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A Dead Customer Is A More Economically Viable Customer
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This guy has a rare disease, and he has an HMO with Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser didn't know how to treat the disease, so they approved his going to a specialist in Arkansas that could treat it. And then they decided that they wouldn't pay for it after all. So he went back to Kaiser, and they told him there was nothing they could do and that he should look into hospice care to prepare for death. He went back to the specialist, who treated him, and it turns out that he's not dying anytime soon. The only problem is, Kaiser refuses to pay again. He's on the hook for $2 million, and he's suing Kaiser. It's understandable that an HMO wants to manage care and control costs, but it seems like they were treating him by determining that he would be cheaper to them dead. Forget what it says in whatever contract or policy the HMO has; Should it ever be the case that your insurer decides that you should just die rather than them spending more money on treatment out of network? (Los Angeles Times)
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