Guest guest Posted February 5, 2002 Report Share Posted February 5, 2002 The link below is to Aetna's Medical Excellence Program. This is the program we are using which is covering our travel and lodging expenses for Dr. Brent. I got the link from the Goldenhaar group mailing list. http://www.aetna.com/employer/nme.html Aetna has been wonderful to work with. No rings to jump through just mail the required info and they forward the reimbursement check. I think that the key to getting coverage is to find a physician who carries "weight" in their field but is not afraid to refer you to someone else. In our case, we had the Cheif ENT at Children's Hospital in Detroit construct a letter for us. It is also paramount that you explain to Aetna that there is not a surgeon in the area who can achieve the same results as whomever it is you choose to do the reconstruction. They will cover lodging (up to $100/per day) and airfare for the patient and a guardian. The maximum cap is $10,000.00 which is much more than what is needed. Hope this helps! Love, beth Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: Click Here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2002 Report Share Posted February 5, 2002 beth, Is your coverage with Aetna an HMO or a PPO? I still have a few years before surgery is an option; since Blaise just turned two in December. I currently have coverage with Aetna HMO and wonder if it will be necessary to change-over to a PPO. In either case, I would like to have my ducks all in a row well before the time arises. Hillary RE: Aetna coverage The link below is to Aetna's Medical Excellence Program. This is the program we are using which is covering our travel and lodging expenses for Dr. Brent. I got the link from the Goldenhaar group mailing list. http://www.aetna.com/employer/nme.html Aetna has been wonderful to work with. No rings to jump through just mail the required info and they forward the reimbursement check. I think that the key to getting coverage is to find a physician who carries "weight" in their field but is not afraid to refer you to someone else. In our case, we had the Cheif ENT at Children's Hospital in Detroit construct a letter for us. It is also paramount that you explain to Aetna that there is not a surgeon in the area who can achieve the same results as whomever it is you choose to do the reconstruction. They will cover lodging (up to $100/per day) and airfare for the patient and a guardian. The maximum cap is $10,000.00 which is much more than what is needed. Hope this helps! Love, beth Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: Click Here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2002 Report Share Posted February 5, 2002 beth, Will Aetna cover this expense with every surgery for Dr. Brent? will be having surgery next year and we have Aetna U.S. Healthcare. This is wonderful news! Kathleen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2002 Report Share Posted February 5, 2002 Hi Hillary, We have a PPO which we selected so we could choose our own doctors. You may want to check the website or call them because I don't know if they have restrictions. That's great that you're investigating this so early. Let me know if I can help! Love, beth >From: "Hillary Schumer" >Reply-To: AtresiaMicrotia >To: >Subject: Re: RE: Aetna coverage >Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 16:39:09 -0500 > >beth, > >Is your coverage with Aetna an HMO or a PPO? I still have a few years before surgery is an option; since Blaise just turned two in December. I currently have coverage with Aetna HMO and wonder if it will be necessary to change-over to a PPO. In either case, I would like to have my ducks all in a row well before the time arises. > >Hillary > > RE: Aetna coverage > > > The link below is to Aetna's Medical Excellence Program. This is the program we are using which is covering our travel and lodging expenses for Dr. Brent. I got the link from the Goldenhaar group mailing list. > > http://www.aetna.com/employer/nme.html > > Aetna has been wonderful to work with. No rings to jump through just mail the required info and they forward the reimbursement check. I think that the key to getting coverage is to find a physician who carries "weight" in their field but is not afraid to refer you to someone else. In our case, we had the Cheif ENT at Children's Hospital in Detroit construct a letter for us. It is also paramount that you explain to Aetna that there is not a surgeon in the area who can achieve the same results as whomever it is you choose to do the reconstruction. > > They will cover lodging (up to $100/per day) and airfare for the patient and a guardian. The maximum cap is $10,000.00 which is much more than what is needed. > > Hope this helps! Love, beth > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: Click Here > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 6, 2002 Report Share Posted February 6, 2002 Hi Kathleen! Yes! Once you have obtained the coverage, they will pay $100 per night for lodging (or $50 per night when is in the hospital) and the flight costs for and 1 guardian. You simply make the reservations and pay for them, then submit for reimbursement once the trip is complete. You need to save your receipts so they can be submitted as well. The program is very well set-up. Love, beth .. >From: kphuttrn@... >Reply-To: AtresiaMicrotia >To: AtresiaMicrotia >Subject: Re: RE: Aetna coverage >Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 22:36:16 EST > >beth, >Will Aetna cover this expense with every surgery for Dr. Brent? will be >having surgery next year and we have Aetna U.S. Healthcare. This is >wonderful news! >Kathleen. Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: Click Here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 7, 2002 Report Share Posted February 7, 2002 beth, Does Aetna cover this expense (travel to CA) if their is a plastic surgeon in your area who does ear reconstruction? Kathleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 7, 2002 Report Share Posted February 7, 2002 Hi Kathleen, I think it depends on what type of Aetna insurance plan you select. We selected a PPO so we could choose Dr.'s that we wanted. No matter who we selected, they would be covered, but if they were a "preferred provider" you received significantly better coverage than a "non-preferred provider". In our case, Dr. Brent was a "non-preferred provider" but the hospital was a "preferred provider". The Aetna Medical Excellence Unit didn't ask us about our coverage, but we did have to prove that going out of our area (to Dr. brent) was in the best interest of the patient. We had our Dr. send in a letter requesting covereage for us. Aetna Med. Excellence never brought up the info about being in or out of network coverage, and I certainly didn't bring it up! In our case, it seemed as though Aetna Medical Excellence was more interested in why we would go to Dr. Brent rather than what type of coverage we were receiving or what Dr.'s are available in our area. We live about 60 miles north of Detroit and have numerous "experts" in microtia repair, so it wasn't as if excellent or even mediocre medical care wasn't available to us. I hope this explains it. Love, beth >From: kphuttrn@... >Reply-To: AtresiaMicrotia >To: AtresiaMicrotia >Subject: Re: RE: Aetna coverage >Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 14:26:48 EST > >beth, >Does Aetna cover this expense (travel to CA) if their is a plastic surgeon in >your area who does ear reconstruction? Kathleen Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: Click Here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 8, 2002 Report Share Posted February 8, 2002 Dear beth, Thank you so much for all the information! It will help me out a lot the next year. My sister's son had ear surgery from Dr. Brent. She received money for lodging and airfare from an organization called FACES. I am pretty sure it was that organization but I will double check. Thanks again, Kathleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 8, 2002 Report Share Posted February 8, 2002 Dear beth, Thank you so much for all the information! It will help me out a lot the next year. My sister's son had ear surgery from Dr. Brent. She received money for lodging and airfare from an organization called FACES. I am pretty sure it was that organization but I will double check. Thanks again, Kathleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 8, 2002 Report Share Posted February 8, 2002 Dear beth, Thank you so much for all the information! It will help me out a lot the next year. My sister's son had ear surgery from Dr. Brent. She received money for lodging and airfare from an organization called FACES. I am pretty sure it was that organization but I will double check. Thanks again, Kathleen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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