Major Insurer Now Says It Won't Cap Anesthesia Coverage In CT

CONNECTICUT — A major insurance company has backed away from its plan to not pay for anesthesia if the procedure exceeded a certain time limit, state officials assured residents on Thursday.

Beginning in February, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield in Connecticut, New York and Missouri had announced it would pre-determine the time allowed for anesthesia care during a surgery or procedure.

"After hearing from people across the state about this concerning policy, my office reached out to Anthem, and I'm pleased to share this policy will no longer be going into effect here in Connecticut," State Comptroller Sean Scanlon posted on X Thursday morning.

Payment for anesthesia services is based on several factors, including the exact amount of time for anesthesiologists to deliver care preoperatively, during the operation, and when transitioning the patient to the recovery unit afterwards, according to a statement from the American Society of Anesthesiologists released in November.

State Attorney General William Tong called Anthem's coverage cap "a terrible policy. Neither patients nor anesthesiologists can control the length of a surgical procedure once it begins."

"So what does that mean?" Tong asked his Instagram followers Thursday. "Are doctors going to be waking patients up in the middle of surgery? Or are they gonna be rushing through surgery because they won't get paid?"

After Scanlon confirmed the matter's resolution, the AG took to social media to say he was "glad Anthem listened to patients and doctors," noting that "Neither patients nor anesthesiologists can control the length of a surgical procedure once it begins."

In an email to Patch, a spokesperson for Anthem said the company dropped the update to their anesthesia policy due to "significant widespread misinformation."

"To be clear, it never was and never will be the policy of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to not pay for medically necessary anesthesia services," said Stephanie DuBois, the insurer's director of Public Relations handling Connecticut, Maine and New Hampshire. "The proposed update to the policy was only designed to clarify the appropriateness of anesthesia consistent with well-established clinical guidelines."