Alrighty then....application faxed- let's see how I go.

i just receive a letter from apra with a reference no. and it says in the letter it could take up to 10 to 30 days, i faxed mine on the 24th of oct, and the letter was dated the 9th of nov, so gong on what you have said mine won't be looked at until the following week, which it wil make it 30 days. Hope we get a answer soon, i hate the waiting, and lucky i started my application early cause my ops not until march.

I rang them again today - they have just started on applications received on the 20th Oct and told me that there were 200 applications received that day!

Mine will not be processed before Tuesday at the earliest..boooo !

Cheers
Chris

I notice it has been moved to the Dept of Human Services of Centerlink now....I sent mine on the 27th October so am hoping its not affected by the move!

I called them today and they said they were currently processing application received 19 Oct, and did not expect to get to mine (21 Oct) until tomorrow PM at the earliest but that it would probably be Monday or Tuesday.

Not happy Jan!

hi just wondering if you have heard anything from apra, i sent mine two after yours and i have-not heard anything

I checked with APRA today and the current turn around time is 14 working days.

I'm not allowed to call them again till Nov 11 .. boo hoo! lol

I was definitely lucky! Some other people who applied at the same time haven't been so lucky unfortunately.
The letters from my GP and shrink were the exact wording as given in the application form. The letter from the surgeon was a standard one that they do. It didn't have the exact wording but contained all the information required. I also asked the Dr to mention that it was a one-off procedure because one of the letters has to say the frequency of the treatment.
I know some of the stuff I provided wasn't requested in the form but I'd read on here of other people being asked for more information and having the application delayed so I tried to prevent that having to happen. I was a bit paranoid about the expenses section of the form so I provided a bank statement to prove that I really don't have the funds available to pay for it. It might have been overkill but it worked!

Good luck
Lynette

Wow, you were so lucky!

Well, mine did not include a letter from my psychiatrist (stopped seeing him 4 months ago), nor did it include a bank statement. I rang them and they said I didn't need to send in that or payslips but maybe I should have done it anyway! I did include a letter from Medibank saying what my cover and excess was though.

Lynette, what did your letters say? Mine were based on the details in the form but I'm wondering if it maybe it needed more.

Oh well, fingers crossed that I will get approved and quickly.

Cheers
Chris

Thanks for your reply Lynette!

I am registered for the online members thingy with MBF as that's how I make most of my claims so I'll go in and have a look at that.

I am waiting for letters from my surgeon, his bariatric assesor and I'm going to my GP to get a third letter just for good measures. I will hopefully receive the other's letters in the mail soon so I can email my app. to APRA asap!!!

I have quotes/estimates from everyone (surgeon, anaesthetist and receipt for what I've paid dietician for her package -8 visits for the surgery-related issues)

I really hate having to be in private health (but don't have a nest egg in case of emergency so I have to stick to it)...but this year I might just get a lot more back than I usually claim, normally it's just a small amount of extras like dental etc. that I can claim.

They definitely aren't very helpful and it makes me paranoid thinking they're trying to avoid telling me that I'll find out soon that no I'm not covered. I know I'll have to pay a gap for surgeon and anaesthetist of about $5000, and my cover is also standard with $500 excess for hospital stays. So hopefully there'll be no nasty surprises and hopefully APRA approve me.

I rang my super today and the man I spoke to was very helpful and told me he'll send an info package with form I'll need to fill out if I do get approval from APRA - there were a few things that I didn't know I would have to do if I am approved for them to release funds.

Fingers Crossed...it must have been a relief when you were approved. Hopefully I've got everything necessary and they won't need more info.

Take care!

Yeah, I had the same kind of run around with MBF to begin with. I rang to find out if I was covered and they said they couldn't tell me without an item number. I got the item number and went into MBF and there was a lot of 'uming and ahing' and checking books and asking other people in there. The lady finally said I was covered for the accomodation in hospital but said that if the surgeon charged over the scheduled fee for the surgery I would have to pay a gap and I might have to pay extra for the anaesthetist. She still didn't seem too sure of what she was telling me so I left there confused about whether I was covered or not.

