Does anyone know how long it takes UHC to give an approval or denial for Gastric sleeve? Are they pretty easy to work with? Do they deny alotmof patients? Just started my journey, looking to have surgery in November. Waiting to hear back from my insurance.

9 hours ago, Calah said:

Does anyone know how long it takes UHC to give an approval or denial for Gastric sleeve? Are they pretty easy to work with? Do they deny alotmof patients? Just started my journey, looking to have surgery in November. Waiting to hear back from my insurance.

Most Insurances have a 2 week to 1 month turn around time for approvals. If your BMI is over 40, you shouldn't be denied. If your BMI is 35 and you have co-morbidities (diabetes, sleep apena, etc) then you shouldn't be denied. You can call your insurance and get an update on the claim / pre-approval.

It never hurts to call the prior authorization department to see how the process is going. I have a different insurance carrier but when I called to check the status of my auth it got pushed through that afternoon. I've heard of the same happening to others.