[monkburger]

The angle I would love to hear is that these people denying medical care are not culpable for the consequences. If I don’t order a test/surgery/whatever and the patient is harmed, I may face civil or criminal liability. But if the insurer refuses to authorize care (which, in practice, means the care doesn’t happen) and the patient suffers harm they have no recourse. The argument is that the insurance company isn’t making a medical decision - you can still get the surgery your doctor recommended, we just won’t pay for it! - although in practice their decision /does/ dictates care.

So if they are making medical decisions, why aren’t they liable for the consequences? Sometimes the “peer” denying care doesn’t even have a medical license!

[scrubs]

Decent point. Here again the goal is to align accountability with control, which has got to be management 101.