Medical insurance companies that offer bariatric surgery coverage

I often see posts here asking what insurance companies cover weight loss surgery. I came across this list dated 7/2018 and thought I would share. As always, call to verify.

The medical insurance companies that offer bariatric surgery coverage are Aetna, Blue Care Network, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, CHAMPVA, Cigna, Cofinity, Medicare/Medicaid, OptumHealth, Physicians Care Health Plans, Priority Health, Tricare and United Healthcare. Common bariatric surgery procedures are: gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, adjustable gastric band, and biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch. While these procedures are covered by most plans, there are many procedures which insurers do not cover. Moreover, criteria vary by insurer.

Keep in mind also that even those companies that typically cover WLS may not do so in every policy that they offer (that is often an option provided to employers when buying coverage for their employees) and can vary from state to state. My WLS was covered by Aetna, but other employers may buy a more stripped down policy from them.

So true. My employer had a policy that covered WLS when I first looked into it. Many employees had surgery, and then my employer cut the coverage from its policy because it got so expensive.

I wasn't able to get the surgery until I was covered by Medicare.

Sorry Kathy, but I'm not sure that list means much. My insurer, Harvard Pilgrim, covers ut, and isn't on the list.

I would be willing to bet that every single insurance corporation covers bariatric surgery. But each company likely offers thousands of separate plans, each one different from the other. They are all tailored for what the individual customer wants. And only a small number of policies cover weight loss surgery.

My car insurance is through Progressive. Its probably one of the more popular and largest national car insurance companies. I'd bet 100 people on OH use them. And I'd bet that of those 100 random people, there are probably 100 different policies, covering different things, with different limits, different deductibles, etc.