Cancer patients can ward off waves of vomiting after treatment with a relatively cheap anti-nausea pill, but some are running into coverage limits.
Doctors say restrictions on the number of tablets patients receive can hurt care. Pharmacy benefit managers say their limits guard against overuse, and they offer workarounds to get more tablets.
In between sit patients, who might ration pills or opt for less effective help for a dreaded side effect of radiation or chemotherapy.
The conflict shows how an array of coverages and poor communication can complicate even simple acts of care in the fragmented U.S. health care system.
"This is sort of the dirty underbelly of the current health care environment," said oncologist Dr. Fumiko Chino. "Insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers are somehow weirdly ending up in my exam room, standing between me and my patients."
