States Target Health Insurers’ ‘Prior Authorization’ Red Tape

 

“…Republican state Rep. Melanie Stinnett … said she regularly was frustrated by prior authorization hurdles in her work as a speech pathologist before joining the legislature in 2023….
“‘The stories all kind of look similar: It’s a big fight to get something done on the insurance side for approval,’ Stinnett said. ‘Then sometimes, even after all of that fight, it feels like it may have not been worthwhile because some people then have a change at the beginning of the year with their insurance.’”
 

 

 

States Target Health Insurers’ ‘Prior Authorization’ Red Tape

 

Christopher Marks noticed an immediate improvement when his doctor prescribed him the Type 2 diabetes medication Mounjaro last year. The 40-year-old truck driver from Kansas City, Missouri, said his average blood sugar reading decreased significantly and that keeping it within target range took less insulin than before.

But when his doctor followed the typical prescribing pattern and increased his dose of Mounjaro — a drug with a wholesale list price of more than $1,000 a month — Marks’ health insurer declined to pay for it.

Marks had Cigna insurance that he purchased on the federal health insurance marketplace, healthcare.gov. After two appeals over a month and a half, Cigna agreed to cover the higher dose. A few months later, he said, when it was time to up his dose once more, he was denied again. By November, he decided it wasn’t worth sparring with Cigna anymore since the insurer was leaving the marketplace in Missouri at the start of this year. He decided to stay on the lower dose until his new insurance kicked in.

 

 

“That is beyond frustrating. People shouldn’t have to be like, ‘It’s not worth the fight to get my medical treatment,’” Marks said.

The process Marks encountered is called “prior authorization,” or sometimes “pre-certification,” a tool insurers say they use to rein in costs and protect patients from unnecessary or ineffective medical treatment. But the practice has prompted backlash from patients like Marks, as well as groups representing medical professionals and hospitals that say prior authorization can interfere with treatment, cause medical provider burnout, and increase administrative costs.

Do you have an experience with prior authorization you’d like to share? Click here to tell your story.

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