- Comedian Sandy Honig recorded a video of herself vomiting round an Anthem Insurance workplace park.
- The video was meant to elevate consciousness of the denial and appeals course of within the insurance business.
- Honig, who suffers from gastroparesis, was denied protection for a process that might alleviate her signs.
In a now viral video, comic Sandy Honig recorded herself uncontrollably vomiting round an Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield workplace park after the insurance firm denied protection for a process that will assist alleviate her stomach-churning signs.
Honig, who suffers from partial paralysis of her abdomen due to a situation known as gastroparesis, can’t usually digest meals and has been near-constantly nausated for the previous three years for the reason that onset of her signs. Almost something she eats, she throws up.
“It’s hard to get up in the morning when the first thing you have to do is drink a cup of water, and that makes you sick,” Honig advised Vice News.
A typical remedy for the situation are Botox injections, which assist sufferers extra simply digest meals by stress-free the half of the abdomen related to the small gut. The $3,000 remedy gives reduction for a number of months at a time.
After being denied protection for the injections in January — Honig advised NBC News Anthem decided they had been “medically unnecessary” — Honig, who’s a author for Three Busy Debras on Adult Swim and HBO Max, discovered herself offended sufficient to act towards the well being insurance large within the practically 3-minute video.
“I mean, this video was just made from complete rage,” she advised Teen Vogue.
The clip exhibits Honig at an workplace park the place she repeatedly vomits whereas discussing her plight and the insurance appeals course of with passers-by. She tried to present up straight to the Anthem places of work, however was denied entry with out an worker badge: “Even if I’m a member of the Anthem family?” Honig asks an worker within the video.
On digital camera in entrance of the Anthem workplace, Honig vomits into an envelope she joked contained her appeals letter to the insurance firm — “relevant documentation,” she known as it — and seals it up. She advised Vice News she didn’t really ship the envelope and her physician mailed her actual attraction letter.
In addition to denying her process, the corporate allegedly additionally known as the police on Honig following the stunt.
“It was such a lovely surprise to get a visit from two men armed with guns and batons in my own home,” Honig says within the video, exhibiting two Los Angeles Police Department officers who arrived at her house to carry out a wellness verify on her.
Honig advised Teen Vogue she initially thought the officers had been there to ticket her for trespassing, however really had been known as to carry out the verify to guarantee she was not a hazard to herself or others.
“It was very interesting,” Honig advised Teen Vogue. “I was playing with putting this in the video, but it’s actually way too complicated — I don’t have a concise way of explaining it, but what the cop was telling me was that if I were to harm myself, [the insurance company] could be liable because they had evidence that I was, you know, acting erratically. They were basically covering their own ass by calling the cops on me. It was just insane.”
Representatives for Anthem didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s request for remark, however advised NBC News the insurance firm denied the Botox injections to “ensure Ms. Honig gets the right treatment for her particular condition.”
“Our clinical team has carefully reviewed her case and our medical policies, and the existing medical evidence does not support the treatment she is requesting for her condition,” Anthem advised NBC News. “Therefore, it is not a covered benefit under the family’s health plan.”
“Health insurance is fucking made-up,” Honig advised Vice News.
A consultant for Honig didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s request for remark.
