Target: Mehmet Oz, Director of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Goal: Do not proceed with plans to make prior authorizations a fixture of Medicare services.
Medicare patients in at least six states may soon experience a lower standard of care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced a test run for prior authorization of services in these states. Traditionally, Medicare recipients have been able to gain access to medical treatments without needing every process to be approved by an outside entity beforehand. But with the new testing program, certain services – like electrical nerve stimulator implants, knee arthroscopy, and skin and tissue substitutes – will have to be approved by a private insurance company before services can proceed.
This process will likely result in a significantly increased denial of services, especially since the companies doing the approving will get a percentage of the “savings” (in the form of claims denials) they can provide Medicare. Furthermore, longer wait times for approved services are a strong possibility, as frequently happens with supplemental Medicare Advantage plans. But perhaps the greatest danger of this “test” is the very real possibility that it will expand to more states and grow to include prior authorization requirements for even more healthcare services, including ones of life-saving importance.
Sign the petition below to ensure America’s most vulnerable receive timely medical treatments they need.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Dr. Oz,
For decades, the government has made a promise to older, more vulnerable citizens that their most basic healthcare needs would be ensured and insured. Introducing prior authorization into this bargain is a clear breach of this promise. Private insurance already holds millions of Americans hostage to the bottom lines of corporations more beholden to profit than to public health. This creeping toxicity will undermine the well-being of countless people.
Do not incentivize private insurers to hunt for cost-cutting measures in Medicare at the expense of the recipients who depend on it for their very lives. This plan will not eliminate “fraud and waste.” It will, however, gradually eliminate Americans’ trust in their healthcare system and its leadership.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: RDNE Stock Project
