Update - AHS State Plan

I received an email yesterday with information on the AHS state plan.  Apparently letters were mailed on November 23rd letting those who applied know what their status is.  Also included this information:

• Out of the 450 State of Mississippi employees that applied to be a part of the first 100 patients in the Obesity Treatment Program, 275 patients qualified. Out of the 275, 100 patients were randomly selected by a third party to be approved for the program.

 

• On November 23, 2009, the State will send out notification letters to the 100 patients that have been randomly selected to be evaluated by a physician for weight loss surgery.

 

• If you receive one of these letters and want to pursue having surgery by Dr. King, contact our office and we will be glad to work with your schedule to make an appointment for a consultation with Dr. King. The program will not start paying for any visits, tests, etc., associated with weight loss surgery before December 1, 2009. So if you are interested in trying to have surgery before the end of the year, you will need to call right away. (Due to any additional testing, consultations, etc., the doctor may recommend, we can not guarantee surgery by the end of the year, however we will do our very best to accommodate you).

 

• The program states that the employee must have surgery before November 31, 2010. 

 

• The program also states that the employee will be responsible for their deductible and copayments, like with any other benefit in your present health insurance plan.

 

• The State advised that letters to the employees not selected as the first 100 patients, will also be mailed out on November 23, 2009.

 

• If any employee “falls out" of the process for any reason, i.e,. medical & or personal reasons, etc., there are additional employees that are next in line that have been selected to take their place in order to keep 100 patients in the program.

 

• Regarding the 2010-2011 Program -The State advised us that in the middle of January, 2010, they will post a notification on their website that the process to select the next 100 patients will begin. As it stands now, employees will have until June,2010 to go through the detailed process of applying to be in the 2010-11 group of patients, however it will be September, 2010 before these 100 patients are notified that they are approved by the program for surgery.

Good luck to all of those who applied! 

Stacey

Stacey,
I am a teacher in MS and have the AHS State Plan.  Can you tell me how I can find more out about this Obesity Treatment Program that you are talking about?  I am very overweight and haven't had much luck with diet and exercise.  The most weight I have ever lost is 50 lbs. and put that back on plus more.  Please send me all information you have available.

Thank you and Happy New Year!
Brigette