revision from band to rny..tricare prime secondary

I am starting the process of removing my band and having the rny. Aetna is my primary anf tricare prime is secondary. Aetna will not cover surgery at all..exclusion. so i am left with tricare. I just started using tricare in 2011. My band was done in 2006 and i was under another insurance completely. Does tricare count my band as once in a lifetime even though it was done prior to having them as an insurance?
Jaq

I'm about to start this process myself only Tricare is my primary insurance.

Good luck!! - My lapband worked at the start, but after about a year I really struggled.  I am back up to close to 400 with a bmi of >50  I have high blood pressure and arthritis in my knees.  Hopefully this will help with getting them to approve my surgery.  My band will be removed next month and technically mine is not a revision becasue my RNY doctor is just doing the bypass not the band removal.  Maybe that will help..who knows!!

How can they count i tif they did not pay for it? I would say no. I interpret it as one time under Tri-Care. I have Tricare Standard as my secondary. I am in the process from RNY to DS (have you looked into the DS?) and was told by the Dr.s office (who called for verification) Tricare would cover automatically if my primary approved surgery.
Good luck.
Whit

I did some research on DS but since my Primary will not touch weightloss surgery or even pay for a dr appt regarding your weight Tricare will then be the sole insurance. Tricare at this time according to their documents will not cover DS.  SInce your primary is covering then Tricare will cover since they are just picking up the leftovers.  I hope Tricare will cover my RNY.  I should have my appt with the surgeon scheduled today so hopefully I can sit down with his insurance person and coordinator and get this process going.  I think it is so stupid that my primary insurance will not cover weight loss appt or surgery.  I know this is the policy my company has decided to have, but they had all of us have our blood drawn and is on this "wellness" kick and stuff but they won't help the employees that over weight.  They will pay for them to see the doctor for high blood pressure and such but not if you go just to try and lose weight.  They wont pay for a weightloss precription or surgery but they will pay for all the drugs and surgery that may be casued by being overweight.  Help them lose weight and get off the drugs and not have knee and hip replacements..how stupid can these guys be.  The employees I am talking about are the ones that have BMI over 40, I'm not talking about the one that wants to lose 20 pounds or so I'm talking 100+ pounds.  Just does not make since.  OK I'm not ranting :) sorry.
 

 Yes, if they have the one surgery per lifetime clause then it doesn't matter who paid for it. 

I have a loved one that self paid for her band out of her own pocket, her insurance paid for the emergency surgery to remove it. She's now had 2 different insurers that said "one WLS per lifetime" despite neither one them paid for one.

Like the above poster mentioned, you should take a look at the DS, and if you can't find a way to get it covered, then maybe consider self paying. At such a high BMI, it is by far your best chance of getting to and staying at a normal BMI ( and SHAME on that surgeon that put a band on someone with such a high BMI, as there is almost no chance of getting you to a healthy weight with that - that surgeons only concern was about lining their own pockets). 

Here is a link to a study specifically about the DS for people with a BMI over 50. If there is a chance you can appeal one of your insurance companies, this study would be good to have in your arsenal.