TRICARE UPDATE!! P***ED OFF

Well, got THE news today from my surgeons nurse that Tricare says they won't do lap rny just open. This is after I was told on the phone Monday that I was approved for lap rny and even set a surgery date. How can they approve and then deny??? I guess they said we can appeal and go from there. Anyone with any help appreciated.

Awww, I'm so sorry Rhonda. I would call tricare first off and talk to them and find out where things went wrong. I know there's an appeals process but I don't know anything about that. good luck, I hope you can get this all worked out! Jacquie

Why does insurance care which way the surgery is performed? That I don't get -- why does it matter if it is LAP vs. OPEN? jayme

Be careful about this!!!! I had the same problem, two weeks before my surgery suddenly it wasn't approved and it had never been approved even though Dr Sudan had a copy of an approval letter. They had heard a rumor that Tricare was no longer covering lap and wondered if that was the issue so they faxed all the paperwork over along with the original approval letter. I would call Tricare and talk to customer service and they would tell me yes it is approved lap, no problem, have your surgery. THEN Dr Sudan would call and talk with approvals and they would say no it is not approved nor has it ever been. Finally a week before my date I got ahold of a very nice guy at customer service who DIDN'T have his head up his @$$ and he and his supervisor got it all straightened out. He couldn't figure out WHY Tricare was saying that because it saves them over $10,000 to do it lap!! I had a lap RNY on November 2nd. I hope it all works out for you! Ondie