Some lucky people live their whole lives only taking medication intermittently, like pain killers when they have a headache or acute pain. Maybe they take an anti-inflammatory when they have sore muscles.
But for the rest of us, regular doses of medication could be the difference between comfort and pain, health and disease, or life and death.
It seems almost criminal that a clerical error could result in an adolescent being denied the medicine that prolongs his life.
High school freshman, Jack, nearly lost regular access to his medicine. He has a rare condition called Hunter syndrome. Granted, his annual medicine costs as much as a manor estate in most locales around the United States each year ($375,000).
There is no cure for Hunter syndrome.
If untreated, it will most likely result in death by early adolescence. Jack’s treatment slows the progression, which essentially buys him time. Those living with Hunter syndrome and those caring for people with the condition live hoping that a more effective treatment or cure will be found soon.
This is not the first time that Jack’s mother has had problems when starting on new insurance. His mother had her insurance provider changed at work recently. The new insurance company, Aetna, wanted her to obtain Jack’s medicine from a different pharmacy, which would take away the in-home nurse who comes twice a week to facilitate the infusions. After confronting the insurance company, Jack’s mom was given permission to continue to use the original pharmacy.
In the most recent series of events, Jack’s mom was told that the insurance company would no long cover the cost of the medicine. She took to Facebook to voice her fears for her son.
In no time, the story went viral and people were contacting Aetna on Twitter with the hashtag #aetnasavejack.
The social response was overwhelming. Aetna immediately clarified that the termination of the coverage was the result of a clerical error. The error has been resolved, Jack will continue to get his medicine, and Aetna has put safety measures into place to make sure that nothing like this can happen to Jack again.
Let’s hope that Aetna fixes this issue for all of their clients. Let’s also hope that other insurance companies learn from this story.
Learn more about Jack’s story by clicking here.
