I am going to a seminar this weekend and idk if my insurance will cover this, anyone out there with cigna with any advice?

I had a lapband May 29 2009. I have Cigna. They paid well. I had to have a 6 mo wt loss plan , psyche consult, nutrition consult, co morbidities and then they requested additional info. My pcp copied and sent them my entire medical file and then I was approved. It was a big hassle . Just stay on top of it and make sure that the surgeon's office and everyone else sends in what Cigna requests. You can call them and make sure they have everything esp. if you don't hear in a timely manner. I did wind up paying, I think $40 for the medical copy co. I called them and they were waiting for Cigna to send them money for my file. I think that the medical copy co. would have been waiting forever as it was not in Cigna's interest to get my files. Once they had my file it was hard not to aprove me as I have alot of comorbidities. Small price to pay. They also pay pretty good on the fills and anything else that goes along with it. I really like Cigna ins. so far. Have had it for a yr. now. Good luck to you.

I have Cigna and they also paid for my surgery. What you need to do is call the number on the back of your card and ask them if your particular policy covers the surgery. Just because the Cigna covers the surgery, it doesn't mean that your particular policy will cover it. That was my first step before I did anything else.

I have Cigna and it was approved w/in days of submitting it for approval!

I had to do a 6 month dr. supervised diet, get a recommendation note from my primary dr. , 5 months history of weight and a psyc eval. I'm at 40.2 BMI and have only been over 40 BMI for about 1.5 years. I was afraid it wouldn't be approved; but, it just got approved yesterday!!!!!

It's actually happening very fast!

ok so then how do you submit it to ur insurance?

The Dr.'s office submitted it for me.

Once you meat all of your prerequisites, your surgeon's office should submit everything to your insurance. So first, call your insurance, see what they require of you, then do that stuff, then have it submitted.

I just got approved yesterday from Cigna. I started the process in May. What everyone says is about the same for me. I went to mycigna.com and printed the requirements for bari surgery/lap band and brought it with me EVERYWHERE so all the docs knew what my requirements were. I had trouble b/c of a lower bmi and needed comorbidities which I was close to some, but nothing official to diagnose. BUT, I think because I always had my "stuff" with me, we built a strong enough case. March banding! Hang in there. It does take a while.

I have cigna and even though I was supervised by my doctor for almost 2 years - because I didn't go to the doctor EVERY MONTH they wouldn't approve me. I missed a couple months within their 6 month requirement. Also, be careful that you get a good nutritionist/dietician. Mine was awful. She put in her report that I wasn't eating like I was already on the lapband, so therefore, I wasn't ready. I knew that I was months away from being approved by insurance so, of course, I wasn't eating like I was on the lapband already. I told her if I could eat like that every day then I wouldn't NEED the lapband. She was a fruitloop.

Anyway, it took about two years - my surgeon had to go through Allergan's Obesity Law Advocacy group and they challeneged Cigna. It took TWO times to get it to go through. I have a 36 BMI but a lot of co morbidities. CIGNA doesn't want to pay for anything so you have to follow their rules very closely.

Good luck!

I too have CIGNA and it's been a challenge. But I shouldn't complain because they are covering 90%. I started this whole process in August '09 and won't be done till the first week of April with my 6 month nutritionist program. I was pushed back a few months due to my first nutritionist canceling on me almost monthly. So make sure you find a nutritionist you like. Also my inusrance only coveres 3 nutritionist appts, so just beware of that. I'm lucky that my nutritionist does something called Express Pay - I get 5, 10 min visits for $75. Which is nice. I saved my "free" 3 appts for the next 3 times I go so I can get the full time needed for my pre-op. Everything else that was required went off without a hitch. Hoping it goes smoothly when it comes time for me to get approved. Good luck!