We've been fighting to get my spouse's continuous glucose monitors covered by Medicare for 3 weeks. She's on insulin, and is regularly having (life-threatening) lows overnight. If the alarm doesn't wake us up, she might not wake up. It turned out to be just a series of miscommunications, missed communication, the the complexity of a medical device which can be covered by both Rx coverage and medical coverage. I'm familiar with that battle because I've been alerting people who are paying for glucose testing supplies of the free option for a couple of decades. Unfortunately my doctor (and his office) weren't familiar with both - and instead of communicating with us, they sent a note to the pharmacy, believed the problem was solved, ignored two messages and two phone calls from us telling them the problem wasn't solved, and ultimately (today) finally completed the precertification needed for Medicare to pay for it through Part B, rather than Part D.
I'm guessing you're on synthroid (levothyroxine) and cytomel (liothyronine). Most people are only on the former. I'm on both - my doctor is a bit of a thyroid wonk, so he believes in checking numbers most doctors ignore.
Virtually no medical provider (other than my doctor) can even pronounce either one - but especially the second one. Fewer still have a clue what they are for - or that they are different. I suspect it was the same kind of screw up which people (not necessarily corporations) make when they encounter unfamiliar medications. It might even have been the pharmacy incorrectly entering the name of the second medication in, or the doctor's staff not realizing they were different - which would have triggered a denial by United Health Care.
Way too much carelessness in medicine - but it happens in both for-profit and not-for-profit. As to the DME issue I ran into, it has been far harder to navigate Medicare than several for-profit plan I've had (on this issue, on other diabetic supplies, and eyeglasses post-cataract surgery).
I agree with your basic premise that for-profit entities should not be in charge of access to health care. There shouldn't be middlemen companies making a profit off of providing/gate-keeping access to health care.
And I'm all in on a solid health care rant. I just disagree that this particular example is limited to for-profit companies.
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