AETNA changing coverage!:-@

I spoke with aetna this morning 11/15/04. they informed me that effective 1/1/05 they will no longer cover bariatric surgery - this is pretty much ACROSS THE BOARD for policy holders - whether you are offered this as a benefit now or not. The only way you will be covered is if your group has specifically purchased bariatric surgery as part of the plan - other wise there will be automatic exclusions to the surgery and this is going to effect the majority of their policy holders. You will have to be approved, and have the surgery by the first of January if you are covered now. Our group is the railroad and according to AETNA the DID purchase the bariatric surgery - so the railroad people appear to be OK, but I'm not sure of anyone else. I spoke to KELLY in Member services at AETNA, her customer ID is 174907 if any one has questions she is very informative.

I will try calling because our policy runs until June 1. I can't imagine being able to self pay, so this is very discouraging. My husband's company only has 10 employees so I can't imagine that they would be able to afford to purchase a rider.

Good luck. From listening to others, BCBS has done the same thing. Appearently it isn't uncommon for insurers to change at the benefits offered each year.........I guess I was a little dense about that.