Question:
I have Cigna and they denied me

I have Cigna and they denied me because they said I did not have six month supervised diet, which I did. I am appealing now. My question is if I am denied again can I try with another insurance company? My husband is starting a new job and they offer Anthem. I have met all of the requirements but Cigna seems to be such an awful company to get approved by, so I just wondered is it possible to try again with another. thanks for any info.    — taterbug898 (posted on September 21, 2004)

September 21, 2004
Cigna is a bear to deal with. I got denied for the supervised diet thing my first time to apply. At the time they required 3 12-week supervised diet attempts one of which must be in the last calendar year. I ha heard they changed to 2 six month supervised diet attempts, one of which must have been in the last calendar year. If you have that, determine why they did not consider that and definately appeal. Anthem is a BCBS policy. You might want to check and see if WLS is covered under that policy. I had heard BCBS is changing their rules for WLS a of 1/1/2005, so be sure before you depend on that one.
   — Cathy S.

September 21, 2004
Cigna is a bear to deal with, my DH was denied also and then had his surgery with my policy BCBS PPO of IL. He was denied even though they (Cigna) said that it was medically necessary for him to have the surgery. He had his surgery before they started requiring the supervised diet attempts with a doctor. He did not want to fight them because he needed the surgery yesterday if you know what I mean. Are you sure that you have met all the requirements? They Cigna and now Anthem, BCBS) are really strict about the supervised diets being continuace for the six months. You have to make sure that you have gone to the doctor each and every month and it has been documented. I am surprised that you only needed six months, my DH needed 2-6 month supervised doctor diet trys. Do not be surprised if they come back at you and say that you need 2-6 month trys. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you are going to encounter the same thing with Anthem, BCBS they are requiring the same thing now. Do some searches on this site and put in Cigna or Anthem in the search engine of the library and see what you come up with. You may get some tips on how to handle them. Also check out the insurers link at the top of the page on this site. It is set up by state and then you can go by the alphabet to look at the different insurance carriers. Good luck.
   — ChristineB

September 21, 2004
I have Cigna and they did the same thing to me. First my nutritional evaluation was wrong so I had to do it over, then I needed the psych eval and then the six month history. My doc sent up 4 different ones and each time they said it wasn't to their specs even though he documented 2 years worth! Then my doctor called one of the doctors on the insurance board with Intracorp (company that determines eligibility for Cigna) After a 15 minute conversation he had a verbal confirmation and called me right afterwards at home. This is after being denied and fighting for 9 months. Ask your doc if he is willing to do this for you. Good Luck!
   — boonikki29