Optifast...covered by insurance?

[♥Amy♥ 5]

Has anyone who has had Optifast prescribed by a doctor have it covered by their insurance?

Just curious. I know Optifast is an approved physician supervised weight loss program by Aetna but I'm not sure if they cover it. It's tough getting a straight answer from them.

Thanks in advance!

[RestlessMonkey 7]

Do you mean as preop prep for the band, or on its own?

[♥Amy♥ 5]

On its own. Just curious.

[sghatl 2]

My insurance paid for the lab tests, the medical portion and the administrative fees but did not cover the cost of the Optifast liquid itself. That was the most expensive portion of my program. They consider it food and they don't cover it.

[Julia_N 2]

I don't think it's covered by my insurance (Aetna). I know that when I was readying receipts for my medical-cost fund reimbursement, it specifically said I could not get reimbursed for any sort of nutritional supplements.

[nicole914 0]

Has anyone's insurance covered it as a pre-op diet? How much was expensive? Thanks.

[colinandme 0]

I was on Optifast for 4wks as a preop diet and it was NOT covered. I had to have 6 Meal Replacements a day, each ranging from $3-$3.25. It cost about $17/day for 4 weeks or about $110/wk! Fortunately, you could be on a payment plan to spread out payments over time, but still cost a bundle!