Pls suggest a good insurance company...

Money.

Those plans are only for HEALTHY people. They don't want people actually USING them.

They exclude all pre-existing conditions, all WLS, and plenty of other things. They are stripped down, bare bones, lousy plans.

hi..i have aetna here in colorado. i am frustrated because when i was 1st 'approved' for the surgery, they said i had to have 6 months of nutrition classes which my surgeon provides. ok, great. i have completed all of them. now, that my surgery is sched for 9/2...what ..10 days away...they say i have to have 2 years of documentation from my primary care phycisian showing i've been overweight that long. doesnt sound too tuff, right? well, my doctor was faxed the info last week and still hasnt sent anything back. and understand...my pcp is the kind of doctor that feels to loose weight, a person just needs to get off their butt and exercise. so...i am soooo stressed out right now and just want to cry. ...can anyone help?

thats exactly the kind of thing im trying to avoid to be honest.

My last doctor did the 6 month thing with me, but we never finished it cause at the 4th month mark they said "sorry, we no longer take aetna"

so there went 4 months waste. I really liked them too cause they just had a doctor that just made the motions to make the insurance company happy.

How did you get approval without that the two years documentation? Aetna plainly states on their website what is needed for surgery approval.

Your PCP cannot with hold your medical records. You can request them yourself. Go to the office and ask for a copy and then give to your surgeon for them to fax if you want to make sure it is all done in time.

All they need is your weight for one visit for each of those years to prove you had a BMI with 35+ with co-morbs, or 40+ without. (i.e., You use a 04/15/07 visit which states you weigh 248, and a visit on 02/14/08 which shows your weight to be 245.) Aetna doesn't even care why you saw your PCP, just that your weight and blood pressure were taken.

You should have also had to include a list of all the diets you have ever tried. Aetna is very upfront with what they need to approve WLS. If you (your surgeon's office) submit all the required documentation they will approve. Most people are getting approvals from Aetna right now at or about a week.

I would call Aetna once or twice a day to see if they have all your paperwork and ask them to check your "pre-determination" status. I did this and I was approved in 2 days. I swear they seem to approve those you call more frequently a little faster than those you sit back and wait.

I hope this helps.

ETA: To add the medical records part

My BCBS pays 100% without a copay but a 6 month diet is required on most BCBS policies.