Lights, cameras, vomit
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That’s one way to get it out there that your health insurer won’t pay for an effective treatment to cover your vomiting disorder.
Sandy Honig, known for her role as a writer and actor in the Adult Swim show “Three Busy Debras,” filmed herself vomiting repeatedly outside an Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield headquarters in Los Angeles to fight the company’s decision to not cover one treatment that could work for her gastroparesis.
She posted the video on YouTube, along with this explainer (and a trigger warning for vomiting): “I’ve been struggling w a stomach disorder called gastroparesis, which causes me to vomit almost everything I eat. My insurance denied coverage for a procedure, so I went to their office to appeal their decision.”
According to Buzzfeed, which posted the story, one treatment option is a Botox injection in the pyloric sphincter, the muscle that connects the stomach to the small intestine, which Anthem denied.
Buzzfeed reported that response to her activism is that Los Angeles Police officers arrived at her home for a psychiatric wellness check, “because, she said, Anthem called them.”
An Anthem spokesperson went on to tell Buzzfeed: “Our clinical team has carefully reviewed her case and our medical policies, and the existing medical evidence does not support the treatment she is requesting for her condition.”
