ASA’s Advocacy Against Anthem Spurs Nationwide Media Coverage and Policy Reversal

ASA’s efforts to stop an egregious Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield policy that would deny payment for anesthesia care if the surgery or procedure goes beyond an arbitrary time limit helped spur nationwide media coverage and the insurer retracting its decision. 

The proposal, ASA’s pushback, and the reversal were highlighted in more than 2,100 stories garnering audience impressions that reached 6 billion.  

One of ASA’s spokespersons including ASA President Donald E. Arnold, MD, FASA, Jonathan Gal, MD, FASA, chair of ASA’s Committee on Economics, Gordon Morewood, MD, vice chair of ASA’s Committee on Economics, and Kenneth Stone, MD, Connecticut director on ASA’s board of directors, were featured in almost every story with compelling quotes such as:

• “No other commercial health insurer, no government payer, Medicare or Medicaid, has ever done anything like this and come up with an arbitrary time limit for anesthesia services,” -- Dr. Arnold, New York Times.
• “The policy change would have been unprecedented, ignored the ‘nuanced, unpredictable human element’ of surgery and was a clear ‘money grab.’” -- Dr Gal, Associated Press.
• “It’s a cynical exercise in figuring out a way to reject more claims initially, knowing that a number of those are just going to fall off and never be paid.” ... “To have insurance companies saying, ‘Okay, the meter is going to run out after an hour and a half’ is just unconscionable.” -- Dr. Morewood, CNN.

Links to some of the top coverage are provided below.

Top 10 Media Placements:

• ABC News: Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to reverse plan to cap anesthesia coverage in 3 states following concerns
• Associated Press: Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield reverses decision to put a time limit on anesthesia
• CBS News: Anthem Blue Cross says it's reversing a policy to limit anesthesia coverage
• CNN: Insurance company halts plan to put time limits on coverage for anesthesia during surgery
• NBC News: Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield halts anesthesia payment policy after backlash
• New York Times: Insurer Reverses Policy That Would Have Limited Anesthesia Periods
• Newsweek (New York, N.Y.): Doctors rail against insurers' new anesthesia time limits
• NPR: Anthem reverses plans to put time limits on anesthesia coverage
• The Washington Post: Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield reverses plan to limit anesthesia coverage
• USA Today: Anthem BCBS drops controversial new plan to cap anesthesia coverage after backlash