Insurance giant abruptly nixes 'egregious' anesthesia cap after UnitedHealth CEO’s murder

05 December 2024

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) is quickly backtracking on a previously announced policy of not paying for anesthesia just 24 hours after it announced the policy.

On Wednesday, the health insurer announced that plans for customers in Connecticut, Missouri and New York would no longer cover anesthesia if surgeries went beyond an arbitrary time limit starting in February of 2025. Dr. Donald E. Arnold of the American Society of Anesthesiologists condemned the move, saying it was "just the latest in a long line of appalling behavior by commercial health insurers looking to drive their profits up at the expense of patients and physicians providing essential care."

"It’s a cynical money grab by Anthem, designed to take advantage of the commitment anesthesiologists make thousands of times each day to provide their patients with expert, complete and safe anesthesia care," he said. "This egregious policy breaks the trust between Anthem and its policyholders who expect their health insurer to pay physicians for the entirety of the care they need."

"[A]s someone who was once under anesthesia for nine hours: f— these people," journalist Marisa Kabas wrote on Bluesky.

Now, the insurance giant is abruptly reversing course. Hartford, Connecticut CBS affiliate WFSB reported that Blue Cross Blue Shield would in fact pay for full anesthesia coverage in the Nutmeg State. New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul also announced Thursday that Anthem "will be announcing a full reversal of this misguided policy" after her administration pushed the company to back down.

Anthem's decision notably came a day after UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson was shot to death by an unknown assassin early Wednesday morning outside of his Midtown Manhattan hotel. The gunman — who is still at large — wrote the words "delay" and "depose" on shell casings found at the scene, which suggest the assailant may have been motivated by UnitedHealth's industry-leading denial rate for insurance claims.

As LendingTree's ValuePenguin noted, UnitedHealth denies roughly 32% of claims, which is twice the industry average of 16%. Arstechnica reported in late 2023 that it used an AI with a 90% error rate to automatically deny claims called nH Predict, which is reportedly still in use.

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