Aetna Choice POSII (Open Access)

Hi there fellow Northwesterners! I have a question for anyone who has Aetna Choice POS and am hoping at least one other person has used this insurance before. We have had Aetna for a year now and have reenrolled for the coming year. We used to have an exclusion in our insurance policy, but we asked for bariatric surgery to be included an Voila! it was! Now for my question. Has anyone here used this insurance before? The reason I ask is because I have searched Aetna's database to see if the NWWLS center is on included in their network (as well as their surgeons) and do not find them on Aetna's list. So I think this means I will have to go to another doctor to have the LAP band surgery. The list of doctors on Aetna's website that are in their network come from either Virginia MAson in Seattle, Valley Medical Center in Renton (part of the WISH center..now defunct) and further south of me in Federal Way and Tacoma. So I guess the bigger question I have is if you have Aetna and/or have used these centers, can you tell me your experience there and where do I get started with these centers (do they have seminars,etc)?? Any help you can give me would be so greatly appreciated. Thanks Regina

I have Aetna and had Surgery on July 6th. At that time our policy would not include Lap Band only RNY. They said it wasn't proven to be as successful so they wouldn't even consider it. Your policy may be different - you might check. I had James Weber who is in Ballard and I loved him. He is very caring and came highly recommended, but he dosen't do lap band. Good Luck Marcia McNulty

Hi Regina, I have Aetna Open Choice PPO, but I am having RNY with James Weber in Ballard as well. As far as I know, Lap Band is not yet covered by Aetna. I was able to find a whole coverage section on Aetna's Web site under bariatric surgery I believe. Good Luck, Colleen