Question:
My Dr. mailed all my medical records on Jan. 13th & I have been calling Cigna

and they say that if they are mailed in they cannot tell me anything until I get approved. To call back in 30days. What should I do? I am going crazy here!!!    — blank first name B. (posted on January 22, 2003)

January 22, 2003
Melissa, I can COMPLETELY (?SP) empathize with you. I have Cigna PPO and I am waiting on an answer too. You are going to have to be your best advocate. Call every day or atleast every other day. Take names, dates, times and any info they give you and document it. PLEASE do not wait for any doctor, nurse or assistant to do it for you or you will never have the surgery (Sorry this seems so harsh). I had my consultation on Oct. 26, 2002 and can't get the left hand on board with the right hand! Grant it not every person has the same experiences so I wish you all the best. Also, you might want to check and make sure (predetermination) for your psych. Because Cigna denied my visit with the psych. doctor and my consultation until the surgery is approved or not. My consultation was only $220 but my evaluation was over $600 so I will be fighting for that besides the surgery. I only say this because I don't want anyone else to be blind-sided with this as I was. Good luck.
   — Regina S.

January 22, 2003
Cigna is notorious for denying these precedures. Of all the major insurance companies, they are fiscally not sound. I look for them to go under in the not so far future. In my experience with dealing with them, and I am talking about procedures that deal with patients' hearts, I have to get firm and play hardball. They deny everything! Your best bet for getting things covered is going through the emergency room and we all know that there is no way that a person can get gastric bypass going that way. Or can they?????
   — Sue A.

January 22, 2003
I have Cigna HMO and it took about 1 month for my aprroval. I had no problems with them. I thought they were great! My surgery was 10/21/02. I did not have a psyhic evaluation either. Check out my profile. Hope this helps. Good Luck!
   — J S.

January 22, 2003
I did medical review for 6 years for a very well known company. We had 30 days to turn the case around and provide an answer. Give them the 30 days and if no answer, get all the info from your doctor (they kept copies of everything) and have it faxed or mail certified. Find out exactly who does the review, the name and fax #, call back to make sure they had received it. Good Luck!
   — ZZ S.

January 24, 2003
I have CIGNA POS and they approved me in 2 days. My surgeon's office submitted via fax all my information, which included my patient profile, letter of medical necessity from my PCP and Surgeon, my psych eval as well as my diet/weight history. I was very surprised with the quick turnaround. I know when I had UHC last year they took 30 days. I believe as the previous poster indicated that most insurance companies have up to 30 days to repsond. Please keep the faith! Also, when I called and spoke to the member service rep, he actually put me on hold to speak with Health Services as they are the ones that handle all of this. Ask them to check with Health Services. You might also try the Member Services automated line as it lets you know authorizations. Hope some of this helps! Best of luck to you :-)
   — T W.