Opinion | Denying Your Medical Care is Big Business in America
NYTimes
Should your insurance company be allowed to stop you from getting a treatment — even if your doctor says it’s necessary?
Doctors are often required to get insurance permission before providing medical care. This process is called prior authorization and it can be used by profit-seeking insurance companies to create intentional barriers between patients and the health care they need.
At best, it’s just a minor bureaucratic headache. At worst, people have died.
Prior authorization has been around for decades, but doctors say its use has increased in recent years and now rank it as one of the top issues in health care.