People are living longer, healthier lives than at any time in human history. Thanks in part to new medicines, technologies and other breakthroughs, researchers and health care providers are changing and saving lives, offering new hope for millions of people who suffer from chronic illness, like HIV/AIDS.
Unfortunately, while the medical and research fields continue to foster innovation, insurance companies are undermining access to these new treatments and procedures by sticking consumers with unreasonable and generally unexpected bills for these life-saving treatments. This practice of pocketing a patient’s premiums and then piling on additional co-pays and other surprise surcharges undermines the very purposes of spreading risk and offering and purchasing insurance in the first place.
While formulary tiering and benefit design have appropriate roles to play in our health care system, insurance companies are rightly under the microscope for using tiering to discriminate against people suffering from HIV/AIDS, cancer, mental illness and other conditions. In fact, the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine recently published a study on this topic and the “substantial and potentially unexpected financial strain [it puts] on people with chronic conditions.” For the full article click here
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