Tell Congress: Americans have a right to timely access to treatment!

Tell Congress: Americans have a right to timely access to treatment!

https://fixpriorauth.org/take-action

Have you ever gone to the pharmacy to fill a prescription only to be told that your insurance company requires approval before they’ll cover your treatment? Have you ever waited for days, weeks, or months for a test or medical procedure to be scheduled because your physician first needed to obtain authorization from your insurer?

This policy is called “prior authorization,” and it’s a tactic used by insurance companies to control costs by requiring physicians to obtain approval before a treatment qualifies for coverage. This burdensome process is confusing, time consuming, and — most importantly — can cause delays in patients receiving the care they need.

Physicians are forced to spend valuable hours processing prior authorizations when they could be treating patients. Prior authorizations also impose unnecessary care delays on patients, interfering with treatment and even adversely impacting clinical outcomes.

A recent survey by the American Medical Association showed that Americans are abandoning treatment in alarming numbers due to delays caused by cumbersome prior authorization requirements.

It’s time for Congress to demand that insurance companies work with physicians, not against them, in order to improve and streamline the prior authorization process so that patients are ensured timely access to the care they need.

Add your name to tell Congress that you believe Americans have a right to timely access to medical treatment!

Petition Text

Americans across the country are experiencing significant delays in their access to care due to time-consuming and often unnecessary prior authorization requirements from their health insurance companies. Patients who have spent hard-earned dollars on insurance premiums suddenly find themselves unable to receive necessary medical treatment due to these onerous insurer policies.

The process of prior authorization as it currently stands is overused and inefficient. I urge you to work towards a solution to this problem that will reduce the burdens on both patients and physicians. The Prior Authorization and Utilization Management Reform Principles created by a coalition representing physicians, medical groups, pharmacists, hospitals, and patients outlines key changes needed to protect patients’ access to timely care and reduce administrative hassles for health care professionals. We urge you to review the Principles and include these important concepts in prior authorization reform legislation. Americans have a right to timely access to treatment!

 

5 Responses

  1. It seems to me that if the doctor prescribed it then that’s authorization enough. But God forbid anything be that simple.

  2. We absolute need immediate care and not have to wait for proper treatment

  3. Doctor prescribes,pharmacy fills but insurance denies, so why am I paying for insurance ? Somebody please help us !

  4. it would be wonderful if Congress could demand insurance companies work with our doctors instead of against where is the prior authorizations are concerned to be able to get tests, procedures, & medications in a more timely manner and particularly before patients actually give up on going through due to this “prior authorizations” !!!

    • It is vital that patients be able to receive exactly what a physician prescribes without having to go through a “Prior Authorization” process. The physician is the expert–not the insurance company.

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