Denying You Health Care Is Big Business in America

Overview

"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. "To produce the Opinion Video above, we spoke to more than 50 doctors and patients. They shared horror stories about a seemingly trivial process that inflicts enormous pain, on a daily basis. The video also explains how a process that is supposed to save money actually inflates U.S. health care costs while enriching insurance companies."

Production

The New York Times