There is a really disturbing trend developing in health care. I can sum it up thusly: the insurance company will decide the fate of a patient’s treatment.
One company in particular seems to know better than any medical professional that has ever taken a medical class: Aetna. You see, Aetna thinks that because the doctor didn’t do a sleep study on me and there is no “official” diagnosis, then he has no right to request that I obtain a prescription to fight the narcolepsy for a month while they line up some time in the clinic. Therefore, there simply refuse to let me have it.
Oh sure, I could pay for the prescription myself – but if a doctor wrote the prescription, why must the insurance company outright deny the claim? Better yet, my doctors have to spend time calling and justifying their work and prescription recommendation… which, they did… and… well, Aetna still just doesn’t care. No narcolepsy drugs for me.
This isn’t the first time Aetna has known better than any of my doctors. I’m sure it won’t be the last.
I’m going to try to get the doctor to work through the appeals process on this one since the study is still the better part of a month away, but it’s pretty unnerving that health insurance companies, in the interest of the Bottom Line, can screw their customers’ health like this.
Impressive, Aetna. I can’t wait to get rid of you. Perhaps I should start an Internet campaign against you.