GWH Cigna/Harrington Health

[JeniM73 56]

Ok, so I'm a little irritated with my hubby. Apparently, our insurance changed at his job and he didn't pay attention in the presentation. I'm confused about what our benefits are and even what insurance we have now. The letter says our insurance has changed to GWH Cigna (which is Greater Western Health???) but at the bottom of the letter it says if you have any questions to call Harrington Health, which is who we had and does not cover VSG. I looked the policy up on Cignas website and it states that VSG is a covered benefit.

According to the policy, I've met all of the requirements. My BMI is higher than 50 and I've been in a medically supervised WL program since August with hopes that my insurance company would approve surgery. In the end, Harrington Health denied me and I was forced to look elsewhere. Now, I'm scheduled for VSG in TJ on 2/22.

So now I've got to call Cigna or Harrington Health? I'm confused as to what insurance we even have at this point. Has anyone ever had an issue like this?

[Darkkyss 33]

Did he not get an insurance card? it should have numbers on the back to call. that is what I did. I called the back of my card and asked them if they covered the VSG

[Radwilk 4]

Just call Cigna and see if you have an active policy. They can tell you right away and their phone lines are open all night I believe.

[JeniM73 56]

Yes, we just got the cards in the mail. It says Cigna as well as GWH-Cigna AND Harrington Health. I called the number on the card and it takes me to Harrington Health (which is not open until 8AM on Monday...which feels like forever away). Our premium went up a bit. I really could just hang him up by his toenails for not paying attention to the presentation. He says someone from Cigna spoke, but says everyone was confused and he just stopped paying attention and can't remember what she said. At this point, I don't even know what our insurance company ACTUALLY is.

[Radwilk 4]

I have CIGNA. The contact # on the bottom of my card is 18002446224. You could always try calling that number just to see if they can even find you. That might give an indication on who you need to talk to. If they say "nope, can't find you" then you know they aren't carrying your policy. Though I wonder if Harrington is just a benefits administrator. Keep us posted. I am curious. Hope you get what you need. My husband changed jobs 1 month before I was scheduled for surgery. We had CIGNA and changed to United Health Care and the policy we got through UHC excluded bariatric surgery (his company is new and chose this policy). So I kept CIGNA through COBRA and just had my surgery December 10th and CIGNA paid for it. GOOD LUCK!\

[ebonisekim 1,713]

Yes something similar I think in the middle of me jumbling through hoops my insurance changed to Aetna ppo signature but just the ppo provider change not the plan it self besides one thing my vsg was covered at 80% now it's covered at 40% I'm having surgery on jan21 . Good luck I hope this is the case

[JeniM73 56]

So this morning, I've called all over trying to figure out my benefits and covered services. On the Summary of Benefits and Coverage, under my plan option, Bariatric Surgery is listed as a covered service. This morning, I received an email back from the insurance administrator at my husbands job saying that she thinks that is an error. REALLY? Can they just hand out mass documentation descripting what they cover and then say "Ooops, we didn't mean that one"!

I also received a call from my insurance asking me to fax the paperwork I have stating that this service is covered. This is the paperwork that THEY provided to my husband at the presentation of benefits. So at this point, I can't get a straight answer from anyone. And I'm a little disturbed that I had to fax my insurance a copy of their own documentation advising what their plans cover!

Wow...at this point I'm about to just give up and go to Mexico as first planned.

[Ms_JackieDMV 18]

Cign denies people fast. My surgeon spoke to the doctor to peer to peer appeal. Now waiting for my paperwork to be refaxed over. BMI is now 40.1 at first 39.1