After experiencing mysterious hip and back pain for about six months, Dan Hurley finally went to see an orthopedist in December 2021. The diagnosis, after an MRI and a subsequent biopsy, was metastatic dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma, an aggressive cancer in his pelvic bone. Hurley, then 48, set about finding specialists who could maximize his chances of survival and grant him more time with his wife and three kids at their home in Phoenix. Treatment began quickly and aggressively; two months later, he had a hemipelvectomy to remove a portion of his pelvis and implant a new hip, leaving him unable to walk for several months.
As an ear, nose, and throat physician with over 20 years of experience, Hurley entered into his battle with cancer knowing full well that his treatment would involve constant back-and-forths with his insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield. In particular, he anticipated disputes over “prior authorization,” a controversial bureaucratic process that insurance companies use to determine which treatments they believe are medically necessary before agreeing to cover them. Hurley was all too familiar with the administrative burden that prior authorization places on doctors’ offices, often requiring them to fill out labyrinthine paperwork on behalf of patients for even the most routine procedures and medications. More important, Hurley had seen how the time-consuming process could delay a patient’s care — a minor inconvenience to some but a potential matter of life and death for people like him.
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