Yesterday, after hours on the phone with my doctors’ office and the insurance company, my top surgery consultation was approved! I can hardly believe it. 

Yesterday morning began with, according to the staff at my doctors’ office, another denial. They said they filed the new referral with the necessary letters and it came back denied, which wasn’t true. 

Apparently, it wasn’t denied. It was pending. However, the insurance’s care management nurse-person I’d been working with advised me to appeal the original referral that had been denied. She told me they were going to cancel the pending referral. What? Why? I don’t know. Whatever. 

By 1:00 PM, I was starting the appeals process, a thirty-five-day wait time. And I’m not a patient person. But, whatever again, I started the process with their appeals department. 

After all the hold times and people-passing, I get all that squared away by 2:30. I’m not happy about it, but I figure, fine, I’ll have to wait it out. It’s not like I can get the surgery right now anyway. 

Then, I don’t know why–just for yucks–I check their portal to see if anything about the appeal shows up on their website, and I see that the most recent referral says, “Approved.” Then I wonder, are they going to cancel it because I started the claim? There’s an approved, downloadable authorization letter just sitting there. Can’t I use it? What’s stopping me from using that? I could essentially make an appointment with the surgeon with that letter.

Well, I was confused, so I called again to find out. I risked waiting on hold for another half hour to see what was what. 

So apparently, before the appeal was set into motion, they’d approved the second referral. It won’t be canceled. Now I’m all good to go! Hallelujah! Mazel tov to me!

Next step, get an appointment for a consultation and keep losing weight. 

On my way. 

I also got a haircut yesterday. Look how short: