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