Joseph Hockett wanted desperately to stop using drugs, as he told his mother in countless, heart-wrenching texts.
But in the deepest throes of his addiction battle, his insurer handed him a bottle of Oxycodone and a $33,000 check to cover out-of-network surgery for his shattered jaw.
A week after the deposit hit Joseph's bank account, he was dead of an overdose.
His mother, Jennifer Alba, blames the insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC), for funding Joseph's overdose, she told CNN.
Joseph's death raises a cascade of questions and controversies about how what insurers' ethical responsibilities to customers who struggle with addiction are, and the ping pong that health care providers and insurers play with patients.
Joseph Hockett was 29 when he died of an overdose after receiving a $30,000 check from his insurance company to cover surgery for his broken jaw. He was supposed to send the money on to the out of network provider that had cared for him, but his mother thinks the money went to the drugs that killed him
Before his death, Joseph received the check because he'd been treated at an out-of-network hospital after his jaw was shattered in a bar fight.
Despite having paid for his drug rehab stints in the months prior, Blue Cross Blue Shield expected Joseph to be responsible for turning over the money to the out-of-network provider.
Insurers say that putting patients in the middle is a last resort when they can't reach a payment agreement with an out-of-network provider.
Critics say it's just a tactic: putting the money in patients' hands makes it harder for out-of-network providers to recover and incentivize them to switch to the insurer's network and cut out the patient-turned-middle-man.
Jennifer says its an 'immoral' temptation to put in front of a drug-addicted patient.
Jennifer Alba (left), Joseph's mother, told CNN her son had long struggled with addiction and some of his rehab stints had even been billed to Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina
'[It's] like dangling a piece of meat in front of a lion and telling him not to eat it,' she told CNN.
'Why would you give a person with mental health and addiction problems cash like that?
'It's careless. It's morally wrong. It's horrible. I don't know of any other way to put it.'
Joseph had struggled with substances since he was 13 and first got caught with weed by the police.
In more recent years, his mother told CNN, his cocktail of choice was cocaine Xanax and alcohol.
He wasn't typically an opioid user, as far as Jennifer knew, until January 2017, when a worked-up bar patron landed a punch on Joseph's jaw, shattering it and breaking several of of the 29-year-old's teeth.
A friend drove a bloodied Joseph to the nearest hospital. It was not a time for checking insurance coverage.
Joseph had to have multiple surgeries to repair the damage to his mouth and jaw, which was wired shut to heal afterwards.
Joseph mostly used Xanax, alcohol and cocaine, according to his mother (left). After his jaw surgery, Joseph was prescribed liquid Oxycodone, despite his addiction history (right)
He had been hurt badly and was undoubtedly in a great deal of pain. Joseph was prescribed 5mg/5mL of liquid Oxycodone - a far more powerful drug than Joseph's usual combination.
Three months
