Hello.

I'm wondering about Aetna's insurance coverage for the sleeve. I have read the posts about Aetna, but here is my dilemma.

I don't have insurance yet. My husband will be getting insurance through his work, but that won't be until June 1st. I wonder if I can call them and ask about our plan before it starts. No problem in trying I suppose. But what I'm really wondering is if I can start the three month pre-approval process before they even cover us? It's about 3 months until our coverage starts, so I was thinking during this time, I can get a jump on the process, by seeing a nut, doing exercises, logging my food, etc.

I guess I just have to call them to find out all of this stuff.

Hi! I was in the same boat as you. I decided I wanted the sleeve back at the end of November of this last year. My employers' coverage through BlueCross does not cover WLS at all, so I made plans to switch to my husband's Aetna coverage on January 1, 2011. My surgeon's office offered a free consultation with their insurance specialist. I took my husband's card and the insurance specialist was able to go by his coverage to tell me exactly how much was covered, what my deductible would be, my maximum out-of-pocket, etc. However, I was not allowed to make an actual appt. until after Jan. 1 when I was officially added to the policy.

You might try that with your surgeon's office. At least you would know where you stand BEFORE you go into the 3 month program. It goes by faster than you think! It's hard to believe I am already halfway through!!

Good luck and let me know how it goes.

Lisa

You can call Aetna yourself and talk to them! I think, but don't quote me, that you could do a 6-mo dr' plan before hand with your gen Dr and that would count, I don't know about the 3 mo baratric dr plan right before.

Aetna does cover the sleeve.It reqiures a 6 month or 3 month supervised diet program.I too have Aetna and am in my second month of classes .They said Aetna is very hard to get an approval so document everything.The more you have to show them , the better off you will be .so from start to surgery we are looking at 6 months with the supervised program, and a year with the non supervised program. Good Luck in the long run they will be saving money ,you'd think they wouldn't make it so hard!

Hello.

I'm wondering about Aetna's insurance coverage for the sleeve. I have read the posts about Aetna, but here is my dilemma.

I don't have insurance yet. My husband will be getting insurance through his work, but that won't be until June 1st. I wonder if I can call them and ask about our plan before it starts. No problem in trying I suppose. But what I'm really wondering is if I can start the three month pre-approval process before they even cover us? It's about 3 months until our coverage starts, so I was thinking during this time, I can get a jump on the process, by seeing a nut, doing exercises, logging my food, etc.

I guess I just have to call them to find out all of this stuff.