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Can anyone give me their experience getting gastric bypass approved by united healthcare?

I am in the process of trying to get the surgery approved by my insurance. I know it is covered because others at work have had it. I meet the requirements ( 40bmi, over 100 pounds overweight) I have tried and failed to lose the weight but the one problem I do have is not having access to past medical records. My doctor died and I had my records transfered to another doctor who in turn seems to have "misplaced" them. Does anyone know if they require actual records? Or what else they require for approval.

Public Comments

1. I don't have experience, but my best friend's mom had one. She said it was the easiest surgery ever. She was driving about a week after. Good Luck!
2. OK....I don't know how much help this is, but it's a start. I was a gi nurse for years and we often were in charge of sending in the records....most companies, in your situation of what happened, will probably accept a letter from your current doctor..BUT... it will have to contain a lot of "history " information. He will probably need to include a lot of things that he can just get from you verbally, such as how long you've been overweight, wight loss plans tried, counseling tried, etc etc. He will need to explain why he has to write this letter instead of sending your old records (which , by the way, you may still be able to get an additional copy from you old MD office, have you tried???). After that, the insurance may STILL require more info, but they will contact you or the new doc to try to get what they still need!! Whew...hope that helps some!! Good luck in getting your approval. We were able to get it on many needy patients, and good luck in your future after this life-changing experience!!!!!!!!!!1
3. i had the same happen to me , i needed my records the office had closed. I ended up calling a patient care coordinator from uhc who helped me from beginning to surgery and still calls to check up on me. I stressed the office had closed, but she said something about being in the state of ny. When you call uhc they have a weight loss surgery section that you can be transfered to and paired with a patient care coordinator who will facilitate all the paperwork needed between your docs office and you. I did have to do the 6 month supervised diet because i did not have consecutive weight loss document from my primary care doc. Check the state you are in, the records have to be somewhere, how about a gynocologist? where these records from a primary care phys? How about weight watchers if you were a member? or pictures from 5 yrs ago? They need records stating you have been trying to lose weight going 5 yrs back. So call uhc and see what your state mandates, i was completly shocked when the lady told i did not need the records going back 6 yrs because ny is mandated something or other. Good luck