Here's Looking Out For You!

Is anyone still in denial that insurance companies are ruining the state of healthcare in the United States. Maybe this will help you retool your thinking about how much your insurance company is really looking out for what's in your "best" interests.

The state's largest for-profit health insurer is asking California physicians to look for conditions it can use to cancel their new patients' medical coverage.

Blue Cross of California is sending physicians copies of health insurance applications filled out by new patients, along with a letter advising them that the company has a right to drop members who fail to disclose "material medical history," including "pre-existing pregnancies."

"Any condition not listed on the application that is discovered to be pre-existing should be reported to Blue Cross immediately," the letters say. The Times obtained a copy of a letter that was aimed at physicians in large medical groups.
The letter wasn't going down well with physicians.

"We're outraged that they are asking doctors to violate the sacred trust of patients to rat them out for medical information that patients would expect their doctors to handle with the utmost secrecy and confidentiality," said Dr. Richard Frankenstein, president of the California Medical Assn.

Patients "will stop telling their doctors anything they think might be a problem for their insurance and they don't think matters for their current health situation," he said. "But they didn't go to medical school, and there are all kinds of obscure things that could be very helpful to a doctor."

WellPoint Inc., the Indianapolis-based company that operates Blue Cross of California, said Monday that it was sending out the letters in an effort to hold down costs.

SHOCKER...an insurance provider looking to screw over it's clients.

It is so refreshing to hear that WellPoint Inc. is only trying to hold down costs.

So if you are covered under their plan it will make you all feel better if you are hospitalized and after your stay you receive a bill that will take you a lifetime to pay off because your claim was denied, but hey look at the bright side....they are helping to keep costs down.

Any wonder how Humana Health Insurance made record profits last year, anyone...ok let me break it down really simple....increased insurance premiums, followed up with decreased coverage amounts and increased denial of claims = RECORD PROFITS!!!!

Let's take the power out of the bean counters hands at the insurance companies and put it back in the doctor's hands. I really am uneasy about an accountant telling my doctor what is in my "best" interest.

Click here to read letter from BlueCross