In November I upgraded my insurance from United Health Care “Choice” to “Choice Plus” My only reason for doing this was that the out of pocket max was $2500 with choice and $2000 with choice plus. What I did not realize is that with “Choice Plus” the band is covered at 100% instead of 08/20. I put $2000 in medical spending account to pay for this and now I only have to pay $100 to the hospital.

I guess I’ll use the remaining $1900 on dental work and post-op copays…YAY

Isn't it amazing how if you "upgrade" it comes in handy??? Since I've had children, its always been a better choice for me. With the number of visits I make to the peditrician, it is so worth it in the longrun!

I have the same insurance... 50.oo copay and 1000 out of pocket.... thank god!!!

Hey there,

How long did the entire process take for you? I have the same insurance. Also, I was not over 35 BMI for the entire portion. I was over 35 for about 2 1/2 years of those 5 years. I am hoping to get approved in the next week or so. My records were submitted for approval on Friday!

Congrats to you!!!

Courtney

Really that's it? I don't have this insurance, but they sent all kinds of bills for anesthesia, the surgery and things. I would be cautious there probably is more expenses, I wouldn't go spend that money just yet! Especially if this is a PPO, don't you have to reach your deductible or something..

Really that's it? I don't have this insurance, but they sent all kinds of bills for anesthesia, the surgery and things. I would be cautious there probably is more expenses, I wouldn't go spend that money just yet! Especially if this is a PPO, don't you have to reach your deductible or something..

I dont have a deductible that has to be met. Just 100.00 to the hospital. I also check to see if the anesthesia is covered because I've heard this before and as long as they are in-network they are also covered. Trust me I've double checked this lol but I still won't be spending any of the money because you never know!!

I also have their insurance. The Choice level, I believe even though you might have the same program there are different levels within each program.

I only have to pay a $170 inpatient surgery copay. No deductible. Am covered for the anesthesia at 100%.

I also have United Healthcare and I was told I only have to pay my deductible($2500.) and that all of the other costs were included if in network. Everything so far is in network for me. I was told that United Healthcare/Oxford was the easiest insurance to deal with for WLS. :-)

hmmm i have united healthcare choice plus and i have $2500 deductible and $4000 out of pocket expense. Does anyone know how this works? My coordinator said they (UHC) would pay for it but they require it to be in a hospital and i would be responsible for the $4000 max

I also have UHC and they are paying 100% for everything as long as I have the procedure done in a "Center of Excellence"...my CoE is NYU. The only thing they didn't pay for is the $250 for the psych eval, but I submitted the bill and they are paying 75% of it. I am so glad they are easy to deal with. also, I didn't have to have a set number of months on a diet before the operation...The only criteria I had was I had to have a BMI over 40, which I do, and have it done at a COE. That was it!

sooooo easy.

This is a little off topic but I get a statement from my insurance company each week or every other week but anyway they showed my surgery on there and it felt REALLY good to know that I didn't have to pay a bit of the $22,000 it cost :-X

[i have United Healthcare choice plus as well and I was told that they cover everything. I was wondering, did you have to do a 6 month diet prior to surgery? If so, who required you to do that? Your primary care physician? What were UHC's requirements other than morbid obesity and a psych exam?

I did not have a 6 month dithe only requirement was the high bmi of 40 or above if your bmi was lower than obese then you had to have had something like diabetes or high blood pressure. good luck feel free to ask me anything else

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I have UHC as well. They cover 100% as long as you use a Center of Excellence surgeon.

I also have UHC Choice Plus. Under our policy Lap Band is 80/20 AFTER you meet your deductible and it's only covered if you use a network surgeon. I had already met my out of pocket maximum before I was banded though so I didn't pay anything for mine. My insurance paid a whopping $95,000 for it

Every policy is different with United Healthcare. It depends on what your employer has them write it up as. My husband works for BNSF Railway and the only requirement for me was a BMI over 40. I have to pay the $20 co/pay when I go see my doctor. Other than that my surgery and anesthesia is 100% covered.

My bariatric coordinator was shocked when she found out there was no waiting period or trying to lose weight for x number of months. I went to the lap-band seminar the end of July and then my first support group the first part of August. I missed the 2nd groupi August due to a friend's son dying, missed 1st group meeting in Sept. due to my son's first jr high football game. Made the 2nd one in Sept. Met with the nutritionist and psych eval in Aug, did xrays last week and surgery scheduled for Oct. 6. She said it's the quickest she's ever seen. I told my hubby thanks for having a good job.