Hello all-

I will be banded at NYU hopefully sometime in September and plan on completing the psych eval. and the nutritionist appointments soon. NYU requires that these are paid out of pocket, but I have read that some of you submitted the receipts afterward to your insurance company and were reimbursed for at least a portion of the cost. I definitely want to do this as these 2 appointments alone is going to set me back about $600 if I don't. Can any of you who have done this tell me how you submitted the paperwork. Also, about how much were you reimbursed....the entire cost? all but the copay?? BTW, I have Cigna. I would really appreciate any help as I am poor and want to pay for as little as possible!!

Thanks!!

Hi, I have Cigna as well, and they did not cover any of my nutrition or psych evals. I don't know if there are other plans besides mine that cover them, but you might want to call the number on the back of your card and ask them.

cigna the plan we use to have would not even consider lapband. thankfully aetna does! I would give them a call if i was you! I cannot belive they will not cover that! i bet if it was for viagra they would! makes me mad! i heard that cigna will do gender reassignment surgery dont know if that is true though!

I was banded on 4/21/08 at Lenox Hill hospital in NYC. I have Oxford insurance through my employer and the entire cost of everything was included. I only had to pay my co-payment for the physic and nutritionist visits. I don't know about your insurance but that is a shame that you have to pay out of pocket for anything. Last year when I first decided on Lap-Band surgery, I had Healthnet insurance and I had to go to a nutritionist, a physic visit plus 8 consecutive visits to a diet doctor and have a note from Weightwatchers. I was turned down then appealled and was accepted. Then in January my company changed insurance and I had to put through the paperwork again and Oxford approved it. then I was Iron deficient and had to wait 4 months for my iron blood count to go up to 12 to be elligible for the surgery. I have lost 15.4 pound in 16 days so far.

Good luck to you.

Debbie

Well...I have seen some people on here who have submitted the receipt with a letter and have gotten reimbursed, so I figure it cant hurt to try.....right. I mean, its not like im asking them to pay for a 3rd boob or anything....

LOL, you could ask the surgeon's office, and see if they might can help you get reimbersed. Thankfully, my doctor's office had a package for $95 that included the psych and nutrition evals. I think it might just depend on which plan you have. There are really good ones and really bad ones, and I think mine is somewhere in the middle.

I have CIGNA as well. Do you have an HMO or a POS plan? Most plans do provide some coverage for the psych services, subject to your deductible or co-insuracne (which varies by plan), and typically will then reimburse up to 50% of the usual fee for the service. So the NYU fee (I had my psch consult already) is $300. You will get a bill with a procedure code and diagnosis code that you can submit to the insurance company. If you have not met your deductible this year, you may not get any reimbursement. You should call CIGNA and ask about coverage for mental health services. I'm fairly certain the nutrition consult is not covered by insurance. If you have a flexible spending account for medical expenses, you may be able to get reimbursed through that plan (but that is just your own pre-tax money). Good luck. I have my appt with NYU on Thursday 5/15. I hope I have everything I need for CIGNA.

Hey...thanks for the info. I have a POS plan and a $600 deductible, none of which has been met, so its looking unlikely that i will be reimbursed for anything, but I will submit the bill so at least it goes toward my deductible. How were your appointments?? Did they do any testing during the psych eval or just talk to you? Im into my 4th month of my 6 months required by Cigna, so Im planning on doing the psych eval in June and the nutritionist in July so that I will be done by the beginning of August (right when my 6 months is up) and hopefully everything will go quickly so I can be banded in September sometime. Mind you, this is in a perfect world! Let me know how everything goes for you...its helpful to have someone else from NYU so I can kinda get an idea of how everything will go. Are you going to Dr. Fielding or Dr. Ren?

Laurenwhite:

I saw Dr. Kurian--who I really like. The office is a bit hectic, however so when you go, be prepared to be there for several hours. Good luck.