When Health Insurers Give Patients the Runaround, Lives Are Lost

[icymist]

HIV/AIDS researchers just made a breakthrough discovery—patients who start taking anti-HIV medications as soon as they learn they're infected are over 50 percent less likely to develop full-blown AIDS than patients who delay treatment.

Quick access to medications saves lives. But profit-focused insurers are impeding that access through a bureaucratic process known as "prior authorization," which endangers patients' health by forcing them to wait days or weeks for their prescriber-approved medicines.

Lawmakers must overhaul the prior authorization process to ensure that patients and their care providers—not insurance companies—decide the best course of treatment.

<snip>

Patients living with HIV can keep the disease suppressed for decades—but only if they strictly follow their prescription regimen. Patients who miss just 5 percent of their doses can suffer a spike in their viral loads, according to a study published in the American Journal of Managed Care.

http://www.newsweek.com/when-health-insurers-give-patients-runaround-lives-are-lost-379282

[area51]

1. GingrichCare isn't enough.

Single-payer now.