Under Dick ‘n W, all protection falls to corporate tyranny.
This grotesque letter is but the latest
in an 8-year riptide of greed and reason number 83,246 for the turning out of the party of big business.
Doctors balk at request for data
Physicians object to a letter from Blue Cross seeking information that could lead to policy cancellations.
By Lisa Girion, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 12, 2008
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.
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Editor’s Note:
Unbelievably, I came up with the theme
when I read the headlines.
That the doctor quoted is named Frankenstein
is a rather scary coincidence in an ESP sort of way.–db
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Images: (1) Bride of Frankenstein-via scenestealers.com; (2) Frankenstein-spencersundell.com; Blue Cross-via healthinsurancehmo.com;(3) Frankenstein-via monthlyreview.org