Assume a Patient Has a Rare Disease

Essay

Assume a patient has a rare disease. The only known option for treatment at this stage of the disease is an experimental drug which costs $200,000 and has been clinically proven to provide a life expectancy gain of 2 months. Why would the patient's insurance company be likely to deny the pre-certification for the treatment? Why would it be difficult to convince a patient's family that a third round of an experimental treatment might only add at most two months of life expectancy at a cost of $200,000 and would not be economically efficient?