Cheryl, Please don't give up with your pursuit of surgery. I am a bariatric coordinator/post-op pt. and we have a patient that we are working with that has BCBS of IL. We are nearing the end ofr the 12 months that was neccessary for the pt. to be in the medical management part of the program and then we should be able to get an approval. Depending on the program you are working with you should be able to do what you need to meet their requirements within your program. If you need further direction please email me directly and I'll try to help guide you, Julie Julie.Smith@sjmcmn.org