Insurance

I'm attending a WLS seminar on February 10 and as part of the paperwork I had to call my insurance company to see if I'm covered. Answer: No, will not cover any type of weight loss surgery.  I'm so disappointed! Has anyone managed to get their company to cover it with documentation of need?   TIA

Very unlikely.  Employers are not required to offer WLS under their insurance policy.  If yours excludes it, there's not much you can do except for self pay.

If your policy doesn't cover it, it doesn't matter if you need it.  My renter's insurance doesn't cover flood damage - if I want coverage for floods, I have to buy it separately.  So if my apartment floods and I document that I really need money to cover the damage, it doesn't matter, my insurance won't cover it because I did not buy the coverage for flooding.

If you want your insurance to cover WLS, you have to buy a policy that covers WLS.

Your employer purchased a policy with wls completely excluded to save on premiums.  It will be near impossible to get insurance to provide coverage that was never agreed upon.

I was in the same position in 2012. If it's not covered, documentation of medical necessity won't make any difference. I was going to go self-pay to the tune of $17,000, but some other health issues prevented me from having surgery. Now 3 years later, I'm with a different company and have insurance that does cover it -- I even made sure to research health insurance plans of all the companies I applied for when I was searching for a new job. The entire health insurance system in this country is seriously screwed up.

I'm sorry, and I hope there's some way you can still have your surgery. The cash prices for surgery varies greatly from facility to facility, and many hospitals offer a self-pay discount as well as payment plan options. Start calling around.