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I have Cigna and once I met the criteria, there were no issues with approval. I had to document three months of 'supervised' weight loss attempts under medical supervision and meet with the psychologist but otherwise, there were no big hoops to jump through. Good luck!

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I have Cigna and am very pleased with my coverage. I was required to have four monthly consecutive visits with my primary care physician during which time I GAINED about five pounds. I had pay $250 out of pocket to both the nutritionist and psychologist. The total cost of my procedure including the surgeon's fee, anesthesiology, and hospital bill was just about $70,000 (yes, that's a seven!). My total cost was six hundred dollars - the $500 previously noted, and my co-pay was $100 for the hospital. I also pay a $30 co-pay with my follow-up surgeon visits. Cigna approved the procedure pretty quickly.

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Wow! I guess that's not tooooo bad. At least it was for something helping you health wise. Thank you for shedding some light on this. I feel pretty confident now.

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I had to do the same...$250 each for the nutritionist and psychologist. My surgery was almost a year ago so I don't remember exactly how much my out of pocket was but I think around $800. Unlike a lot of others, I stayed overnight at the hospital, which might explain the high out of pocket. I don't know how much the total cost was...I never saw bills related to the procedure other than my surgeon's bill which was ten thousand I think.

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oh...and I didn't have to diet. I just had to show that my doctor was aware of my weight loss attempts. She just noted my weight on some form and it went in as part of my submission package for the coverage.

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I had Cigna and I had to do a three month supervised diet and exercise program with my PCP and then had to go see a nutritionist and a psyche eval. Once that was completed they submitted to insurance and was denied for I didn't have a comorbidity. My bmi was 39.6 and my weight was around 239. Then my PCP took blood work found out I had high cholesterol and they approved me. I got banded on 10/9/13 and am down 37 pounds and received my first fill on 12/13/13. Good luck with the insurance and hope all goes well.

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I'm well past that weight and bmi. I suffer from hypertension, high cholesterol and thyroid. So hopefully once I do everything required of me, things will go smoothly.

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Hi all! I also have Cigna and am scheduled for surgery on Monday, how long is the approval good for? I want to reschedule surgery but I'm dreading having to do all the pre reqs all over again. Does anyone happen to know?

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I have Cigna and once I met the criteria, there were no issues with approval. I had to document three months of 'supervised' weight loss attempts under medical supervision and meet with the psychologist but otherwise, there were no big hoops to jump through. Good luck!

That was the same with me. I was right at a 35 BMI (bare minimum) and with a co-morbid condition.

Hi all! I also have Cigna and am scheduled for surgery on Monday, how long is the approval good for? I want to reschedule surgery but I'm dreading having to do all the pre reqs all over again. Does anyone happen to know?

I'm not sure how long the approval is good for, but I think your medical clearance is only good for 30 days. If you delay, you might need the bloodwork, EKG and chest x-ray all over again.

For my Cigna plan - we have a high deductible. Each year, I pay the first $1500 out of my own pocket for any doctor visits, then it's 80%/20% split with insurance (me with the 20%), until I reach $4000 total out of pocket. I had some other surgery earlier in the year, so this hospital fee was really just $450 (my final amount to get me to $4000). If they had delayed my surgery, it would have cost closer to $3.5k out of pocket. The self-pay feature at my surgeon's office is a max of $16k. Their fee included nutritionist and psych eval.

Overall - I had 3 surgeon visits, 4 dietician (with a dr) visits, a psych eval, bloodwork, EKG, x-ray, and the surgery itself. I'm not sure how much all of that totaled up to be offhand... Maybe $600-$700 over the span of 4 months?

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Hi all! I also have Cigna and am scheduled for surgery on Monday, how long is the approval good for? I want to reschedule surgery but I'm dreading having to do all the pre reqs all over again. Does anyone happen to know?

I have cigna too..they told me tge aporoval was goid for 90 days from the date you were approved. .so basically three month span..

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    • LeighaTR

      I am new here today... and only two weeks out from my sleeve surgery on the 23rd. I am amazed I have kept my calories down to 467 today so far... that leaves me almost 750 left for dinner and maybe a snack. This is going to be tough for two weeks... but I have to believe I can do it!
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    • Doughgurl

      Hey everyone. I'm new here so I thought I should introduce myself. I am 53y/o and am scheduled for Gastric Bypass on June 25th, 2025. I'm located in San Antonio, Texas. I will be having my surgery in Tiajuana Mexico. I've wanted this for years, but I always had insurance where bariatric procedures were excluded. Finally I am able to afford to pay out of pocket.  I can't wait to get started, and I hope I'm prepared for the initial period of "hell". I know what I have signed up for, but I'm sure the good to come will out way the temporary period of discomfort and feelings of regret. I'd love to find people to talk to who have been through the same procedure or experience before. So I look forward to meeting you all. Hope you have a great week!
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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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