Why do insurance companies dictate how my doctor treats me? I can’t try xyz drug for my migraines until I try 20 other drugs first. I can’t get PRP or prolotherapy for my neck because they happen to be 20 years behind on their research. (They will pay for a fusion though, but not other less invasive treatments to avoid surgery)
It makes no sense. People that aren’t doctors and don’t understand my health issues should not have a say in the treatment that I’m receiving. Insurance companies are too powerful.
I agree completely. Every patient is different and has a different story, with different issues. You cannot treat a patient based on which drugs the insurance company wants to push that month (usually the cheapest variety). Insurance companies do not go to medical school and they do not know a patient’s history, so they have absolutely NO business telling a physician how to treat their patients (which tests to order, which meds to give them, which treatment to provide, etc). Only your doctor, who knows you and your medical history, should be deciding which form(s) of treatment are best for you. And the insurance company should just shut up and pay the bill.
I respectfully disagree with that. Insurance companies are just that: they pay insurance claims. They should not be advising physicians, PAs, RNs, how to treat the patient. Their job is to pay the claims. Period. Now, if something is suspicious - say, $45 for a bandaid - then, yeah, they should question the cost. But they should not be questioning the USE of the bandaid.
NPs and PAs routinely misdiagnose and provide the wrong treatment for patients. A patient diagnosed with depression being prescribed some expensive new drug first line or the wrong medicine should be questioned. It saves the patient from harm and keeps unnecessary costs down. Go to medical school then, not take a short cut and receive not even a tenth of the length of training with the quality of that training being far worse as well. Their practice SHOULD be scrutinized.
Yes, misdiagnosis happens with NPs & PAs, but it also routinely happens with doctors. This is why you should have a say in your own treatment- nobody knows your own body better than you.