美国国家公共电台 NPR Nurse Denied Life Insurance Because She Carries Naloxone

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Be prepared. Get naloxone. Save a life. That summarizes a campaign launched by U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams to tackle the opioid epidemic 1. But one woman who heeded 2 that call and got the overdose reversal drug found that it was a liability when applying for life insurance. From WBUR in Boston, Martha Bebinger reports.

MARTHA BEBINGER, BYLINE 3: Bloodwork was supposed to be the last step in Isela's application for life insurance. But when she arrived at the lab, the receptionist said her appointment had been canceled.

ISELA: That was my first warning, I guess. And I contacted the agent that made this appointment. And then she came to my home and said, you were denied because it looks like you have something on your med list - that you're using drugs.

BEBINGER: Isela, who works at Boston Medical Center, scanned her med list. It showed a prescription 4 for naloxone.

ISELA: I'm a nurse. I use it to help people. Just in case, if there is an overdose, I could save their life.

BEBINGER: Primerica is the insurer Isela says turned her down. The company says it can't discuss individual cases. But spokesman Keith Hancock, in a prepared statement, says Primerica, like many life insurers, considers prescription drug use when reviewing applicants 6.

BEBINGER: Now if a life insurance applicant 5 has a prescription for naloxone, we request more information about its intended use as part of our underwriting process. Primerica's very supportive of efforts to help turn the tide on the national opioid epidemic.

BEBINGER: Isela asked that we just use her first name because she's been turned down by two separate companies but is still pursuing life insurance. A second insurer said it might reconsider if she got a letter from her doctor. But here's the thing. Isela's doctor didn't prescribe her the drug. She just walked into a pharmacy 7.

When the opioid epidemic hit, Massachusetts and many other states created a standing 8 order for naloxone, one prescription that works for everybody. So Isela had to find the doctor who signed that statewide naloxone prescription. Just by chance, he works in the same hospital. Meet Dr. Alex Walley.

ALEX WALLEY: I am the standing order-writer. And we want naloxone to be available to a wide group of people.

BEBINGER: So Walley's troubled by the handful of denied life and disability insurance applications he's heard about.

WALLEY: My biggest concern is that people will be discouraged by this from going to get a naloxone rescue kit 9 at the pharmacy, so this has been frustrating 10.

BEBINGER: Isela says she and some of her fellow nurses have stopped carrying a naloxone kit outside the hospital. They don't want it to show up on their active medication list until this life insurance problem is sorted out.

ISELA: So if something were to happen on the street, I don't have one just because I don't want another conflict.

BEBINGER: Boston Medical Center has alerted the Massachusetts Division of Insurance, which is reviewing the cases and drafting guidelines for, quote, "the reasonable use of drug history information in determining whether to issue a life insurance policy." But Isela is not a drug user, yet she's still being penalized 11. Michael Botticelli, who runs the Grayken Center at Boston Medical, says many people should be carrying naloxone and not worrying about their life insurance.

MICHAEL BOTTICELLI: It's incumbent 12 on all of us to make sure that we try to kind of nip this in the bud before it is any more widescale.

BEBINGER: Botticelli wrote to the Surgeon General. Dr. Jerome Adams says he contacted the National Association of Insurance Commissioners 13. That group says it has not heard of any denials. Adams says it's good to, as Botticelli suggests, nip the problem in the bud.

JEROME ADAMS: Naloxone saves lives. And it's important that all Americans understand the vital role bystanders can play in preventing opioid overdose deaths, especially when equipped with this lifesaving medication.

BEBINGER: More widespread use of naloxone is a key reason, say some public health experts, that Massachusetts and a few other states are seeing fewer overdose deaths this year as compared to last. For NPR News, I'm Martha Bebinger in Boston.

GREENE: That story was part of a reporting partnership 14 with NPR, WBUR and Kaiser Health News.

(SOUNDBITE OF TYCHO'S "APOGEE")