LAT - Cancer surgery amid COVID-19? Good luck with that, insurer says

[DBoon]

If a hospital is full of COVID-19 patients, shouldn’t you be able to receive urgent care elsewhere, even if it’s out of your insurer’s network?

For Hermosa Beach resident David Roe, who is battling Stage 4 colon cancer and requires immediate surgery, the answer from his insurer, UnitedHealthcare, was a resounding no.

“You must receive care from a provider within the network,” the company said in a letter dated March 26.

...

However, Roe, 29, said he was informed by a Cedars surgeon it would be too risky having him recover in the hospital’s intensive care unit, which the surgeon said was filled with dozens of COVID-19 patients.

The surgeon advised having the operation performed at USC’s Keck Hospital, which boasts one of the state’s best colorectal cancer surgery teams.

UnitedHealthcare’s response was that if Roe wanted to use an out-of-network facility such as Keck, he could pay the estimated $75,000 surgery bill himself — just as he’d been doing to consult with a Keck oncologist at a cost of about $500 a visit.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-04-17/column-hospitals-insurance

[Tom Rinaldo]

1. This is why I will not opt for Medicare Advantage even though it costs less than standard Medicare

And of course it is yet another example why private health insurers should not be dictating where and when people can receive essential treatments. All of our political leadership, and many voters also, may not have adjusted to this reality yet, but it is time for Medicare for All.

[mopinko]

2. that would be a more effective slogan,

if this wasnt about the gaping holes in medicare, reality version.
it never was a good brand.

[Dem2]

3. Private insurance - your personal death panels

Unreal how 3rd world this country is.