60 Minutes: Insurance Industry Aggressively Reviews Cost Of Chronic Mental Health Cases

On CBS News-60 Minutes (12/15), correspondent Scott Pelley reports that two years after the Newtown, CT shooting rampage, “we’ve learned that the killer suffered profound mental illness.” Even though “his parents sought treatment…at least once, their health insurance provider denied payment.” In investigating what some parents have gone through to get their children “psychiatric care,” CBS News “found that the vast majority of claims are routine, but the insurance industry aggressively reviews the cost of chronic cases.”

Forbes (12/15, Japsen) contributor Bruce Japsen points out that “Pelley highlighted several cases where doctors working for insurance companies, including Anthem (ANTM), denied claims by mentally ill patients in need of chronic long-term mental health care.” In addition, Pelley “said ‘60 Minutes’ found the claim denial rate often exceeded 90 percent by Anthem in cases it reviewed.” The segment “pressed the case that many of the cases were chronic and involved the need of patients for long-term care and that it largely came down to costs rather than quality of care provided.”

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— “Denied,” Scott Pelley, CBS News 60 Minutes, December 14, 2014.

Posted in In The News.