United Healthcare VSG approval?

I went through the 6 month weigh in for Anthem Bluecross of California for bariactric surgery however upon more research i preferr to go through the VSG as oppose to RNY. Now my husbands medical is due to change January 2011 to United Healthcare Choice Plus - i've called and spoken to 2 reps to find out about approval for the VSG and have been unsuccessful and have also gone to the website with no luck there as well, I have seen on on several searches that United does approve the VSG but when trying to verify this information with UHC they will not verify this info.  Has anyone recently been approved for the VSG in California through UHC Choice Plus? Will I have to go back through 6 months of weigh in and can I tranfer this information over to UHC?

I have UHC EPO Choice (in Calif.), which approved my VSG. (With EPO Choice, I use in-network providers. I'm not sure how Choice Plus works, but it sounds like you have more out-of-network options.)

They required documentation (like from doctor's office or weigh****chers) of 5 years of weight history. THere was no 6-month requirement.

Is your current surgeon part of the UHC network? And has he had any UHC Choice Plus patients? If you anticipate changing surgeons, then you may want to contact [email protected], the nurse/manager of the weight loss center at John Muir in Concord (doctors Chin and Otero). She would be able to tell you if they recently had anyone with UHC Choice Plus.

Thanks so much Alison - I met Anne Timberlake some months ago at the Bariactric Seminar that John Muir provides every 2nd Wednesday of the month. I will contact here because I have gone through the 6 month weigh ins, 5 yr verification of weight history, seen the nutrionist and had my psych eval - I had my appointment at Standford with John Morton but I just wasn't willing to go through with the RNY after further research on the Lap Band and RNY and unfortunately with my current medical Anthem Bluecross those were my only options so I had given up. But my husbands company now has UHC and it goes into effect in January 2011 so I'm hoping to just transfer all this information and then get approval for the VSG. I'm hopeful!!!

Great!  I hope it all works out.  Anne gave me the "procedure code" for VSG and had me verify my coverage.  If you haven't already done that (through UHC), that might be the next step.  UHC approved me within a week after Anne submitted everything.  The approval paperwork didn't arrive for another two weeks, but I called UHC and got the verbal OK.  You are so close!!! 

Blue Cross *just* started approving VSG. You should check again to see if your specific policy covers it since it's a very recent change.

UHC does approve VSG but again, WLS has to be part of the specific policy. For example, my company specifically excludes WLS so even though it is covered by UHC (which I have), it wouldn't be covered for me due to the exclusion.