Outrageous reason UnitedHealthcare halted critical surgery… and LAUGHED while mocking suicidal patient
By DAVID THOMPSON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Published: 14:46 EST, 14 December 2024 | Updated: 22:22 EST, 14 December 2024
Jenn Coffey, 53, had spent her whole career working in health care as a nursing assistant, EMT and cardiac technician for 20 years.
‘I carried a pager and would respond to 911 calls in my town as a volunteer,’ she told DailyMail.com.
Then, at the age of 42, Coffey went in for a routine scan and was told she had breast cancer. She underwent ‘radical’ surgery but after the procedure noticed she couldn’t walk properly.
‘My body was a mess,’ recalled Coffey, of Manchester, New Hampshire. ‘My core was destroyed and I was left in a wheelchair.’
She ended up developing complex regional pain syndrome – CRPS – also known as the ‘suicide disease’ because the resulting pain is so unbearable and out of proportion to the original illness.
Explains Coffey: ‘There isn’t a cure. There are treatments, but 70 percent of people who get it, whether they’re young or old will choose suicide.
Having CRPS is like ‘walking around feeling like you’re literally burning on fire, walking on broken glass and barbed wire wrapped around your legs.
‘It is literally torture. People shouldn’t have to suffer but it’s because access to the treatments is so difficult.
‘A doctor told me that he felt that he could save my life if I could just get myself these infusions.’
Five years ago she started a GoFundMe to try and raise enough money to start the monthly infusions which initially cost $5,000.
‘The end result is the symptoms calmed down. It’s as if the infusion acted like a fire hose and simmered down the flame.
I could walk around easier or, you know, just be able to cook a meal for myself.’
But the cost of the individual infusions was sky-rocketing up to $600 each time – with Coffey having to pay out of her own pocket. She tried reducing the number of infusions but her health declined.
Coffey posted a video on Twitter (now X) about her predicament and United contacted her.
The company said it would contribute towards the cost of the infusions and so Coffey requested prior authorization which was granted.
But when she received the bills for the infusion the cost wasn’t covered. The company denied all the payments. And so she embarked on a battle with the company and even enrolled the help of her state senators.
‘Getting approval has always been a game,’ said Coffey. ‘And then if you have approval, they still don’t pay. Or they’ll pay just a bit and leave me on the hook for the rest.’
In fact, UHC paid a princely $1.22 towards one payment. When Coffey appealed the amount was actually reduced down to $1.01. And, thus, she had to file another complaint.
‘I have to shop around to find ways to afford the meds that the insurance won’t cover,’ says Coffey. ‘There’s thousands of us (with CPRS) across the country fighting for treatments. In my community, that’s the difference between life and death.’
She added: ‘I wish health insurance companies would stop denying care and start saving more lives. I mean, how much profit do they need?’