Paying to pee: A national survey of urinary catheter users' costs and coverage.
Maryellen S Kelly, Hannah Damico, Dawne Widener-Burrows and 5 others
PMID 40096507WHAT IT FOUND
Catheter users reported uneven insurance coverage.
Among those paying anything, median yearly out-of-pocket costs were $1200 with private insurance and $540 with public insurance. Appeals were approved in 56% of cases.
Key findings
01Among respondents who paid anything, median yearly out-of-pocket costs were $1200 with private insurance and $540 with public/government insurance.
02Eight percent of public/government-insured users and 17% of private-insured users reported no coverage for catheter costs.
03Among those aware they could appeal, 29% appealed, and 56% of appeals received partial or complete approval.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The survey used a convenience sample from advocacy listservs and social media, so it may not represent all catheter users. Only people with insurance were eligible, so uninsured catheter users were not captured. State-level and plan-level differences were not captured in detail. The text reports 1236 English respondents and 11 Spanish respondents, while the table total is N=1236, so the analysed total is unclear.
Declared interests
The survey was developed and distributed by patient advocacy organizations, but no funding or conflict-of-interest declaration is provided in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat this as evidence about the safety or effectiveness of catheter types. It describes insurance coverage and out-of-pocket costs in a convenience sample of insured users, not patient outcomes.