Letter of Medical Necessity=A swift kick to the figs.

The degree of transparency with which I have approached this entire Free Jon project has been, well, freeing. So, with that in mind, I wanted to share the following text from my doctor's letter to my insurance company outlining the reasons why entering this program is medically necessary.

March 17, 2010

Re:         Jonathan Meyer
DOB:     5/14/79

Dear Sir or Madam:

This letter is in regards to Jonathan Meyer and in regards to medical necessity for weight loss treatment. The patient is 30 years old, he is 6'5" tall and weighs 347 pounds. This gives him a body mass index of 41.3 which qualifies him as being morbidly obese. His medical history is significant for sever sleep apnea which has been treated with CPAP for some time now. This patient has had ongoing long-term issues with his weight and has been recalcitrant to lifestyle modifications and diet modifications. Because of his severe weigh problem exercise is very difficult and challenging given shortness of breath and joint pain and his sleep apnea is ligel directly related to his morbid obesity. The patient is highly motivated to change his weight but, unfortunately, with attempts at weight loss to date he has been unsuccessful. I have recommened the patiet pursue medical weight loss management at the Jewish Hospital Weight Loss Center and he is, again, motivated and interested in pursuing this as an option. Given his morbid obesity, waiting for treatment any longer will just leave him open for severe co-morbidities including diabetes, coronary disease, osteoarthritis, hypertentions, stroke and kidney disease, as you know.

I would strongly recommend that the patient be considered for approval for insurance coverage of his morbid obesity and medical weight loss management.

Obviously, this was painful for me to read. I sat at my desk at work after opening the fax and struggled not to run to my car and drive as far away from my computer monitor as possible. Instead, I forwarded it to my health claims processor and post it here for all to see now. While I knew that I was morbidly obese, and that I went to my doctor for the express reason off asking for the diagnosis and letter, it was still incredibly hard to read. I want to say, "I'm not diabetic! There's not even any family history! I have great blood pressure!" The reality, however, is that I could be the first diabetic in my family and that it's an inevitability if I don't make some changes.

I wrote earlier that the Free* all-church journey at Vineyard Community Church (and 50 other churches in the greater Cincinnati area) has had a tremendous impact on me. This morning affirmed that even more. Our worship pastor, Charlie Hines, lead a song that spoke tremondous me to my heart:

I am free to run
I am free to dance
I am free to live for You
I am free

The reality is...I am not free to run. Not physically, at least. I can barely jog to the end of my driveway and back. Dance...again...not really. I just get so tired and suffer in pain so easily. I am free to live for God, that's for sure. I try harder and harder every day to be a "freedom fighter," as Dave Workman put it today.

I am training to be a freedom fighter. I am fighting for my life, at this point. I know that I will succeed...and finally be free.