for me! I am a naturally curvy woman which I love, however, the cute curviness I once possessed has become completely out of control. I remember in the past when I would tell people what I weighed, they would gasp and say "Oh my Gosh, you don't look like you weigh that much," since I was always heavier than I appeared and I guess that made me feel like I had a pass of some sort. I was more concerned with people not thinking I was fat not even realizing that I was using that as a way to not focus on my weight seriously.
It was my junior year in college when I started to put on serious weight. I was no longer active like I was in high school and I ate whatever I wanted. Entering college, I weighed about 155. My junior year, I weighed between 190-205. Still kept it very cute! I knew how to dress my body and got away with it. Right before graduation I tried the HCG diet. (Y'all heard of that right?) It's the diet where they give you these HCG drops and put you on a 400-500 calorie a day diet. COMPLETE FAIL!!!! Lasted 3 days, LOL. By the time I graduated, I was about 220 pounds.
The next 4 1/2 years is when I would gain the rest of the weight. So many life altering events (good and bad) contributed to the excessive weight gain. During those years, I have tried soooooooo many times to lose weight , personal trainers, crash diets, diet pills, diet shakes, eating right, and so many more. I would always lose weight, depending on the diet it could be between 13- 30 pounds at a time, but as soon as the diet was complete, I would gain all the weight back that I lost and then some.
Anybody who knows me would consider me overall to be a fun, social butterfly. However, in the last year I have become someone unrecognizable. This weight has caused me to be depressed so much that I hate going anywhere. I used to dress up to go to work and now because I've gotten so big, my clothes don't fit (AND I REFUSE TO KEEP BUYING BIGGER AND BIGGER CLOTHES) I just wear the few things I have that fit and could really care less about my looks. I don't like to go anywhere that requires me to dress up too much, it's all too much! I am losing myself......
I met my amazing boyfriend October 2014 and he is the bomb y'all. He has been dedicated to helping me with anything weight related since we met. He's such a trooper. I am so happy with him and completely in love. I know I need to make a change to take my life back and be the girl that I used to be. The time is now..................
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