Ever alert to defend their bottom lines, health insurers take it to the next level:
For Judy Ariba, one of the most harrowing moments in her battle against a rare form of leukemia occurred after she had already endured a long hospital stay and grueling chemotherapy: Her bill for a prescription cancer drug jumped from $10 to $1,700 a month.
because
her former employer ... switched to a new health plan that required her to shoulder 25 percent of the $6,800 monthly cost
Now why would an insurer seek to pass off a mere fraction of the cost of a
lifesaving medication when that might put it out of reach? Why, precisely:
Patients who owed more than $500 at the pharmacy counter were four times more likely to not fill their prescriptions than those who owed $100 or less.
How convenient. The insurer gets out of paying without doing any of those nasty things that have brought on such bad publicity in the past - rescinding policies, refusing coverage, etc. Now they just point to the policy - see - your copay is 25%. Can't afford it? Oh, so sorry.
When did this get started?
specialty tiers didn’t catch on until the Medicare prescription drug program, which began in 2006, allowed them for certain costly drugs. Now, about 85 percent of Medicare drug plans include such tiers,
Are you enrolled in Medicare Part D and think you're covered? Better check the fine print - that policy may not cover you when you need it the most.