“We are pleased that Aetna and United Healthcare now include sleeve gastrectomy among its covered bariatric procedures,” John W. Baker, MD, FACS, president of ASMBS, said in the release. “In the rapidly changing field of bariatric and metabolic surgery, it is important to provide coverage and access to a wide range of proven treatment methods. Sleeve gastrectomy has now reached that threshold where the data and our experience with the procedure support its safe and effective use in people affected by the chronic disease of morbid obesity.”
Aetna and United Healthcare had classified sleeve gastrectomy as “investigational” and would not cover the procedure. Aetna began covering the procedure this month and United Healthcare began in Oct. 2009, according to the release. Officials said in the release that ASMBS hoped other insurers would follow Aetna and United healthcare in covering sleeve gastrectomy as “a medically necessary treatment option.”
Read the ASMBS’s release on Aetna and United Healthcare’s decision to cover sleeve gastrectomy (pdf).
