Coronavirus: ER doctor attacks insurance companies for slowing down Covid-19 treatment

With coronavirus cases in the US set to peak, one doctor says that insurers are slowing down responses to the disease

A doctor has warned that insurers are holding-up room in hospitals about to see a rise in coronavirus cases (AP)

Health insurance companies that hold-up patient discharges from hospitals will slow down coronavirus treatment, a doctor has warned.

Augie Lindmark, a resident physician at the Yale School of Medicine, used Twitter to warn that US health insurance providers were protecting their own profits instead of prioritising medical needs.

According to the Yale New Haven Hospital physician, patients were unable to leave hospital because they were awaiting authorisation from insurers.

“Insurance companies are clogging up the system in the middle of a damn pandemic.”, said Mr Lindmark.

“Every day in America health care clinicians waste time arguing with private insurers. A prior authorization essentially asks, ‘Are you sure you know what you’re doing?’”, and adds “We do. Let us do our job.”

Now that the US healthcare system is playing catchup with the coronavirus outbreak, says Mr Lindmark, “we can’t afford to waste time. There is no place for frivolous delays so health insurers can solidify their bottom line.”

Mr Lindmark’s comments come as one Harvard study suggested that 40 per cent of Hospital Referral Regions across the US would not be able to provide beds for coronavirus patients, even with the discharge of other patients.

The model assumed that there would be a “moderate” infection rate, with 40 per cent of American adults contracting the virus in the next 12 months.