Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, an insurance company, announced that starting in February, they were going to enforce time limitations for their anesthesia coverage for surgeries and other procedures. This limitation which affected several types of patients in specific states drew immediate backlash and, eventually, decided to reverse their policy.
Videos by Wide Open Country
The specific policy limitation specified that Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield would only cover anesthesia costs if the duration of the procedures or surgeries complied with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service's recorded times, according to CBS News. Should any procedure exceed the time limit, the insurance company would not cover the costs.
Many anesthesiologists and politicians were quick to voice their concerns and outrage following the policy change announcement. "Saddling patients with thousands of dollars in surprise additional medical debt. And for what? Just to boost corporate profits?" said Senator Chris Murphy. "Reverse this decision immediately."
The American Society of Anesthesiologists also issued a statement in November, condemning the policy change. "This is just the latest in a long line of appalling behavior by commercial health insurers looking to drive their profits up at the expense of patients and physicians providing essential care," Donald E. Arnold, president of ASA, said in the statement.
"This egregious policy breaks the trust between Anthem and its policyholders who expect their health insurer to pay physicians for the entirety of the care they need."
Policy Retracted
After the insurmountable amount of backlash, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield finally decided to not change the anesthesia coverage policy. "There has been significant widespread misinformation about an update to our anesthesia policy. As a result, we have decided to not proceed with this policy change," a statement made by the insurance company reads.
"To be clear, it never was and never will be the policy of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to not pay for medically necessary anesthesia services. The proposed update to the policy was only designed to clarify the appropriateness of anesthesia consistent with well-established clinical guidelines"
In response, ASA issued a statement of their own, expressing relief after hearing about the policy reversal. "The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) is pleased that Anthem has reversed course on its deeply flawed policy proposal to no longer pay for anesthesia care if the surgery or procedure goes beyond an arbitrary, Anthem-set time limit, regardless of how long the surgical procedure actually takes," reads the statement.
While ASA is welcoming to the decision, they still criticize the move as a reflection of a "larger trend among commercial health insurers." They went on to list controversial actions taken by Anthem, including withdrawing payments and discontinuing payments in several states.
