Kansas City women suffers miscarriage -- Blue Cross refuses to pay medical costs, claims she had an

This story is evil on two levels:

1. The woman suffered a miscarriage -- one-third of all pregnancies

end in miscarriage. It's a spontaneous medical condition, same as an

accident, and her medical insurance refused to pay her.

2. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, will the next step be to imprison

women who have miscarriages?

----------------

Here are the details of what happened in the woman's own words:

" On Aug, 29 2007 my husband and I suffered a devastating miscarriage.

Being near midnight we went to the ER. The hospital was very

compassionate about our loss and was able to get us in quickly and

expedited our treatment. The following day I called BCBS and informed

them that we had made a visit to the ER, and was told it wasn't

necessary to call them just for ER visits, but only when we are

admitted. Believing that BCBS would never make the mistakes at they

did the previous and only time we have used our insurance I thought

everything would go smoothly. Boy was I wrong! "

" On, Sep, 21 2007 I received a statement for BCBS that they were

denying all of the claim. I called them and asked why they were

denying the entire claim, and was told by Jane, "We do not cover

ELECTIVE abortions. If you chose to terminate your pregnancy for non-

health threatening reasons, BCBS will not cover it." WTF!!!??? I asked

her, "Are you saying that my records state that I had an ELECTIVE

abortion, in an ER at 12 o'clock in the morning?" It was then, I think

it clicked in Jane's mind what she was dealing with and told me how

sorry she was. I lost my cool and even started crying. I had a

miscarriage not an abortion, and being treated in such a condescending

way by BCBS really ticked me off. Thinking what an incredibly huge

screw up, BCBS will be right on it trying to fix this, well you would

be wrong. I was told to call the hospital and have them fax over my

records stating I didn't have an elective abortion. Who the heck can

get an elective abortion in a busy ER at 12am, anyway? "

" Mind you we have had Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City for

less than three months, they have denied every claim we have submitted

to them. EVERY ONE! "

Wow.

Just...wow.

She goes on to explain that nothing she did could have possibly been

construed as an elective act:

" I just got off the phone with the hospital and was told that the

claim was not miscoded. The billing clerk told me that the wording

clearly stated that I had had a spontaneous miscarriage and not an

elective abortion. I was also informed that this is common practice

with BCBS of Kansas City to deny miscarriage clams as an "elective

abortion." "

" For those that wondered, I didn't not have a D&C. The miscarriage

was complete before I arrived at the ER. "

Welcome to Blue Cross/Blue Shield's America. Where your basic health

is not nearly as important as their profits. This may not be an act of

Murder by Spreadsheet - but it is still a horrific, sick, and inhumane

act.

What's more important is that this is, as noted by the victim and by

those at the hospital she went to, a standard business practice on the

part of BCBS. They make their money not by providing health care, but

by denying you health care. They are in business to make you sick.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/9/25/104944/188

Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names wrote:

> This story is evil on two levels:

>

> 1. The woman suffered a miscarriage -- one-third of all pregnancies

> end in miscarriage. It's a spontaneous medical condition, same as

> an accident, and her medical insurance refused to pay her.

>

I dunno about the validity of this particular case, but the insurance

industry has some seriously bad history in their closet. That's

primary reason number one why any national health care plan should

avoid relying on the insurance industry,

On Sep 28, 8:56 am, nobody <nob...@nowhere.com> wrote:

> Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names wrote:

>

> > This story is evil on two levels:

>

> > 1. The woman suffered a miscarriage -- one-third of all pregnancies

> > end in miscarriage. It's a spontaneous medical condition, same as

> > an accident, and her medical insurance refused to pay her.

>

> I dunno about the validity of this particular case, but the insurance

> industry has some seriously bad history in their closet. That's

> primary reason number one why any national health care plan should

> avoid relying on the insurance industry,

Agreed. And therefore "Mitt" Romney's plan is out, as is Hillary's.

What we need is UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE COVERAGE

in which EVERYBODY

is covered

for EVERYTHING.

How to pay for this?? Easy -> 700 billion gets freed up the moment

you KICK OUT the insurance companies. Complete reform of our

"medical" system, including the breaking of the connection between

drug companies and the FDA, kicking out the drug company and medical

company lobbyists, stopping the overprescription of drugs that do not

work, stopping unnecessary surgeries, breaking the control of the AMA

over alternative medicine in some states... the list goes on.

And when all the above is done, if there is STILL even a need for a

tax increase,

we can pay for it with the hundreds of BILLIONS to be saved by ending

the Iraq war, breaking the back of the military-industrial contractors

and NEVER getting

involved in a fraud like that war again; it was called the

"greatest strategic blunder in the history of the United States"

according to Republican

Gerald R. Ford.

Citizen Jimserac

Citizen Jimserac wrote:

>

> And when all the above is done, if there is STILL even a need for a

> tax increase, we can pay for it with the hundreds of BILLIONS to be

> saved by ending the Iraq war, breaking the back of the

> military-industrial contractors and NEVER getting involved in a

> fraud like that war again; it was called the "greatest strategic

> blunder in the history of the United States" according to Republican

> Gerald R. Ford.

>

Some people in the know estimate our covert projects budget to be

between 1 and 2 trillion (with a "T") annually. Putting a stop to

this nonsense (and routinely manufactured foreign crisis) would

completely fund universal healthcare 10 times over.