Question:
can anyone tell me how long it takes for approval with cigna ppo?

   — MISSTIA (posted on June 6, 2006)

June 6, 2006
i have cigna ppo and they do a auto denile on the first request. but i appealed and was approved within 2 weeks of the appeal. but you have to have 6 months of a suppervised diet i mean every single month you have to have documented. they are very strict on that you have to see the dr. too not just go and weigh in. hope this helps . don't give up. i have lost 105 lbs now. good luck
   — hjdj70

June 7, 2006
I had my surgery on 4-07-06, and it took me almost a year and a half to get approved by cigna. The key... six months doctor monitored weight loss diet, BY SOMEONE OTHER THAN A BARIATRIC SURGEON! I did the six months diet, then was denied because it has to be done through your PCP. Once I did this, I was approved in less than a week! It was well worth the wait though! One other thing that I experienced, something I had never thought of... make sure the anesthesia group accepts cigna also. I now owe more than two thousand dollars extra due to this! It never occured to me to ask, I just assumed... never assume anything.. The best of luck to you! Karen
   — earthangel

June 8, 2006
Tia, call Cigna and find out what their criteria for medically necessary WLS is and start your plan.As the previous posters have said, you will have to have the 6 month medically supervised diet program with your PCP. Be sure they make clinical notes in your chart about your weight, nutrition you talk about, problems you have because of your weight, etc. (the review board reads everything) when your six months is up and you have done all the other pre-testing (for me it was just a pysch.eval) then I submitted everything and was approved in 2 weeks at the most. There was no auto denial, I didn't give them a reason to, exactly what they ask/ require is what you send. Good luck, they do approve, just don't try any shortcuts. It won't happen.
   — Debbie M.