State has not stopped covering WLS

I noticed two posters on here believe that state employees are no longer covered for WLS - this is not correct! If I had believed what my insurance company initially told me, I would think so too, but I was persistent and found out that it is still covered. Call ADOA if you still think it's not covered - don't listen to what the regular customer service people at your insurance company tell you. I have information on the coverage under United Healthcare if anyone needs it, and the criteria should be similar for Schaller Anderson and RAN/AMN. Email me at gcardinal at cox.net if you want info, but please don't give up!! I was denied in December for not having a 6 month physician supervised program and a 10% loss. I have now completed both of those and UHC received my appeal on Wednesday. They have to reply within 15 days, so I should hear something in the next couple of weeks. When I called yesterday to make sure it was received, I got the wrong info the first two times I called!! I called Care Coordination first, they told me that I needed to talk to Customer Service. When I called CS, they said it wasn't received. I didn't believe them (I had proof of delivery) so I called Care Coordination back and they told me to call the National Appeals Center - which the other two reps hadn't even mentioned!!

There is alot of State Employees with different insurers. I am under Az state retirement and my employeer has an exclusion now, as of July 1, 2003. I also have United Health Ins......with a full exclusion.....my employeer deemed it cost effective for them to get of WLS surgery. Sandy in Tucson

From what I was told, all the current state employee plans should cover the same things regardless of the insurance company administering the benefits. Since the state is self-insured, companies like UHC are just handling the claims based on the state's requirements. The copay or deductible/coinsurances vary by plan (EPO vs. PPO). Retiree insurance would be different. I would just hate to see somebody self-pay thinking that insurance wouldn't cover it...