When KFF Well being Information printed an article in August in regards to the “prior authorization hell” Sally Nix stated she went via to safe approval from her insurance coverage firm for the costly month-to-month infusions she wants, we thought her story had a contented ending.
That’s as a result of, after KFF Well being Information despatched inquiries to Nix’s insurance coverage firm, Blue Cross Blue Protect of Illinois, it retroactively accepted $36,000 value of remedies she thought she owed. Even higher, she additionally discovered she would qualify for the infusions transferring ahead.
Excellent news throughout — besides it didn’t final for lengthy. In any case, that is the U.S. well being care system, the place even sufferers with good insurance coverage aren’t assured reasonably priced care.
To recap: For greater than a decade, Nix has suffered from autoimmune illnesses, power ache, and fatigue, in addition to a situation referred to as trigeminal neuralgia, which is marked by bouts of electrical shock-like ache that’s so intense it’s generally referred to as the “suicide illness.”
“It’s a ache that sends me to my knees,” Nix stated in October. “My whole household’s life is managed by the betrayal of my physique. We haven’t lived usually in 10 years.”
Late in 2022, Nix began receiving intravenous immunoglobulin infusions to deal with her illnesses. She began strolling two miles a day together with her service canine. She might image herself celebrating, free from ache, at her daughter’s summer season 2024 wedding ceremony.
“I used to be so hopeful,” she stated.
However just a few months after beginning these infusions, she discovered that her insurance coverage firm wouldn’t cowl their price anymore. That’s when she began “elevating Cain about it” on Instagram and Fb.
You most likely know somebody like Sally Nix — somebody with a power or life-threatening sickness whose physician says they want a drug, process, or scan, and whose insurance coverage firm has replied: No.
Prior authorization was conceived many years in the past to rein in well being care prices by eliminating duplicative and ineffective remedy. Not solely does overtreatment waste billions of {dollars} yearly, however medical doctors acknowledge it additionally probably harms sufferers.
Nevertheless, critics fear that prior authorization has now turn into a means for medical insurance firms to save cash, typically at the expense of sufferers’ lives. KFF Well being Information has heard from lots of of individuals prior to now 12 months relating their prior authorization horror tales.
Once we first met Nix, she was battling her insurance coverage firm to regain authorization for her infusions. She’d been pressured to pause her remedies, unable to afford $13,000 out-of-pocket for every infusion.
Lastly, it appeared like months of her exhausting work had paid off. In July, Nix was advised by workers at each her physician’s workplace and her hospital that Blue Cross Blue Protect of Illinois would permit her to restart remedy. Her steadiness was marked “paid” and disappeared from the insurer’s on-line portal.
However the day after the KFF Well being Information story was printed, Nix stated, she discovered the message had modified. After restarting remedy, she acquired a letter from the insurer saying her diagnoses didn’t truly qualify her for the infusions. It felt like medical insurance whiplash.
“They’re robbing me of my life,” she stated. “They’re robbing me of a lot, all due to revenue.”
Dave Van de Walle, a spokesperson for Blue Cross Blue Protect of Illinois, stated the corporate wouldn’t focus on particular person sufferers’ instances.
“Prior authorization is usually a requirement for sure remedies,” Van de Walle stated in a written assertion, “and BCBSIL administers advantages in line with medical coverage and the employer’s profit.”
However Nix is a Southern lady of the “Metal Magnolia” selection. In different phrases, she’s not happening with no combat.
In September, she referred to as out her insurance coverage firm’s techniques in a Change.org marketing campaign that has garnered greater than 21,000 signatures. She has additionally filed complaints in opposition to her insurance coverage firm with the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies, U.S. Division of Labor, Illinois Division of Insurance coverage, and Illinois lawyer common.
Even so, Nix stated, she feels defeated.
Not solely is she nonetheless ready for prior authorization to restart her immunoglobulin infusions, however her insurance coverage firm just lately required Nix to safe preapproval for an additional remedy — routine numbing injections she has acquired for practically 10 years to deal with the nerve ache brought on by trigeminal neuralgia.
“It’s reprehensible what they’re doing. However they’re not solely doing it to me,” stated Nix, who’s now reluctantly taking prescription opioids to ease her ache. “They’re doing it to different sufferers. And it’s received to cease.”
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