We were fielding multiple complaints from behavioral health providers, frustrated that a major insurance company was not covering mental health visits performed over teleconference.
We scoured the internet looking for a patient. Of course, finding someone to talk openly about seeking care from a therapist isn’t the easiest thing to do. Gordon, who we never ran across in our research, took it upon herself to email us asking for help.
Gordon had followed all the rules and paid her insurance premiums. She’d been seeing her therapist for months and BCBS covered those visits. But, when stay-at-home orders were handed out in response to the coronavirus pandemic, her therapist had to stop seeing her in person.
No problem, they’ll just meet over a telehealth line.
It uses similar technology as a FaceTime call, except the telehealth portals provide protections to make sure patient health information is secure over the connection. The technology is used by medical doctors regularly.
We haven’t fielded a single complaint from a physician related to an insurer failing to pay for telehealth visits.
“When I called them, they told me that they would not cover that visit, even though she’s a participating provider and they’ve covered in-person visits before,” Gordon told KXAN in an interview last week.
She got word from BCBS nearly three weeks ago that her therapy sessions performed by telehealth portals would not be covered.
“Your insurance provider is telling you, because you can’t see your provider in person, we’re not paying for it,” KXAN investigator Jody Barr asked Gordon. “Yes, exactly. They’re only willing to pay for in-person visits,” Gordon said.
That phone call to BCBS was the fourth time Gordon said she’s called in nearly three weeks. Gordon said she’s even had her benefits manager where she works call BCBS to find out why she was being denied coverage. It was the same answer, she said.
Her claim is still in review, despite BCBS telling her from the outset that she would not be covered.
“It doesn’t make sense and it’s really unfortunate because people really do need care in this situation. We’re going to see more people requesting care and I think it’s really selfish and irresponsible on the part of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas to refuse to cover these visits,” Gordon told KXAN.
Meanwhile, she’s been unable to see her provider for three weeks.
Source: KXAN