Nation’s 'Elite' Cancer Hospitals Off-Limits Under Obamacare
WASHINGTON — Cancer patients relieved that they can get insurance
coverage because of the new health care law may be disappointed to learn
that some of the nation’s best cancer hospitals are off-limits.
An Associated Press survey found examples coast to coast. Seattle
Cancer Care Alliance is excluded by five out of eight insurers in
Washington state’s insurance exchange. MD Anderson Cancer Center says
it’s in less than half of the plans in the Houston area. Memorial
Sloan-Kettering is included by two of nine insurers in New York City and
has out-of-network agreements with two more.
Doctors and administrators say they’re concerned. So are some state insurance regulators.
In all, only four of 19 nationally recognized comprehensive cancer
centers that responded to AP’s survey said patients have access through
all the insurance companies in their state exchange.
Not too long ago, insurance companies would have been vying to offer
access to renowned cancer centers, said Dan Mendelson, CEO of the market
research firm Avalere Health. Now the focus is on costs.
“This is a marked deterioration of access to the premier cancer
centers for people who are signing up for these plans,” Mendelson said.
Those patients may not be able get the most advanced treatment, including clinical trials of new medications.
And there’s another problem: It’s not easy for consumers shopping
online in the new insurance markets to tell whether top-level
institutions are included in a plan. That takes additional digging by
the people applying.
Advocates for cancer patients are in a quandary.
Before President Barack Obama’s health care law, a cancer diagnosis
could make you uninsurable. Now, insurers can’t turn away people with
health problems or charge them more. Lifetime dollar limits on policies,
once a financial trapdoor for cancer patients, are also banned.
“Patients may have fewer choices of doctors and hospitals in some
exchange plans than others … but the rules for such plans go a long way
toward remedying the most severe problems that existed for decades,”
said Steve Weiss, spokesman for the American Cancer Society Cancer
Action Network.
The new obstacles are more subtle.
To keep premiums low, insurers have designed narrow networks of
hospitals and doctors. The government-subsidized private plans on the
exchanges typically offer less choice than Medicare or employer plans.
The AP asked the centers how many insurance companies in their state’s exchange included them as a network provider.
Of the 19 that responded, four reported access through all insurers:
the Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore;
Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia; Duke Cancer Institute in
Durham, NC; and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tenn. One
caveat: Some insurers did not include these cancer centers on certain
low-cost plans.
Two centers have special circumstances. The best known is St. Jude’s
Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Treatment there is free
as long as children have a referral.
For the remaining 13, the gaps are evident.
The New York Post article continues at this link
List: Access to cancer centers under health law
The Associated Press asked 23 institutions that are part of the
National Comprehensive Cancer Network whether they were included in the
networks of insurance companies operating on their state's exchange.
Here are the responses they provided:
—Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Omaha, Neb.
In-network
with three of four exchange insurers, but one of them includes Buffett
only on some plans. A fourth insurer does not include Buffett.
—City of Hope, Los Angeles.
In-network for one of three major insurers; a fourth is a health maintenance organization with its own hospital system.
—Dana-Farber, Boston.
No response.
—Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, N.C.
In-network with the two insurers on the exchange, although not included in a low-price option.
—Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia.
In-network for the two dominant carriers in the market.
—Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City.
In-network with five of six insurers.
—Hutchinson/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle.
In-network with three of eight insurers on the state's exchange.
—Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore.
In-network for all six exchange insurers, although some individual plans may not offer access.
—Memorial Sloan-Kettering, New York.
In-network
with two of nine exchange insurers in New York City, two of 16
statewide. Has out-of-network agreements with two more carriers.
—Moffit Cancer Center, Tampa, Fla.
In-network for three of six insurers offering plans in multiple Florida counties.
—Ohio State University/James/Solove. No response.
—Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, N.Y.
In-network with five of seven insurers in its local area, but only five of 16 statewide.
—Siteman Cancer Center/Barnes-Jewish, St. Louis.
In-network for some of the plans offered by one of two insurers on the state exchange.
—St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tenn.
Treatment is free as long as children have a referral.
—Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, Calif.
No response.
—University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala.
In-network with dominant carrier of two insurers on exchange.
—UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, Calif.
In-network with one insurer, by design.
—UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco.
In-network for two of nine insurers in the northern California market.
—University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, Colo.
In-network for all plans with six of 10 carriers; included on some plans by three others.
—University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, Mich.
In-network for eight of 12 insurers, although not in every plan.
—MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
In-network for two of 11 insurers in the state's exchange, and 43 percent of individual plans in Houston area.
—Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville.
All four insurers have Vanderbilt, but one company does not include it in its least expensive plan
