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Mr. Stockton is a manufacturer at Opinion Video.
Should your insurance company be allowed to save you from undergoing treatment, even if your doctor deems it necessary?
Doctors must download authorization from an insurance company before offering medical care. This procedure is called prior authorization, and it can be used through for-profit insurance corporations to create intentional barriers between patients and the physical care they need.
At best, it’s just a bureaucratic headache. At worst, other people died.
Prior authorization has been around for decades, but doctors say its use has increased in recent years and now classifies it as a more sensible health concern.
To produce the opinion video above, we spoke with more than 50 doctors and patients. They shared horror stories about a probably trivial procedure that inflicts enormous suffering on a daily basis. The video also explains how a procedure that aims to save money is being inflated. prices for physical care in the U. S. , while enriching insurance companies.
Prior authorization has come under scrutiny in Congress in recent years, but bipartisan proposals have repeatedly stalled. Under public pressure, some insurance corporations, such as United Healthcare and Cigna, have announced that they will reduce the use of prior authorization. In January, Biden’s leadership finalized a plan to place limited guardrails around the practice, but doctors say those efforts are only scratching the surface and going beyond that.
Ultimately, this question comes down to the role of insurance companies in U. S. health care. Should they be stronger than your doctor in what is medically most productive for you?
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Alexander Stockton is the manufacturer and publisher of Opinion Video. @astocktonfilms
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