Insurance for people Blue Cross

I just found the requirements for people that have Blue Cross ( I live in Mass. not sure if different in other states). Hope this can help some people.

1. Diagnosis of morbid obesity for a period of 2 YRS. prior to surgery

2. Participation in a medically supervised weight loss program, including nutritional counseling, for at least 3 months prior to the date of surgery.(NOTE: Benefits are not available for commercial weight loss programs.

3. Pre-operative nutritional assessment and nutritional counseling about pre- and post-operative nutrition, eating, and exercise

4. Evidence that attempts at weight loss in the 1 year period prior to surgery have been ineffective

5. Psychological clearance of the member's ability to understand and adhere to the pre- and post-operative program, based on a psychological assessment performed by a licensed professional mental health practitioner

6. Member has not smoked in the 6 months prior to surgery

7. Member gas bit been treated for substance abuse for 1 yr. prior to surgery and there is no evidence of substance abuse during the 1-year period prior to surgery.

So there it is for more information refer to the 2014 service benefit plan brochure.

I have BCBS Arizona. The requirements are similar, but mine needs 5 years of morbid obesity, 2 months' supervised diet, and number 4 isn't there (but there is a requirement for a surgeon's note saying surgery is the best course).

Even within the same state, plans can vary a lot!

I would like to know where I can find this info, PLEASE!!   I just took out a BCBS plan specifically for revision and it does not state anywhere, these requirements.  I have looked everywhere I know and there is nothing like this.  Please let me know how to get my hands on it.

It will vary from policy to policy.  Your plan may not cover WLS at all or it may have very different requirements.  Call the number on your insurance card if you can't find the information in your policy.

Can you long into the website for your insurance plan? Look around for a "benefit book" or "coverage guidelines" or something along those lines. For every insurance plan I've been with, I've been able to get a PDF with all of the requirements in it, you just need to dig around the site a bit.

Kelly is right it depends entirely on which BCBS plan each person has. We can both have BCBS but have entirely different coverage depending on what each group decides to cover. I had BCBS 2 different times and one policy covered surgery and the next one didn't. It can get very confusing!

This will only help the people who work for the same company that you do, you don't mention who it is, otherwise every BCBS plan is a little different.  Everyone needs to contact their own insurance for guidelines and exclusions.

Even people that work for the same company may have a different plan.  When I worked for the YWCA, we had Anthem, but there were three different plans from which to choose.  One was cheapest, and had the most restrictive coverage, one was most expensive and covered the most stuff, and one was middle of the road.  So even my coworker that sat right next to me might have a different plan.

This Blue cross is for Mass. and my husband worked for the Post Office. I didn't know that it could be different even if they work at the same place. Wow after reading so many things on insurance companies all I can say is AREN'T INSURANCE COMPAINES JUST WONDERFUL. I swear they love to confuse people. And they try to get out of as much as they can. And after all we pay them for their services. To bad they couldn't all be easy to deal with. I heard some people saying how easy it was for them to get approved and they didn't really have to go through much to get it either. We should all be so lucky.

Wel, insurance companies ARE businesses, with shareholders to answer to.

They provide multiple offerings, and their customers (other businesses or individuals) get to choose the plans they want.

Many time we are critical of insurance companies when the blame belongs to their customer *****fuses to offer plans with full coverage.