^I've watched 5 family members die in the last 15 years. I don't think insurance companies restrict procedures involving life and death.^

I'm so sorry, Rob. Among my close family, I have one sister left so I do understand.

In the past, insurance companies have refused to pay for use of what they called "experimental" drugs to save the lives of patients who had nothing else to turn to for their cancer treatment. These were drugs that had already been proved effective but they were new and so the insurance companies chose to call them experimental.

Then there's this: IV vs. pill.

And this.

I could spend a lot of time searching out individual cases of denials of payment for drugs to treat cancers but I'm sleepy and can't do it tonight. I seem to remember a movie of a famous case (if I remember the actor, I'll come back later and post the name of it) that dealt with a true story of an insurance company denying a drug to a dying young man and it was the only drug that could help him. Ultimately, the courts said, "You will pay!" but it was too late for the young man.

I have a nurse acquaintance who was extremely obese and chose to have Lap Band surgery. Lap Band is reversible and can also be adjusted when necessary. Insurance will not pay for Lap Band. They WILL pay for Gastric Bypass which is irreversible. Some newer information are raising red flags on Gastric Bypass for the long-term. She made an educated decision and paid for her own Lap Band Surgery. Fortunately, she had the money. Most don't. This nurse now has a figure that I would die for and is the picture of health. She had to have a second surgery later to remove the folds of skin that were left after her weight loss. This isn't just quality of life. The kind of obesity she had kills.