It varies so much from program to program, surgeon to surgeon... hard to say!

But WELCOME to DS!!

I know what my doctor and hospital program requires. Last year I had Cigna insurance and I knew what there requirements were but I couldn't squeeze in the surgery before January. In January we switched insurance to UMR. Cigna only required 3 months of the diet program whereas UMR requires 6 months. But I don't know what their requirements typically is for weight loss before surgery.

Both the insurance companies and drs have a set criteria.
Call your insurance company and ask them the requirements.
When you take the bariatric surgery informational class they most hospitals require, you will get all there information and requirements.
You should expect 3- 6 months of classes, appts, and dietician appts before surgery is scheduled.
Good luck and welcome to the group!

I have UMR INS. You'd have call the 800 number and get specifics since they may have changed in the past couple a years. I had to do a 6 month try at losing weight under a doctor's supervison. I didn't have to lose any specific amount, just try.
I had to get a letter from a doctor saying I needed the surgery and my clinic did all the rest of the stuff like seeing a Pshyc and nutritionist and so on. It took time jumping thru the hoops but it worked out real good.
My surgeon asked me to do a 2 week liquid diet and try to lose 20 lb before surgery. I think I lost maybe 15 but he was happy. It was to reduce the size of the liver to make it safer to work near it.
There should be a toll free number on the back of your UMR card to call for any information. The very first thing I had to do was confirm I had coverage for a gastric bypass and that is how I did it by calling that free number.

By the way welcome to the group and congrats on making the decision to get healthy!

My insurance is administered by UMR, here is what I had to do.

First I need to be obese, plus a co-morbidity like diabetes, or some other issue.

Secondly there were these set of physician appts.
Endoscopy to see if there was h-pylori in my stomach
Cardiology clearance
Psych eval
Ultra sound of my gallbladder and stomach
3 mo's of visits to primary doctor for med supervised weight loss
pre-surgery appointment
pre-op appointment
surgery


New life !!!! :-)

Good luck!

THIS IS WHAT I AM TOLD FOR ALL INSURANCES.6MONTHS UNDER A REG DR.,3 MONTHS WITH A BARIATRIC DR. THATS 1 GROUP A MONTH FOR 3 MONTHS.JOHN

Welcome!!! :)

I had a crazy list of stuff. I went straight to a bariatric dr- had 6 months of supervised weightloss, psych eval, pulmonary clearance, cardiac clearance, sleep study, labs, drug screening annnnd I think that's it.. No required weight loss, that happened by itself when I started the protein shakes. I'm 3 days post-op and every stupid appt was worth it!