Insurance Co. and Supervised Weight Loss

Can anyone tell me if there are any insurance companies out there that do not "require" the medically supervised weight loss as part of their approval criterea? I'm not switching..but I'm curious. I read somewhere to include this information in your appeal letter. Blessings, Kim

I think it depends on the surgeons office . Medicare does NOT require a supervised diet BUT certain offices Require you do be on THEIR program preop. Pam

Kim: I have Aetna and they required either a 6 month doctor supervised diet or a 3 month program with the surgeon's office of diet, exercise, and behavior modification. I did the 3 month thing and it was the best thing for me for preparing for post-op living. I haven't dealt with any of the depression you hear about with many post-ops and since I was already on the diet prior to surgery, I didn't lose my "best friend" (enemy) food suddenly. My surgeon also said he had a very easy time with the lap. surgery since I had followed the diet so carefully and lost as I had. The behavior modification portion of my surgeon's office program was every other week and I'm glad they do it that way. It is the most important part of the program in my opinion. I've heard that BCBS requires a year of diet be documented. Some say they'll accept Weigh****chers info, others say they have to have the doctors document this in their medical charts. Every insurance company is different. I personally feel that every company should require some type of program so that the person having the surgery is ready for the changes and so that they will more likely succeed after surgery (for years, not just for the honeymoon period.) If you need to do this, look at it as an important step and take it seriously. Don't treat it as something I have to do, look at it as your first step in a new lifestyle. Love, Pam

I had BC PPO and I did not have any medical supervised diet and I was approved the next day after the surgeon office submitted my paper work. So it depends on what type of benefits the employer purchases for there employees and how the benefits are stated because one persons blue cross policey could be different then another persons. I have seen many times with other medical coverage. Good luck with your HAP appeal. Tricia Sorry about the first post computer went haywire.

Priority Health requires 6 months Doc supervised weight loss if you are under 50 BMI. If you are greater than or equal to 50 BMI plus 1 obesity related co-morbidity, then they waive the 6 month requirement.