Insurance Barriers in Cancer Care: A Care Partner’s Perspective
Published Date:
In NJ.com, a care partner shares her family’s experience navigating insurance denials after her husband was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer. Repeated prior authorization denials delayed a scan needed to guide his treatment. Following a later diagnosis, another scan ordered by his oncologist was denied and never received.
Her account highlights the burden these barriers place on families already facing the uncertainty of cancer. She also addresses step therapy, or “fail first,” policies and calls for passage of the Safe Step Act to provide timely exceptions when step therapy is medically inappropriate.
For oncology professionals working through coverage barriers, her story brings the care partner perspective into the conversation about timely access and physician-guided care.
For more on step therapy barriers and NCODA’s advocacy efforts, visit our Step Edits Hub.