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Cigna Changed Their Requirements!! What?!?!?!



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So as most of you know, cigna has required a 6 month supervised diet for awhile now. I consisently hear how much trouble people have with insurance companies approving lapband. Why in the world would cigna go and make it easier?! beats me but i LOVE it!!!

I went for my 3rd visit today and the woman at the desk informed me i had a change in insurance and wondered if i was aware. well no i definately was not aware. She had me thinking it was something bad and finally she said.. "today is your last visit! Cigna now only requires a 3 month supervised diet". holy crap that excites the poo outta me! now it looks as if ill be getting banded in june rather than september/november! i think this is the best news i've heard all year :)

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Excellent....I love when the change is for the better

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That's great!!! Congrats!

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That's great news! My 6th visit is July 2nd and my surgery is scheduled for 8/1. Can't wait! :D

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That is super awesome!

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Figures....I started my journey in October and just got banded last month. Oh well it was still worth it I dropped 36 pounds in those 6 months and proved to the Surgeon I was on a serious mission to change my life style..6 months or 3 it doesn't matter I would do it all again.

Cool thing is I have a max out of pocket with Cigna which I hit before this surgery so none of this cost me a thing...

On a side note I recall a talk my Surgeon and I had about insurance requirements and he personally felt 6 months is way too long. He says most people do well short term and lose but by the end of the 6 months they are back where they started. He would rather do the surgery after a short amount of time when the weight was lost as it would be safer condition with the shrinking of the liver.

Good Luck on your journey!!

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So as most of you know, cigna has required a 6 month supervised diet for awhile now. I consisently hear how much trouble people have with insurance companies approving lapband. Why in the world would cigna go and make it easier?! beats me but i LOVE it!!!

I went for my 3rd visit today and the woman at the desk informed me i had a change in insurance and wondered if i was aware. well no i definately was not aware. She had me thinking it was something bad and finally she said.. "today is your last visit! Cigna now only requires a 3 month supervised diet". holy crap that excites the poo outta me! now it looks as if ill be getting banded in june rather than september/november! i think this is the best news i've heard all year :)

. THANK YOU thank you thank you! A million times thank you! I called my patient care coordinator and told her I heard on this site that requirements have changed. She had to get back to me on that. And all of a sudden I am ready and have everything ready to schedule my pre-op appt with my surgeon!!! You Saved me from 3 more months of the supervised diet!

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So how long after all your information was submitted to insurance did you hear anything? How long should I wait before I call and bug them? :) My paperwork was submitted yesterday so I thought I'd call them on Tuesday.

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Lol that's awesome! BCBS did the same thing to me; however, no one notified me (wonk wonk) I found out on my own. Congrats on the great news!

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Ilikebunnies... Are you sating that BCBS change their requirements too?

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BCBS of TX changed the requirements from a required six month diet to no required diet in Feb 2012. Mind you my plan may be different from others. The change made me very happy!

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So how long after all your information was submitted to insurance did you hear anything? How long should I wait before I call and bug them? :) My paperwork was submitted yesterday so I thought I'd call them on Tuesday.

I submitted on june 6th and got an approval on june 14th, finally had my surgery on july 17th. Yay!

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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