Insurer denies heart procedure for 12-year-old with Kawasaki disease

Pic credit: Joushua Lowry/ GoFundMe A North Carolina family is preparing to take their 12-year-old son to Boston for a heart procedure despite an insurance denial that arrived just days before their scheduled trip to the hospital on October 19, ABC 13 reported. The insurer reportedly called the procedure “medically unnecessary and experimental”. The boy, who has already undergone open-heart surgery, requires the stent before his arteries narrow further, the family said. They did not have time to appeal before the trip and plan to fly out anyway.A tiredness that never went awayRowan Lowry was 7 when doctors diagnosed him with Kawasaki disease (KD). It is a disease that can cause damage to the heart and blood vessels, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Mostly seen in children younger than 5, KD affects boys more often than girls. Its cause is unknown. In the US, the disease affects about 9 to 20 per 100,000 children under the age of 5, according to the agency.The first sign of KD is a fever that typically lasts for 5 days or longer. For Rowan, the initial sign was unusual tiredness, followed by a fever, his father, Joshua Lowry, previously told the out...