dose anyone have regence blue shield?

i know that regence made a new policy covering wls but dose any one know if that applies to wa

Hi Colleen, Wow, that's news to me. I have Regence Blue Shield and they wouldn't touch anything with a ten foot pole. Arlene

Hi Colleen, My name is Hope and I do have Regence Selections. I just had the RNY distal by lap and it was covered 100 % per my policy. Regence has thousands of individual policies and each one is unique. If your employer selects this benefit (bariatric surgery) you will be approved. Regence tacks on additional requirements that must be met; however. 1. Documented history of five years of attempts at losing weight. This can be your own chronicle, but your PCP will need to sign off on it. 2. A recent psychologic evaluation and report by a clinical psychologist. 3. At least one co-morbidity such as sleep apnea or diabetes. Once the above is estabilished, your pcp will request an authorization for surgery or request a referral to a bariatric surgeon. Regence will not approve the lap band. It is considered investigational. The other procedure that is not allowed is the Vertical Banded Gastroplasty. Otherwise Regence will approve both open and laproscopic procedures. You will need to see a Regence provider and have the procedure at a contracted facility. I worked with Kelly Clinch (my surgeon) @ the Evergreen Bariatric Surgery Center located in Kirkland at the Evergreen Hospital. Both are contracted providers with Regence. If I can be of any further help, just email me at [email protected]. Good Luck...I had my surgery 7/27/05, no complications, down 25 pounds so far. Life is good on the "other" side. Hope

Hi Colleen, I just had limited experience with Regence blue shield. I had it when I first started the process for WLS and my plan had an exclusion against it. And from what I heard from others who had tried to get an approval from them for WLS, they stuck to their exlusions, no exceptions (a lot of people said they where also very rude and uncaring about it too). But luckily before I had to deal with them, my employer switched to Great West which did cover it with no problems. So anyway, good luck to you and I hope your policy doesn't have an exclusion. Mary Ann