Insurance Won't Cover Smartphones, When Pricey Alternatives Exist

consonant writes "The NY Times has an article on insurers refusing to cover cheaper devices such as iPhones and netbooks which may be used by the speech-impaired, and instead requires them to acquire devices that cost from 10 to 20 times as much. The reason? 'Insurance is supposed to cover medical devices, and smartphones or PCs can be used for nonmedical purposes, like playing video games or Web browsing.' From the article: 'For the millions of Americans with A.L.S., Down syndrome, autism, strokes and other speech-impairing conditions, the insurance industry's aversion to covering mainstream devices adds to the challenges they face. Advocates say using an everyday device to communicate can ease the stigma and fear of making the adjustment. At the same time, current policies mean that the government and private insurers may be spending unnecessary dollars on specialty machines.'"

Comments

Fraud-bait... tort-bait

[EmagGeek]

It'll be amazing how many people suddenly come down with "disabilities" once insurance companies start paying for fancy PDAs and SmartPhones...

Also, once a PDA or SmartPhone is declared a "medical device," it will be subject to the same approvals and liabilities as medical devices, and will therefore cost 10 to 20 times as much as they do today...

Re:Fraud-bait... tort-bait

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

You can tell I grew up in a country with universal healthcare.

No, but I can tell that you threw in a useless addendum to an otherwise insightful post.

It's not exactly useless. In truth the procurement of items for medical treatment in countries with socialized healthcare is often quite different. Not always, mind you, but often. Without a financial motivation for whether or not patient obtains a device to help them, most people tend to be both compassionate and pragmatic. That is to say, rarely would a person be denied a cane as a medical expense because it is cheap and someone needs help walking. Rarely would someone be granted a power exoskeleton because it is expensive and excessive.

With a profit motive in the US healthcare system insurance companies make more money erecting artificial barriers that prevent people from getting any assistive device. They're in a position to impose arbitrary rules to make providing such devices harder so their issuance is rarer. At the same time medical suppliers an make money by specializing in jumping through the hoops and getting certified products which make them artificially scarce allowing said companies to charge a lot of money. Even with the few expensive payouts, the insurance companies save money so they keep the policies.

Of course you see what is missing from the above scenario. That is the compassion and the pragmatism. A normal person working in healthcare would say, "an iPhone with apps for the blind, yeah that makes sense to help a blind person and is a lot cheaper than a specialty device". Then they approve it. It is the system standing in the way, a system motivated by rules designed to maximize profits. This type of rule is a great deal rarer in socialized medicine

This isn't to say that other healthcare systems are better in this way, just different. Profit is not the only motive that can result in arbitrary rules detrimental to individuals who need healthcare. Government bureaucrats can be just as bad implementing rules to punish groups at the expense of the masses or implement policies to mollify their special interest group in order to get re-elected. For example, rules to make abortion practically unavailable in order to appease a religious lobby or rules to refuse healthcare to overeating overweight people who are actually saving society money overall by their condition, but who much of society wants to punish for their sin.

Missing the other half...

[R2.0]

What TFS leaves out is that the reason "medical devices" cost so much is FDA regulations and the higher standards to which they are held. There is no possible way an iPhone could be certified as a "medical device". If Apple were to apply for certification, they would need to make a lot of changes, such as...wait for it...eliminating the ability to run 3rd party code.

Yes, insurance companies can be stupid when applying rules against paying for certain devises or "experimental" procedures. But ask the women whose lives were cut short by Congress forcing them to cover bone marrow transplants for breast cancer.

Re:nope, they follow government guidelines

[mcgrew]

why do people think health insurance is prohibitively expensive when bought outside an employer

Because it is.

It will get vastly worse when the government takes total control.

That's not been the case in the countries that do in fact have total government control of health care spending.