The insurance company insisted my son needed to fail at treatment before providing coverage
“Fail-first” policies put patients at unnecessary risk for suffering a fatal overdose while trying to get coverage for treatment.
By Carole Kelder
We had to battle with our insurance company. I have a good job, I have great insurance that was covering my son at the time, and they would not approve him to go into a treatment center.
They actually told us that he needed to fail twice before treatment would be covered. It’s like playing Russian roulette. How many times does someone need to overdose?
Carole’s story is taken from an interview transcript and has been edited for clarity.
