An insurance company’s plan to save money could cost consumers pain.

The plan is called Step Therapy. First, a doctor prescribes a certain pill. The insurance company may agree to only pay for a cheaper pill. The patient then cannot get the drugs originally prescribed unless the cheaper drug proves ineffective.

A doctor told Channel 2 consumer investigator Jim Strickland the policy is just wrong.

Gary Wright, 49, is diabetic. He suffers from a chronic nerve pain called neuropathy. “Sometimes when I walk it’s like walking on a bed of nails,” Wright said.