Medicare denial shows rationing is here

For those of you who are naive enough to believe that health care will not be rationed in the future, it is already here. Medicare recently denied a claim and an appeal for a patient-in her 70s who had biopsies to evaluate possible cancer. Fortunately, no cancer was found. Despite a legitimate, diagnosed nonmalignant condition, Medicare called the procedure “cosmetic.” There was no cosmetic component at all to this procedure on a patient with a previous cancer history. Pathology did describe a condition that has some potential to become malignant.

Medicare and the government prefer to hide behind diagnosis of cosmetic surgery, rather than to honor their obligation to this patient. How can a suspicious lesion be diagnosed without a biopsy?

Protect your rights and your patient-physician relationship by contacting your elected officials before the next cosmetic denial really is cancer.

Dominic J. Catrambone Jr., M.D.

Elk Grove Village