American Administrators said no

Hi, I'm very new here.  I would be grateful for any advice.

I attended a meeting at my local gastrodoc's office to accumulate information about my options.

I of course got excited.  Halleluia there might be a way out of my personal hell!  The people there told me my next step is to contact my insurance company.  Ok, I called.  I spoke to a young lady who said they didn't cover any form of weight loss surgery, no matter what.

So, my question is: Now what?  Is that it?  Is it hopeless now?  How the heck am I going to pay for a $30,000 surgery out of pocket?

I feel your pain!!  I got denied by my insurance company 3 times for the surgery I want and there's now way, no how I can pay for it myself and loans are out of the question.
I had contacted my insurance company before and asked about WLS and they told me no too, but then when I went online and looked at my medical policy, it states in there it's covered when requirements are met and if it's considered medically necessary.... So then I went to the bariatric surgeon and they submitted their paperwork and low and behold, it is covered because it is medically necessary in my case.. But they don't cover the surgery I want. It figures... So you may want to look at your medical policy and find where it talks about obesity treatment and see what it says there. The customer service rep you called might not know what they're talking about just like in my case. Hang in there!

 I went online to see what my policy said.  The American Administrators website does not have my policy online.  They can show me any claims we have pending or paid, but they don't have my personal policy.  Spent hours at it last night trying to find anything about WLS on their website... nothing. 

Our policy holder changed shortly after we signed up for medical through my husband's new job.  I have our policy on paper from Trustmark, the previous ins. company, but not from AA.  So, my next step I guess I will be calling the company and asking for a paper copy of my policy.

Question though....I noticed that the Trustmark policy had NOTHING about WLS anywhere.  I did see that the policy would not cover diet pills, but that is it.  If my policy doesn't have it in writing as an exclusion, then do I have reason to pursue further?

I would call and ask for your policy. Did you get a booklet describing your coverage info when you signed up? You or your husband can also talk to his HR department and find out since they're the ones who do the medical coverage and they should know what's covered.

Definitely call your insurance company. They don't put your policy online in general. It would be listed in the exclusions part. It may not be mentioned in any other part of the policy. Mine excludes WLS no matter what the diagnosis is. If you find out that you aren't covered, the next thing to do is check around for prices. They can vary a good 50%. I now understand perfectly why people consider going to other countries when we have the "best" medical care available.