Any thoughts?

Ok i was wondering if you all can help me write a letter to give to the CEO and who ever else i need to give it to so they will make sure that the WLS is covered. The lady at UHC said i should write a letter to the benifits department where i work plus i have had a few other people tall me i should write a letter to the CEO of the casino plus maybe one to the tribe that owns the casino. What all should I have in the letter? Should i have info about the WLS. I don't know if most people know this but Native Americans have a lot of problems with there weight, blood sugar, & high blood preasure. There is a lot of Tribal people who work at the casino who are really overweight! So should i bring up the fact that this woulf help there own people if they covered it? I just don't know what to say. If they don't cover it with the new insurance company then i will have to either give up and not have the surgery or go to South America/Mexico and have it done ( its less then 15,000. ) but i don't know if it is safe to have it anywhere else but the USA. Well i guess i could always marry a rich guy lol or someone who has WLS covered with there provider lol. I don't like my options right now lol. HELP!!!!!

Hi... I have never heard of that before. Have you checked with your Human Resources department first?

Billie Jean, The program/surgeon that you are going with should do all of that work for you. You can simply call the number on the back of your insurance card and ask if there is a "direct exclusion" to the surgery. If there is not then you should have smooth sailing since UHC is defniitely the easist insurance to get approval from. If there is an exclusion then there is absolutely nothing you can do; be it letters, etc. It won't happen. Good luck....I hope you find out positive info and can get on the skinny journey to good health! Joyce

Billie Jean, I think that writing a letter to the benefits department , copying the CEO might be a good idea. I'd be careful about how you mention health issues as they relate to Native Americans. I would just make general satements and not refer to a specific ethnic group. I say this because my father is Native American and sometimes well-intentioned people make statements that can be taken the wrong way. Just state that coverage of the surgery would help all of their employees with weight related co-morbidities, especially diabetes. There are some links on my profile that give some basic statistics and facts about obesity and health related issues (I hope they stll work because I put them on my profile a couple of years ago), feel free to use those links to write your letter. Good Luck, Connie

My step is also Native American ( he is full blooded Navajo ) so i do know that it can be a touchy subject with them. So i will be extra careful when i write this letter. Thanks for all the advice you guys. Billie Jean