Unless otherwise noted in your insurance, Humana does cover weight loss surgery. Humana, in fact, has a bariatric management team. The Bariatric Management Team is here to assist you with your weight reduction surgery. In addition, the staff is accessible for up to 6 months after surgery. They can help you deal with any post-surgical issues that may arise. Weight loss is achieved through two main mechanisms: caloric intake reduction and energy expenditure increase. Weight loss medications may be used to reduce appetite or treat other conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Lifestyle changes such as eating less food and moving more often will naturally lead to weight loss. Surgeries are considered when other methods have failed or are not an option. Surgical procedures can be divided into three categories: restrictive, malabsorptive, and metabolic. Restrictive surgeries reduce the amount of space within the stomach cavity, thereby allowing a person to eat less food but still feel full. These procedures include laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding and open gastric banding. After these operations, patients need to adjust to eating only small meals frequently because squeezing a large meal into a limited space will not work. Malabsorptive surgeries remove part of the intestine. The remaining portion of the intestine adapts by growing longer and thicker walled cells to absorb nutrients from the food we eat.