Covering Lipedema
The Blog of Coverlipedema.com
January 2024 Update
2023 was Coverlipedema.com’s fifth year of advocating for women with lipedema to have safe, effective, and fully covered lipedema surgery. As we look over our accomplishments for the year, we are optimistic about the future of lipedema surgery. The past year has...
The Settlement of the UnitedHealthcare Lipedema Lawsuit
The settlement of the lawsuit against UnitedHealthcare (Mary Caldwell et al. vs UnitedHealthcare et al.) was finally approved after four years. We attended the settlement conference and provided testimony on November 28 in San Francisco. We were advocating on behalf...
The Unintended Consequences of the Standard of care for lipedema in the United States
Unintended Consequences In social sciences, unintended consequences describe the outcomes of actions that were not intended or foreseen. Sometimes these unintended consequences are helpful. However, sometimes they are harmful, as in the case of the article "Standard...
Social Media Recommendations for Lipedema Surgeons Are Usually a Bad Idea
We have been around in the lipedema community since 2018 and have seen Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc. explode with lipedema content. While social media has allowed women to learn they have lipedema, we hope that someday women learn about the disease from their...
Finding Local Plastic Surgeons to Treat Lipedema
Coverlipedema.com recommends that while members are waiting to see their first-choice surgeon, they explore other local options for plastic surgeons. Having surgery closer to home is more convenient and can be safer. Plus, we believe that so many qualified surgeons...
Why You Should Care About Where You Have Your Lipedema Surgery
Safety is as important as having an effective surgery; they go hand in hand. You should choose a surgeon who cares about both. Plastic surgeons across the board will not remove more than five liters without overnight monitoring in a licensed or accredited facility....
Why You Should Only Use a Plastic Surgeon for Lipedema Surgery
When Coverlipedema.com first started working with lipedema patients in 2018, we did not know who treated the disease. A Google search then and even now reveals many “lipedema experts” whose only proper surgical training is a few weeks in Germany and on the job...
How Lipedema Surgery Has Changed over the Past 6 Years
We are in our sixth year of working with lipedema patients and thought it would be good, especially for newer coverlipedmea.com members, to reflect on where we have come from and are going. When we started working with lipedema, it was not covered by insurance. We...
Why You Should Not Travel for Lipedema Surgery
When we first started working with lipedema patients in 2018, women frequently traveled cross country for care because there were so few surgeons treating lipedema. Five years later, long-distance travel is no longer necessary because women have many more options for...
Lipedema Surgery Coverage with an Out-of-Network Surgeon
Many Coverlipedema.com members choose to use an out-of-network surgeon for their lipedema surgeries While there may be many good reasons to make this choice, it is important to understand the impact of this choice on insurance coverage to make an informed decision...