Turned down by insurance Cigna

bayareanan · September 25, 2009

After going through 6 months of supervised diet, all the other hoops that were required, I have been turned down. "Not covered by plan"

I weight 330lbs, have several comorbitites and still didnt make it. I dont know if I should be more mad at the insurance company, or at the surgeon's office for not checking before I started this journey!!

Veronda · September 25, 2009

Did you check with your insurance company prior to starting? I think at all of the seminars I've been to they tell you to call your insurance company to find out if it's covered.

bayareanan · September 26, 2009

No, I didnt. I found online a pdf about what was required for CIgna to approve surgery. I ASSUMED it would be the same for all plans. Then when I went to the surgeon, everyone made it sound like Cigna was a piece of cake to get approved. That is where I made my mistake. I really cant blame anyone except myself. But I am still disappointed.

Veronda · September 26, 2009

It is disappointing. When I first started looking into surgery about four or five years ago, I was on student insurance and WLS was excluded (even though the company as a whole does have plans that cover it). I was very close to paying out of pocket...if you think about it, it's less than the cost of a car, but you get so much more from it than you do from a car! I did hold off, and now I've been approved through my current insurance. It's still going to cost me $2,000+ in co-insurance and copays, and I've lost out on four years of the band, not to mention all the costs of getting to approval (eg, the six months of going to a bariatric clinic for supervised weight loss, etc.). Don't feel like you've hit a dead end...it's just an inconvenient obstacle. Consider the costs of waiting for insurance that covers it versus financing. You'll get there somehow!

marmar · September 26, 2009

Yepper My husband is a boilermaker and he has CIGNA and some plans of CIGNA covers it and some dont....well his plan didnt cover it so we just payed for it out of pocket. I couldnt wait any longer and as the above post mentioned ya cant even by a new car for the price of lapband. A car is just a car but the band can give you a longer life