Newbie Insurance Advice

I am new here, and considering surgery. Lap band most likely. Does anyone have any experience with United Healthcare HMO insurance paying for surgery? Any insight would be great!

Hello Chris Fox we are so glad that you came to the Missouri Board. Welcome. I know nothing about your insurance but i know that some others have had that same insurance so hang in there . Someone will be able to tell you more about that. Be sure and come back again and let us get to know you. Jan

Hi Chris, First of all WELCOME !We are happy you found our board.You'll find many friends and a lot of support among the people of this Missouri board. I have had a lot of dealings with United Health Care. I would say that United is one of the easiest insurance companies to get approval from as long as there is not an exclusion in your policy. I had United through my job and had an exclusion. I was able to get on my partner's insurance policy with UHC and was approved immediatley. Get a benefits booklet from your employer or whomever you have your insurance policy through and go to the exclusions and see if it is excluded. You can also call UHC and just ask-I did. They were helpful and nice about explaining what steps I needed to take and how much was covered. Good luck and keep us posted. Dannielle

Hi Chris, welcome! I have UHC Choice Plus. There are 2 things I need to complete before surgery. (1) Complete 8 sessions with Healthy Roads and (2) a psych exam from their doctor. Both are very easy to do. There are 12 sessions you have to complete after the surgery. I didn't want the sessions but now I'm really happy I did. My "coach" is funny and makes the 30 min phone session go fast. If you have any questions, everyone here is very nice and helpful. Good luck! Trudy

Each UHC plan requires different things to qualify for surgery. I didn't have any sessions to complete so you may not either. I am eager to hear what you find out. Please keep us informed. Dannielle

Thanks for all the advice. I have found out that the surgery is excluded, but I can have the doctor submit it as medically necessary for a review. I will be seeing my physician next Monday to talk about it, and I'm signed up for a seminar on Lap Band procedures for Tuesday night. I'm sure they'll have more experience there.