Insurance Refused to Cover Her Vomiting Condition. So She Barfed Outside Their Office.

[Jilly_in_VA]

After repeatedly being denied coverage for treatment that would help alleviate symptoms of the illness that had been causing her to vomit constantly for the last three years—sometimes making it impossible to keep even a cup of water down—Sandy Honig was, in her words, in a “very, very dark place and feeling hopeless.”

“It’s hard to get up in the morning when the first thing you have to do is drink a cup of water, and that makes you sick,” Honig told VICE News.

Honig suffers from gastroparesis, or partial paralysis of the stomach that prevents the stomach from fully emptying. “Anything that I eat or drink makes me really nauseous,” she told VICE News Thursday. “I don’t really eat meals… socially, sometimes that ends up happening, but then I always end up in the bathroom.”

One of the most common treatments for gastroparesis when medication is ineffective is a Botox injection, which helps relax the part of the stomach connecting to the small intestine so the body can more easily digest food. But although Honig’s doctors recommended the treatment after more than a half-dozen medications failed to alleviate her symptoms, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield denied her coverage for the injections, saying they weren’t medically necessary.

So Honig decided to give her health insurance company a look at just exactly what she’s been dealing with.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy7d8w/sandy-honig-vomit-video-anthem

Health insurance is a scam. Anthem sucks. Single payer NOW!

[ret5hd]

1. Aren't you worried that people will fake illness..

just so they can get recreational Botox injections in their stomach???

[3catwoman3]

2. Shoulda puked on someone's desk.

[2naSalit]

4. Naw...

The vestibule at the main entrance is best! Especially if there's a rotating door!

[MuseRider]

3. I have gastroparesis and it is

no joke. For some very lucky reason mine must have been caused by a slight nerve problem, the Vagus nerve. It has gotten more manageable, I am VERY lucky. For years I kept a pillow and a blanket in the bathroom and would spend hours in there. As soon as there is enough gastric juice in your stomach it would come up. My insurance covered some of it then Medicare did cover it.

I am lucky that it has been almost gone for several years. I hope Medicare will recognize my need to replace most of my teeth because of it and pay for that. Thank God my Docs documented it and stood beside me when I needed an extra letter to my then insurance company.

We have to get rid of these companies that grab benefits for themselves when we are ill. Single payer would be just wonderful. I was lucky. The condition itself is horrible and painful enough that nobody should ever be questioned about it once that diagnosis is made. If mine ever came back full force I would consider suicide, it really is that bad. *I am tooooo chicken to do that but it would never be far from my mind.

Good for her. Food that has been barely digested in your stomach after 3 days added to a lot of acid is pretty awful when it comes up. I think she should spend some days outside their doors just to prove to them how horrid it can be. If they won't cover it they can clean it up.

[Tree-Hugger]

5. My friend has this

She has had to fight for Botox coverage and has been denied.

She has also had to fight with her job, who denied her temporary disability. She works for a major major major healthcare corporation. I told her to vomit on HR 's desk every morning.

[Native]

6. Good ol' Americorp.

[ck4829]

7. Disgusting... that we have gatekeepers that do this

Last edited Wed Sep 28, 2022, 12:38 PM - Edit history (1)

http://cococo.pbworks.com/w/page/150357162/No%20right%20to%20health%20is%20not%20a%20concept%20in%20a%20country%20with%20the%20%22world%27s%20greatest%20healthcare%22