When KFF Well being Information printed an article in August in regards to the “prior authorization hell” Sally Nix stated she went by to safe approval from her insurance coverage firm for the costly month-to-month infusions she wants, we thought her story had a cheerful 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 permitted $36,000 value of remedies she thought she owed. Even higher, she additionally realized she would qualify for the infusions shifting ahead.
Excellent news throughout — besides it didn’t final for lengthy. In spite of everything, 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, of Statesville, North Carolina, has suffered from autoimmune illnesses, continual ache, and fatigue, in addition to a situation known as trigeminal neuralgia, which is marked by bouts of electrical shock-like ache that’s so intense it’s generally often called the “suicide illness.”
“It’s a ache that sends me to my knees,” Nix stated in October. “My complete 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 may image herself celebrating, free from ache, at her daughter’s summer time 2024 wedding ceremony.
“I used to be so hopeful,” she stated.
However a couple of months after beginning these infusions, she came upon that her insurance coverage firm wouldn’t cowl their value 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 continual 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 a long time in the past to rein in well being care prices by eliminating duplicative and ineffective therapy. Not solely does overtreatment waste billions of {dollars} yearly, however medical doctors acknowledge it additionally doubtlessly harms sufferers.
Nonetheless, critics fear that prior authorization has now turn into a method for medical insurance corporations to economize, typically at the expense of sufferers’ lives. KFF Well being Information has heard from a whole lot of individuals up 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 compelled to pause her remedies, unable to afford $13,000 out-of-pocket for every infusion.
Lastly, it appeared like months of her onerous work had paid off. In July, Nix was instructed by workers at each her physician’s workplace and her hospital that Blue Cross Blue Protect of Illinois would permit her to restart therapy. Her stability 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 realized the message had modified. After restarting therapy, she obtained a letter from the insurer saying her diagnoses didn’t really 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 talk about particular person sufferers’ instances.
“Prior authorization is commonly a requirement for sure remedies,” Van de Walle stated in a written assertion, “and BCBSIL administers advantages in response to medical coverage and the employer’s profit.”
However Nix is a Southern girl of the “Metal Magnolia” selection. In different phrases, she’s not taking place with no combat.
In September, she known as out her insurance coverage firm’s ways 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 not too long ago required Nix to safe preapproval for an additional therapy — routine numbing injections she has obtained 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 bought to cease.”
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