emmay
Ive been considering this surgery since 2001 when my doctor talked to me about it. At that time I was 331 lbs and miserable. after contacting a program that required me to diet and lose 25 lbs, I went on a strict low-carb plan and lost 100 lbs in 7 months... so I stopped even considering wls. I low-carbed for 4 yrs and didn't lose any more weight. Well, in 2005 I gained almost all the weight back. At 300 lbs, I contacted my PCP to get a referral which she gladly gave me. I have medicare but there isn't a local hospital/doctor that will take it for wls. I've been jumping through the hoops for my secondary (Kern Family) Insurance since 2006. They sent me to a doctor for a 6-month diet in 2006. I did the diet, lost enough weight, but am slowly gaining back at about 1 lb a month. The diet doctor is filling out for my insurance to pay for the surgery, but now I found out that the surgeon and hospital that my secondary insurance uses doesn't take medicare (my primary insurance.) I'm floored. My secondary will not send me anywahere else! I've been paying for all the extras along the way and I was told that the surgeon that I was referred to would be receiving the COE in 10/07, but now I'm told that they don't know if they will. I'm looking into other options at this time... one option is to drop Kern Fmaily/go with regular medi-cal and use my medicare as medi/medi. I'm feeling a little disheartened after a year of following their rules and getting nowhere.
