is lapband considered cosmetic surgery?

[beautiful_days 0]

i'm looking on my dads company's insurance information page, and they don't say anything about NOT covering weight loss surgery, but they do say stuff about not covering cosmetic surgery.

Their packets are confusing the heck out of me. is it considered preventive care?

Also, we don't know if we should enroll with Kaiser again, or if we should switch to Aetna. Which makes it easier to get Lap Band?

[TinaM 0]

You should call them directly and speak with them.

If your BMI is over 40 or 35 with 2 comorbities its usually considered medically necessary but again check with your insurance as EACH plan is different.

There are a number of people on here where insurance has covered both Aetna and Kaiser.

Once I talked with my insurance (like you couldn't find anything on the website or the papers) they told me to have my doctor submit teh papaerwork. I talked to the WLS dept for my HMO and they knew every requirement for all the major insurance compnaies and were able to tell me pretty quickly if I would *likely* qualify. Of course I went thru the 6 month required plans (Aetna/HMO), they submitted the paperwork and in 5 days I received my approval.

[TinaM 0]

you should also check the preop threads for Kaiser Richmond

[beautiful_days 0]

ok cool, thanks! i'll call them right now, and see what happens. I'll post what they tell me, and see what happens. I currently have Kaiser, but from what I hear it's really hard to get approved with them in SoCal, so we're gonna change our plan over to Aetna POS II.

[elcee 3,341]

No it is not cosmetic surgery.