Question:
anyone been approved with cigna ppo in the last month..

dr.'s office said cigna required 3 months supervised diets anyone ever heard of that...    — sandy C. (posted on August 31, 2002)

August 31, 2002
Hi sandy I have cigna hmo a very good plan with my employer. Yes they do require supervised diet either by a doctor or a nutritionist or a comercial program such as weight watchers or jenny craig. you have to have been in one of these for at least 12 weeks. I have been on this journey for atleast a year now and i finially saw the surgeon on the 23,Aug 2002 which you don't understand that if Cigna will approve seeing the surgeon then they will approve your surgery as well please check your policy and make sure 100% of the cost of surgery is covered in youyr plan because if it is not your going to have pay out yuor pocket for part of the cost. Trust me you don't want to find this out right before surgery and they ask you for the money up front or they won't do it. I work for a biotech company in bayarea california and the benifits are really nice but i do have to pay I think extra for cigna but there worth it. You will find a way to get apporved just join weight watchers right now because there is a big gap of time that it will take for you to get to the point of seeing a surgeon. So i suggest you join them and send in your updates month to month to cigna and also get started on your nutritionist apptionment make sure they are noligible about gastric bypass diets before you go to them my surgeon is makeing me pay out of pocket to go see a specialist and go have your phych evaluation done by a doctor who deals with eating disorders once again i had to see one of these guys at least twice befor i got a through evalation. They really help with bad eating habits more so than the nutritionist did because they help you deal with head hunger which is when you crave food but your not really hungry but you eat it anyways because it's there look at me i am going on and on anyways click on to my profile and check out my journey it is long and am geting closer and closer to geting a date from my surgeon I just have to loose 10% body weight. [email protected] sheri Burke
   — sheri B.

September 1, 2002
Sandy- Like the previous response, I also have Cigna HMO, not PPO. I didn't have to have any "supervised" diets. I simply gave my PCP, Nutritionist and Surgeon a list of all the diets I've tried, how long I was on them, weight lost and weight regained. I had no problems getting approved at all. In fact, I was approved before I knew that the paperwork had even been sent in! There is a woman in my support group who has Cigna PPO however. In our talkings, and on her profile, she didn't say that she had to have supervised diets. Hope this helps. Good luck.
   — MommaBird

September 1, 2002
I think if you fill out questionaire from your surgeon and put down all the diets you have tried over this yearssssss this counts toward that thing. I have never had a physician supervised wt. loss diet but my family physician wrote a letter that stated i had tried for years with wt. watchers and was unsuccessful in losing over 15lbs..... I was approve and had surgery in June of this year. i have cigna ppo
   — diane H.

September 1, 2002
Hi! I have Cigna PPO and was approved without a problem! BTC sent in my information the last week of July and I was approved August 9. I didn't have 3 months of dr. supervised diet but they had a list of ALL the many diets and I had tried and how much I had lost/gained back with each one. I didn't have any problems! Good luck and feel free to contact me if you wish. God bless!
   — Rebekah A.

September 1, 2002
I have Cigna PPO. All I did was take a very detailed list of all the diets I have tried with dates and amt. lost on each. Give your surgeon a thorough health and family history. After the consult, BTC actually went a head and sent in my info. for approval. I had no problem being approved. The first time in fact. The problem I had was getting the necessary papers from Cigna to BTC. Keep on them to get it done quicker. Good luck!!!!
   — Lucy T.