Qwest & UHC Question

Hello All, I was wondering if there are any people here on this board/forum who are Qwest employees with the UHC Choice Plus PPO medical plan.  I know they have a written exclusion for WLS, I am hoping to find folks who like me need (not just want, need) this surgery and are running into the brick wall of the exclusion.  Is it possible to get an appeal?  Is it worth filling out the paperwork, going through the process only to find out they will NEVER approve me? Please if there are any of you member who share my employment and healthcare plan, please respond and/or contact me.  I would like to see if there are other alternatives to getting approve. KRE

I have the same insurance company UHC and from what I can tell you they have been horrible. I also have a written exclusion in my policy which I understand was put there by my employer. My first step was to file an appeal letter however I did base this letter on medical necessity and the fact that I had called UHC and was first told that I WAS COVERED later to be told after surgery was scheduled and all my pre op testing was completed. That is where I am now, my second step would be to go to my HR dept and see what can be done there since the exclusion is from your employer. i wish you luck and I do not know if anyone has ever been approved however I think anything you want is worth the fight so you might as well go for it. Good Luck Nicole

I also have UHC PPO and there is a writen exclusion for WLS as well. I have contacted HR who seemed unaware of this exclusion. They contacted our "broker" to see if there was anything they could do....and NOPE, nada. I too have no time to go through the process if all I'm going to get is denied. I already have high blood pressure and depression and I just dont know if I can go through the fight. It's criminal that something like this is allowed to be an exclusion.