hello, i am scheduled for a lapband seminar in a few weeks, i am anxious to get all of this going.

However....i emailed Anthem, who i am insured with through my workplace, and asked if they cover lapband and the process i need to go through. they responded and simply put "your policy does not cover obesity related operations." that was it. it was like a smack in the face. what do i do now?

:(

ask them to send you a copy of the policy on weight loss surgery, so you can read it yourself.

also find out the greivance process for challenging this.

Also call and talk to someone, find out if it is excluded specifically. There are self pay options as well...something to think about if you find out they wont cover it for sure.

I actually had to switch health insurances in order to have the lapband covered. Luckily, it was open season so I was able to switch from Health Net of California to Blue Cross/Blue Sheld PPO of California. I evaluated all of the health insurance options to see what exaclty was covered, what was considered to be the qualifications, and ease of approval. I decided to go with BC/BS since their requirements were less restricted than Aetna HMO. I would advise that you pull up each policies beneifts packages and compare who/which insurances cover obesity surgery and see if you could switch insurances since it is end of the year... if not, you will need to upload Anthem's benefits packet and carefully read their policies. If it's abolutely not covered, you will probably have to pay out of pocket for the lapband.

Hi there! I would suggest speaking to someone in your HR department at work. When they set up your benefits they pick and choose what they want covered. They should be able to tell you right away if weight loss surgery is covered.

Hope this helps!

~Amanda