[stayjay]

Hello,

I have a question regarding medical requirements. I understand there are two physicals required to adopt from China, one for the agency (this was sent in our inital packet of information and is just a general health form on agency letterhead that needs to be filled out by a physician). Then, I understand there is another more in-depth physical that is required by China that includes blood work, liver testing etc. My question is, will most health insurances cover two physicals? I thought most insurances only covered one physical per year. I will check with my insurance company, but I was just curious if others ran into an issue with this. Thanks in advance for any insight!

[Tina Ocheltree]

My husband and I are both getting our physicals this Friday! Our agency requires all the tests for China, plus our Dr. requires bloodwork for the physical ahead of time too. We are not planning a second physical!

I would just have your Dr. order all the tests you need for China while you are there. Can your agency give you a list of what you need? (don't forget the HepB test!)

[33458]

We had this exam covered by Cigna - it might be how the office coded the medical to have it covered (may well have been the 'annual' since we didn't already have one done, but we had to agree to cover any "un-necessary testing" if kicked-back).

The medical results once documented will only be valid for one year OR six months depending on the consulate you will be processed through - it is very important to communicate with your agency the timing you need to follow for procedure to make sure strange expirations don't trip you up.

The agency may not provide this questionnaire to you until you have completed prior documentation, but if they will, perhaps you can arrange with your physician to complete both tasks during the same visit. It is worth discussing this with both parties now so that you're prepared.

YES - don't forget the Hep test - it seems several doctors miss that on the work-up sheet. Mine too!

[seahawkgrad]

My SW used the China physical form to get the information she required and we filled out the basic "general health" questions. The SW form was VERY basic so she had no problems. We had a wonderful SW and she was very accomodating. We had all our visits, etc. done before our physical (We did an expedited homestudy and we were done in one week) so she held off writing the final until she received the medical form.

My Dr., too, did not do the Hep B test - said I didn't need it since I had never had the vaccination. But, we went back and got it - I had to insist.




Susan

[KarenInCa]

Ours only required one. The agency, probably uses pieces of the larger one for theirs. However, if that is the case, why couldnt your doctor fill out both forms with one physical, knowing that the one the agency requires has elements of the one that China wants?

[EricksonFamily]

We just had our second physical done and I believe you can ask your doctors office to bill this as a regular office visit, which it really is. For most insurance companies the "physicals" you have to do for the adoption are not considered the same as your annual physicals. (At least not out of experiences with dealing with different insurance companies on a daily basis).

[Sheba]

We only had one physical and the dr. called and ordered all the blood work and filled out the papers. Our papers were the same for the agency and China. I would just call your dr. and have him send you for the necessary blood test. You should not need another physical but may need him to fill out a different form. That would just be a trip to drop it off and pick it back up.

Good luck.

Julie

[hcromwell]

We had to have two forms filled out, one for our agency and one for our home study. We only had one physical though. There's nothing saying you can't go and take care of both of them in one shot, just make sure the Dr. covers everything that is required on both of them.
Hope in PA
DTC 11/12/2004
LID 11/19/2004

[KarenInCa]

hmmm maybe thats why we had to have 4 copies of each notarized....because the agency is using one for their records too.

[JackieC]

Hi All,

I was a little uncertain about the information in this thread on timing of physicals. There was some mention of 6 months or one year as the expiration for the validity of the physicals. But I didn't understand if it had to be within six months of DTC or ????

We are just starting the process (I've selected an agency but haven't contacted them yet). I thought I would go ahead and make appointments for our physicals just to get this out of the way - also in case something were to show up I would like to know right away.

Anyway. If we had our physicals this month - January - would it be too early.

Any clarification would be helpful.

Thanks,

Jackie

[Tina Ocheltree]

I would go ahead and at least check on making your appointments! We waited until we were starting our hs and it was going to be March before we could get appts. for physicals! I begged them to check for cancellations, and actually (I think it was the red thread) was able to sneak both of us in back to back because of a scheduling glitch! We got ALL of our blood work done, and our Dr. was a gem about getting everything filled out and signed! Good luck!

[33458]

Originally Posted by JackieC

Hi All,

I was a little uncertain about the information in this thread on timing of physicals. There was some mention of 6 months or one year as the expiration for the validity of the physicals. But I didn't understand if it had to be within six months of DTC or ????

We are just starting the process (I've selected an agency but haven't contacted them yet). I thought I would go ahead and make appointments for our physicals just to get this out of the way - also in case something were to show up I would like to know right away.

Anyway. If we had our physicals this month - January - would it be too early.

Any clarification would be helpful.

Thanks,

Jackie

Hello Jackie - the 6 month expiration for certain documents is from the time you have the paperwork completed (dated) and the time it reaches the U.S. based Chinese Consulate - but not all consulates in all states are following this protocol...it's something new and exciting and a bit of a lottery. Check with your agency to determine if this is an issue for you (or not).
Why some and not all? I was not privy to this explanation, only the warning.

We were working with the usual under-12-month plan and while in the thick of it, got an update that the Texas branch of the Consulate (where our Fl. submission would be processed) now required documents to be dated no later than 6 months(!) from the time of issue...and that one of the Consulates in Cali had also adopted this policy.

At the time of notification, our medicals were less than a month from this new expiration, and our local background and something else (BC's, maybe) were literally a matter of DAYS. We either squeaked by or somebody wasn't so picky that day.

As far as documents in general, they must not expire while being processed here or in China (LID), and the wording is stated as "under 12 months".

Pick your agents brain for specifics - they will instruct you what to do and when based on their own policies.

Good luck on your journey!

[33458]

"We were working with the usual under-12-month plan and while in the thick of it, got an update that the Texas branch of the Consulate (where our Fl. submission would be processed) now required documents to be dated no later than 6 months(!) from the time of issue...and that one of the Consulates in Cali had also adopted this policy."



P.S.

I wanted to clarify that I meant a 6 month expiration from the time the document was originally issued from the source and not to suggest a post-dating some point after that.
So, if you did get your physicals done in January, you would now have less than 6 months to have them sent to the Texas Consulate or risk a kick-back for document updating.

Make sense?

[JackieC]

Thanks for all the great answers you all sent on timing of physicals. I really appreciate the help!