A couple of people were hanging out with signs in front of the Blue Cross Blue Shield building near Main and Pershing Road this morning. It was a pretty unusual sight.
His wife, Linda, was there holding a sign with him. He says he
had his own business selling "aftermarket automotive supplies," but now
they've been through all of their savings. Linda says she got a
part-time job at the YMCA for $8.50 an hour, but it doesn't pay the
bills.
"You get sick and you lose everything you have in this
country," Wolf says. "They they send you a letter saying 'Due to rising
costs, we have to raise your rates.' To be on Medicaid, I'd have to
have nothing -- lose my house and everything I've worked for."
Which is just another argument for a single-payer national health plan. If only Americans were brave enough to demand real health-care reform.
I put in a call Blue Cross for a statement, but haven't heard anything back.
They'd probably just point me to all of those big new Blue Cross "bigger and better" billboards around town.
Update: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City's Director of Corporate Communications, Sue Johnson, later issued this statement:
Federal HIPAA regulations don't allow me to speak to any case specifically, and I can tell you that we were not contacted directly by the people outside our offices this morning. Our members have the right to appeal any decision they don't agree with, and we advise them of that right. There are three levels of appeal available, with third-party expert physicians reviewing the cases at each level. We welcome our members to contact us for more information or to talk further about their issue. Our medical policies are consistent with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association medical policies and we evaluate all policies on an annual basis, updating them as technology changes and evolves.
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