Insurance info

Hi all - Hope you are all out enjoying your Friday night. I'm actually at home, feeling a little in the dumps.  It's been a tough week for me and here I am, at the end of it, feeling rotten about myself and tired of the fact that I can't do anything about it right now. So, in the hopes that I can re-ignite that light at the end of the tunnel, I was hoping you could share what medical insurance you have an how much (generally) of your lap-band surgery it covered, and how easy they were to work with. To make a long story short, my current medical insurance (Humana) doesn't cover anything, but there my be some employment changes in the future.  If all else is equal in job opportunities, we are going to make the medical insurance carrier a deciding factor.  I would love to have a little "cheat sheet" of those who are great, those who will at least cover it, and those that flat-out refuse.  If it makes a difference, if I can ever pay for it, I'd like to have my surgery with Dr. Gould.

I have BCBS of Mass.  The paperwork was submitted by my surgeon's office on Friday and I got the call that Tuesday that I was approved. Happy hunting! Angela

I have BCBS  federal.  From reading the benefits guide, it looks like I'll be covered, but I haven't gotten to that point yet.

I have the same insurance as Angela, BCBS of Mass.  and they were awesome.  Dr. Gould's office took care of all the paperwork, and I got a letter from the insurance saying I was approved, plus a call from Dr. Gould's scheduler to let me know that they had received the approval as well! Keep us posted!

I've got  Anthem BCBS Mathew Thornton Blue and they provided me with the medical policy for getting coverage and said that there is a certain rider I need to have in order for it to be covered. They then looked up my husband's coverage up and said I have the rider and that coverage would not be a problem. I guess I'll know if that's true or not once I hear back from Dr Gould's office. I just turned in my intake form and all my pre-op testing about 2 weeks ago. They did approve my psych eval without any trouble. The medical policy for BCBS is pretty much the same as DHMC's requirements. BMI of 40 or greater or BMI of 35 or greater with comorbidities. They require a psych eval and that the referring doctor state traditional weight loss methods have failed.

Hi Neener Having attending a lot of meetings at DHMC in Manchester and talking to a lot of folks, I would suggest BC/BS Anthem. I was told by a number of folks in the plan that they pretty much approve you right away..no ifs and or buts.  Good luck Jan E... Manchester NH.. I am new to this forum. PS.. I have Medicare and found out just before I was done with all the pcp supervised dieting and hoop jumping that Dr Gould couldnt do my surgery because Medicare wouldnt approve Elliot Hosp or CMC. I had to go onto their site and find what they call a "Center Of Excellence" which means I have to go to Lawrence Memorial in Medford Ma. I found a wonderful Surgeon there and he accepted all the work I had already done but I was required to have a few more tests.