New here -- insurance questions

I know y'all probably get sick of hearing it, but ... anyone had any real success with Wellpath Select? I've searched the board and seen only a couple of "approval" listings. I hate Wellpath (hope they're not reading!) ... but it is my insurance company. I chose them this spring, not realizing how much I'd have to be irritated with them over simple little things they don't cover due to it being considered "pre-existing" -- like when my 16 year old daughter was bitten by a brown recluse. Now, tell me ... honestly ... how was THAT pre-existing? Turns out, I have to have a thingy from my previous insurance company (Cigna) letting Wellpath know I've had coverage for a couple of years prior to picking up Wellpath, which I have had. It's called a certificate of coverage or something like that. Cigna supposedly has it in the mail to me as we speak. Anyway ... long story short ... anyone really have any success with Wellpath? I have a surgical consult scheduled with Roc Bauman in Concord towards the end of September. I'm even contemplating switching PCPs just to get the ball rolling on getting a complete physical and all the lab work done before my appointment with Dr. Bauman. My PCP doesn't have any complete physical openings until into October, if that early (their computer system doesn't schedule that far in advance, and he is booked solid in the meantime). I would really love to have the MGB with Dr. Rutledge in Vegas, but I don't know where I'd come up with $17K in the near future. Sorry to ramble ... any comments are much appreciated! Dena

Sorry I cannot be of any help Dena - I have BCBSNC. But wanted to wish you luck in your process getting approval for WLS. Donna

Dena- We had Wellpath in 2003-2004 and I always said I HATED it because I felt like no one was in their network, and I had some Dr's say 'no we dont accept Wellpath' which made me feel like a cheap idiot with bad insurance. BUT when I had to have surgery to repair a hernia and remove my ovaries (as a preventative for ovarian cancer, i am a breast cancer survivor) they paid (get ready for this) ALL but $250 of everything!! I was in SHOCK when we got the bill, I was prepared for much more than that. So THAT pretty much shut me up !!! My husband is with a new company now, and we have Cigna, but just thought I'd pass that on about Wellpath. GOOD LUCK! Stefanie

Thanks, Stefanie ... and congrats on being a breast cancer survivor! I hope that I can report in a couple of weeks or so that Wellpath approved me, but my surgical consult isn't until 9/20. Then the letter to Wellpath will go out. Over the phone, they tell me "no" but I haven't given them the CPT codes and such, so I'm hoping for good news after they get a letter from the MD. We'll see! I really wish I had Cigna back. It was a stupid decision to switch from Cigna to Wellpath, but I didn't know it at the time. I can pick Cigna back up in January '07 and I think I am going to do just that! At least I have Aflack ... that should help with the cost of going to some of these appointments. Dena