mcnee - I see from your profile that you are 9 years postop from an RNY. There are some other RNYers here, but many of us are a core of strong veteran advocates for the DS, and are far more knowledgeable about the science of bariatric surgery as well as insurance law than the surgeons and their insurance staff. For example, I will be 15 years out on August 5th, and I have a PhD in molecular biology as well as being an attorney. There are other scientists, MDs, nurses and nutritionists here too. We know what we’re talking about, more often than not.
How are you doing? Are you researching a revision of your RNY? One of the reasons we are so pro-DS is that the long term results for RNY are so disappointing. Even the most diligent RNYers are usually struggling by 9 years out.
It’s good to get new blood here, but you might want to consider whether as a newbie, you want to opine authoritatively on subject matter about which you may not be as up to speed as many if not most of us. Discouraging other newbies with false statements about the propriety of the BMI requirement and the ability to fight insurance denials/exclusionary policies - subject matter which a quick word search would show are frequent topics here, with many victories reported - is not helpful.
TriCare is a tough one though.