They declined to pay for chemotherapy: Overturning an insurer's denial

David Foglesong, a history professor from Montgomery Township, N.J., began searching medical databases soon after Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey declined to pay for a targeted chemotherapy treatment for his wife, RoseMary. During one library visit, he found a new study that showed the treatment had helped patients with conditions similar to his wife's disease, advanced sarcoma that had spread to her liver.

The couple, advised by Patient Advocate Foundation, a nonprofit group, solicited new letters from RoseMary's doctors, and her primary oncologist argued on her behalf in a conference call with the insurance company's reviewers in June. The company reversed its earlier decision, and RoseMary, 49, got the treatment in July.

Horizon officials say the procedure was initially denied because it was deemed experimental and not the standard for Ms. Foglesong's condition. The company said a review committee reversed that decision because of the "whole totality of her case," including the medical literature.

Advice for denied insurance beneficiaries: Look into it like David did, and consider filing an appeal with your insurer.

Read another insurer denial story.

Thanks to Anna Wilde Mathews for the source story in the Wall St. Journal's Personal Finance section today.