If my Insurance is new will I have problems?
Hi Jody,
I just got my approval letter today from Harvard Pilgrim. On my first attempt, no less. Now, I've been an HP subscriber for a while, but so long as your primary care physician refers you and you have all the co-morbidities and proof of attempted weight loss, I don't see why.
The only potential issue would be if they deemed that your obesity is a "pre-existing" condition. I don't know much about insurance laws, but if you change insurance companies because of your place of employment changed companies, I'm not sure if they can use that exclusion. My best advice would be to ready your policy and see what it says. Does it have a pre-existing condition clause?
Either way, it doesn't hurt to ask, now does it? Speak to your PCP and get the ball rolling. Some times it can take as long as a year to obtain a date, by that time you would have been grandfathered in, so to speak.
Best of luck to you!!
-Sharon
Jody
One of the good things about living in Massachusetts is that the state has some pretty good consumer protection laws.
One of them states that "Massachusetts health insurance policies can not exclude coverage for a pre-existing condition".
And Harvard Pilgrim started covering the Lap Band a few months ago.
Richard