I ended up ringing their call centre a couple of times after that to double check that I was covered. I spoke to a couple of people who said that yes, I definately am. Frankly I was really suprised that I was covered considering I'm on the lowest Hospital coverage so I didn't quite believe it when they told me I was.



To answer your question about what I sent to APRA from MBF, I went to their website and registered for their self service thingy (it's called 'My MBF' from memory.) First of all I went to the 'Membership Details' section and printed off the page showing my policy details, excess and level of cover. This page has a link to a PDF document called 'Product Summary' for my level of hospital cover. I printed this off too and sent it in. I don't think MBF will give you something which specifically states that you ARE covered for the Gastric Sleeve procedure by name but your product summary says what you're not covered for which is basically the same thing.

Hope this helps.

Feel free to PM me if you want any other info. My APRA application was processed really quickly with no questions so I presume I did something right!



Cheers

Lynette

Hi Duzzenmada



I went into MBF and asked for them to double-check I was covered for Sleeve last week - with item number in hand...they told me they can't look up item numbers but as long as it isn't a knee replacement, renal dialysis or cataract surgery, then my level of cover will cover any other procedure. Sounded a bit dodgy to me. So was just wondering what information you got from MBF to send APRA (was more than just your Insurance statement for tax returns)?



This is all very bizare as I rang about 4 months ago when I was considering having the sleeve to make sure I was covered after my 12 month period - and they looked it up with the item number.

It's all happening now for you :) you will have those funds before you know it!

Thank you :) I am so glad that part of the journey is done and dusted lol

Thanks Jaime, letter finally arrived today and I'm so happy.

Glad everything came through for you in the end- I was following your progress on your posts.



Cheers

That's great duzzen, congrats!!!

Rang APRA today- application approved yesterday and letter is on it's way! No questions asked, wham, bam, thankyou APRA.

Yay me!!!!! Approved in 9 working days- is that a record?

Thanks suzyhomemaker. Good luck with yours too.
It's hard waiting and not knowing if they're going to knock you back or ask for more information and send you back to the bottom of the pile. We can only hope for the best huh?

Good luck with it all duzzenmada. I'm a few steps behind you (go to see the surgeon this Friday! yay!) but one of my fears at the moment is being knocked back.

Just an update- APRA have sent the letter acknowledging my application. In the meantime my obsessive nature got the better of me and I bit the bullet and booked in for the surgery so that I could give APRA an actual quote instead of just an estimate. I also faxed them off more information from my health fund showing that they cover the procedure.
I rang APRA to find out the waiting time at the moment- looking at 11 working days.

Fingers crossed!

I faxed off my application to APRA on Friday. After reading the various tales of woe on this thread I decided to throw in everything I could think of to pre-empt APRA calling me for more information. I've sent in a letter from the surgeon, my GP AND a shrink, along with a stat dec confirming why I can't pay for the surgery myself, a bank statement, information from MBF showing my level of cover and an information sheet showing the anaesthetic costs.
I made sure the DR's letters were all worded absolutely correctly but looking back over some of the comments here I'm still worried it's not enough. My surgeon's letter gives his quote and I had the GP write the amount I need released in total (including anaesthetic and hospital 'gap') but since I can't get an exact quote from the anaesthetist until I have a surgery date booked, I could only give APRA the information sheet which gives an estimate of the cost. I've noticed that some other people have been sent back to get an exact quote for the anaesthesia - it seems to depend on who looks at your application.
I work for the Government myself so I understand having to comply with legislation but geez.......it's easy to forget that it's your own money you're applying for!
Ah well, I did my best so I'll just have to wait and see.
Thanks to everyone who has shared their experiences on this forum. You've definitely given me a great insight on what to xpect with this surgery .