A few of the top health insurance companies have chosen to discontinue coverage for a popular anesthetic used during colon cancer screenings. The drug has become very popular in the tri-state area and has been used in about 75% of all colon cancer screenings. WellPoint and Humana have already discontinued the coverage of the drug to drive down healthcare costs. Aetna health insurance has decided to discontinue the use of the drug as of April 1st of this year. But these health insurance companies have not completed discontinued coverage of this drug. They have only discontinued coverage for cases where it is medically unnecessary. The cost of healthcare has been rising drastically in the past years and the health insurance companies are finally trying to discover new ways to slow the rate of inflation on healthcare.

Millions of colonoscopies are performed each year. Even though reports show that about 75% of patients opted for the use of the anesthetic in the tri-state area, other areas reported that only a mere 10% used the anesthetic to make the procedure more comfortable. There has not been any evidence showing the outcome of the procedure is superior with or without the use of the anesthetic. But there is evidence in the cost of an anesthesiologist for the procedure. The use of the drug can add an additional $300 to $1000 to the cost of the procedure. Since all men over the age of 50 must be screened, you can imagine how fast this number can grow for a company like Aetna who insures over 16 million individuals.