Cigna Insurance Approval

Hey everyone!  I have an appointment to meet with a bariatric surgeon May 19, and will be going to the information session a few days before then, but I'm dying to know about one thing in particular!!  I have Cigna insurance, and they require 3 months of supervised weight loss before approving surgery.  I know Weigh****chers counts, but does doing in online count?  Also, do you think that 3 month timeline starts after my appointment in May or now (I've been doing WW for about a month now)?  

Thanks for any input!  I've read all through these boards, and have only seen where Cigna used to require a 6 month trial period!  So grateful it's only 3 now! :) 

The only ones who can answer  your question with a certainty are those that work for Cigna.  Use the 800 number on the back of your insurance card and give them a call.  There are so many insurance plans today that even two people with the same insurance company may end up with two different requirements based on having different policies.

Good luck,

amy

I also have Cigna, but as the other poster said our coverage plans might be different, the Cigna I have required a medically supervised diet for 4 months, ww does not count unless a doctor monitored the weight loss for each month and you have evidence to back it up, ww does count in that you have tried a weight loss program b4 and it didn't work, I think they needed at least 3 different weight loss attempts, just my word of which ones I tried was good enough. Cigna wanted a doctor and nutritionist/dietician to document the weight loss so anything you might have done online might not count towards the 4 months, however the consultation visit did count towards the 4 months so in the end it ended up being 3 months. Hope this helps, good luck!

Good Luck with Cigna.  I have had more issues with them and trying to get a revision.  First they deny a test, then they approve the test, then they don't want to pay after the test has been completed.  Tired of jumping through hoops.  And the 800 number on the back of the card ya a joke and a half.  One person says one thing then another person says something else.  I hate Cigna.

Hi there! I had Cigna and they were pretty easy to work with. While you do need to call them and ask them questions about your plan specifically, they do have a broad coverage statement for bariatric surgery. It goes over what counts as "supervised".  Essentially, there needs to be a medical professional involved at every one of your four check-ins over the three months. I was right on the edge of a 40bmi, so I couldn't lose much weight on the supervised diet. My PCP was very understanding of this situation so she made sure my numbers were where they needed to be at each of the four weigh ins. Schedule those appointments, make sure they are 30 days apart at least. Although my surgery program had monthly classes that counted as weigh-ins, I didn't depend on them because they were tough to get appointments with and would slow down my progress. I took it upon myself to schedule the weigh-ins with the PCP and it sped up my process by probably two months. Check out Cigna's official bariatric coverage policy here: https://cignaforhcp.cigna.com/public/content/pdf/coveragePolicies/medical/mm_0051_coveragepositioncriteria_bariatric_surgery.pdf  Again, your particular policy might have additions/changes, so you always have to call them and ask.