United Health Care Pushing Opioids Instead of Covering Procedures
Now let me start by saying I'm not adverse to opioids in the right circumstances, but we all know what a mess Purdue Pharma and others have made. Anyhow, my partner's back conditions continue to worsen. He's tried every single treatment available to him. Nothing works except a Radio Frequency Ablation which has to be done every 6 months. At the end of the 6 months period last time he had a job change which of course means a change of health insurance. He went from BCBS which was amazing for him to United Health Care and Oxford. They have basically tried to kill him over and over again.
Their latest idea was to put him through unnecessary test injections before the RFA which they openly approved as medically necessary. Then even though he had over 80 percent reduction in pain, they denied it as not medically necessary. They did it all through the appeals process and it is abhorrent.
Then the other day we get a call from one of the insurance reps asking about his conditions and openly pushing opioids as an alternative to the surgery when he first off can't take them because the interactions with his medications (which he had just finished confirming his med list with the rep) would be catastrophic. It is just beyond horrific honestly. And after the first no I'm good on Opioids, that should have been the end of it. In fact it shouldn't have even been brought up by them as a suggestion. It was terrifying honestly to think that this is still happening despite court cases and the amount of public backlash and everything. Direct from the of course publically traded United Health Care (and of course the whole Optum Pharmacy management branch who they own). I am appalled. I am disgusted. I am beyond enraged.
#opiod #medications #AnkylosingSpondylitis #MentalHealth #Fibromyalgia #CPTSD #ChronicIllness #Migraine #UnitedHealthCare #HealthInsurance #ADHD