Anthem Blue Cross Insurance Question

If you have Anthem Blue Cross of California was it a hard process to get approved? Did they make you do the 6 month r/o thing with other forms of wt. loss?

I have Anthem Blue Cross/California PPO (Hewlett Packard) - they approved the sleeve and do NOT have the 6 month supervised diet requirement. They simply took my surgeons letter that multiple diet attempts have failed.
I got approved within a week of submitting to insurance.

Good luck!

Jason

Thank you Jason.

I have ABC throuhg my school district, not pre diet, surgeon sent everything in and all was approved- I think you do have to have 2 co morbidities and/or (not sure) a bmi of 40 or higher.

It took a couple of weeks once the surgeon sent everything over. I have type 2 and high blood pressure. My BMI was 40.5. No additional requirements. I wish you luck.

I have Anthem BCBS, I too was approved very easily. BMI 40.1 and no co-morbidities. I did have prior diet history with my PCP, though. I went for consultation with my surgeon on 8/08 and am having surgery on 9/07...so less than a month for the entire process. The girl at NeWeigh told me that I had some of the most lenient requirements for bariatric surgery she has ever come across when dealing with the insurance companies...
Good luck to you!

HI my was approved with in a week also l think when they seen how many x l was in and out for the band 36 in a year for fills and UN fills and that was my 2 band l am going in tomorrow for my sleeve

two years ago I had to fight anthem to get my vsg covered as they considered it experimental. I won the appeal and they promptly covered it. A year later they changed their policy. My understanding is if you meet their bmi criteria and your doc thinks its medically necessary, they approve and don't make you do that dumb diet thing (like we haven't all done that before). GL and go for it.  Diane

 Hi, I have Anthem BC also.  It was not hard to get approved, and I did not have to do a supervised diet.  I did have to meet my deductible in order to have the surgery and it was not covered 100%, but it was still decent coverage.  None of my pre-op blood work was covered, nor was the psych eval or the nut visits.  But, these did contribute to meeting my deductible so that helped.

In case you are not aware - your surgery must be performed a a Center for Medical Excellence as certified by Anthem BC.  Mine was Stanford, just down the road from me, which was awesome.  Felt very safe having my surgery at one of the best hospitals :)


Here is my timeline, just FYI:

First informational seminar  - Wed Nov 3rd 2010- done

Initial visit with surgeon – wed Nov 24th 2010 - done

Blood work Wed Nov 24th 2010- done

ENT - Dec 10 2010 - done

Psych Eval – Dec 17th 2010- done

Physical- Dec 31st 2010- done

Chest X-ray and Upper GI Jan 4th 2011- done

First Nutrition Visit – Jan 5th- done

See dentist for possible sleep apnea device Jan 15 2011 - done

2nd Seminar - Jan 25th 2011 - done

ENT - Jan 31 2011 - done

2nd Nutrition Visit - Feb 1 2011- done

Sleep Clinic (2 years after the first time) - Feb 1 2011 - done

(insert a few weeks waiting for everyone to get their **** together and submit to insurance)

OMG Approved! - 2/22/11

Pre-op Nutrition appointment – March 8th

Pre-op with PCP – March 14th

Pre-op with surgeon – March 23rd

VSG Surgery date – March 29th!

Post-op with surgeon – April 12th