Hello, I am new to this site and LAP-BAND®. I am in the very early stages, as a matter of fact, I am going to the seminar this Tuesday. I have United HealthCare through my husband's job and he works for GE Healthcare, a extremely large company. I called them before I called to schedule my appointment and received the response the procedure is covered if I meet the criteria (the rep was very nice!) I wanted to know if the insurance co required you to do a pre-op weight loss program and if so, how long, 3 or 6 months? What has been you experience with United Healthcare? Is there anything else you think I should know? I am so worried and excited at the same time. I am 255lb with a BMI of 41.

Thanks,

Excited!

Hello,

I also work for a large company and have United Healthcare. Although I went to my doctor ahead of time to start a diet just in case they did accecpt me with no issues. I was very over weight at 375 lbs. They just asked for a 5 year history of being overweight from my doctore and just like that I was approved in a matter of 2 Months from start to finish.

I also have United. They qualify you if you have a bmi of 40 or bmi 35 with co mobalities, like sleep apnea or diabetes. I had documentation that I went to Weight Watchers for a year. I got qualified right away just one letter. With mine they cover at an 80/20 with a maximum payout of 10,000.

My surgery is scheduled for March 1st. I can't wait!!!

i have them, and am going in moday morning. the whole process from start to to finish took me 8 weeks. my program did not need any diet plan. united is pretty good and very quick. some plans have different guide lines but my was very simple.good luck

I have United. As mentioned above, they want a 5 year (in a row) history of a BMI of 40 or greater (or BMI of 35 with co-morbilities), and a 6 month supervised diet. I have finally gotten all of my paperwork together. I am having this done at NYU. They should be submitting my documents to United this week and I'm supposed to hear in about 1 week if I've been approved. In the meantime, I have a surgery date for March 18, assuming all goes well with the insurance.