Insurance-Kaiser Permanente HMO

I'm curious if anyone has ever been approved by Kaiser-HMO. My policy is not through a company, it's an individual plan and yes it does state that bariatric surgery is exlcluded. Although, when I spoke with a representative at Kaiser they stated that even though that wasn't one of my plan benefits, I could still seek a referral from my PCP. I'm just wondering if anyone has had any success with getting approval for WLS with Kaiser-HMO. Please advise.

Thanks

I am currently in Kaiser's pre-op bariatric surgery program, but I haven't been approved (Hopefully I'll be approved April 2009). I'm a federal employee, and from what I hear you have to be government or medicare for Kaiser to approve bariatric surgery. If you have any questions about the process, just ask.

I have Kaiser HMO (High Option) and I'm also a federal employee; I was approved and scheduled for surgery...I don't know if this helps but I wish you much success.

Hi Ally61, thanks for addressing my question and congrats on your approval. Let me ask you this question though. What does your EOC say about bariatric surgery?

I also have an individual policy with Kaiser and was basically told that unless I'm a federal employee or a Henry (?) County employee, it isn't included...and even then I'd have to have a certain policy.  I didn't want to fight an impossible battle, so I decided to go self-pay.  I guess if a representative told you to try, it couldn't hurt.

Best of luck!

Hi Laura, I went to my PCP the other day and he says pretty much the same thing, in terms of a losing battle because of the exclusion. I'm going to call Kaiser tomorrow to see if they have any individual policies that cover wls, as may renewal period is in May.
I probadly won't be able to have the surgery if I have to go the self-pay route. What kind of payments are you looking at and what procedure are you trying to have? Please forgive me if I'm being too personal, I'm just trying to figure out a way to get wls.

Thanks for your assistance