Lap Band Surgery Insurance Coverage Guidelines

Feb. 1, 2008 - PRLog -- New Jersey - Due to the growing popularity of weight loss surgery – gastric bypass procedures  and lap band surgery - insurance companies across the United States are making the approval process more difficult, therefore causing appeals to become more and more common.

Dr. Ajay Goyal, Director of Bariatric Surgery and Associate Director of Minimally Invasive Surgery at Overlook Hospital in Summit, NJ advises candidates for lap band surgery and gastric bypass surgery to learn more about their insurance coverage and educate themselves on how to deal with insurance coverage for weight loss surgery.

Robin Shortell, Insurance Coordiantor for the New Jersey Bariatric Center reports that "Insurance providers are no longer looking for reasons to approve these surgeries; instead they’re looking for any and every reason to deny them. They view weight loss procedures as cosmetic, rather than as a medical necessity and the serious procedures that they are."

Establishing medical necessity becomes the key to getting an insurance company to authorize a surgery, but it’s a long, detail-intensive process that requires diligence, patience and partnership from both the patient and the insurance coordinator to make it happen. Though each insurance policy is different, and should be verified individually for more specific details, the majority of them require similar information to help determine medical necessity and avoid the appeal process.

For more information on insurance coverage for lap band surgery costs you can visit the NJ Bariatric Center's website to read the entire insurance discussion paper. http://www.lapbandsurgerynj.com/treatments/lap-band-insur...

For additional information on lap band surgery, follow this link:  http://www.lapbandsurgerynj.com/treatments/laparoscopic-g...

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About New Jersey Bariatric Center: Our proudest accomplishment is the relationship we build with our patients as we share their life changing weight loss journey. Achieving dramatic, sustainable weight loss is within your reach, and the team at New Jersey Bariatric Center can help!  Our approach to patient care has resulted in zero mortality to date and a complication rate that is lower than the national average. These surgical results stand out as some of the best in New Jersey.

Website: www.lapbandsurgerynj.com