Blue Cross of California had been trolling for patients it could drop from its rolls by sending out letters to doctors asking for their help. The practice has been going on for years with the company sending out about 1,000 letters a month.
But the state’s largest for-profit health insurer stopped that practice Tuesday after an expose in the Los Angeles Times attracted criticism from doctors, patients, the governor and even a presidential candidate.
Blue Cross would send out copies of health insurance applications filled out by the patient along with the letter asking the doc to cross check their accuracy and reminding doctors that the company had a right to drop members who failed to disclose information.
Conditions for cancellation might include a failure to disclose “material medical history” such as a pre-existing condition or pregnancy.
“Any condition not listed on the application that is discovered to be pre-existing should be reported to Blue Cross immediately” the letter says according to the Los Angeles Times which broke this story.
In a statement issued about 6 p.m reacting to the story, the state's largest for-profit insurer said, "Today we reached out to our provider partners and California regulators and determined this letter is no longer necessary and, in fact, was creating a misimpression and causing some members and providers undue concern.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls the letter “outrageous” and described it as asking doctors to “rat out the patients.”
Senator Hillary Clinton says the Blue Cross letters are “another example of how insurance companies spend tens of billions of dollars a year figuring out how to avoid covering people with health insurance.”
The head of the states largest medical group calls it an “obnoxious intrusion” into the doctor-patient relationship.
In the past, Blue Cross has cancelled patients insurance after the patient runs up major medical costs. That practice known as rescission, is under investigation by state regulators and the courts.
According to a spokeswoman for Blue Cross parent WellPoint Inc., the company had received no complaints for years.
Other state insurers say the practice is not widespread.
“Our business is healthcare but our customer is humanity” is the WellPoint slogan. The company says one in nine receive coverage from WellPoint with 34 million members nationwide.
The company is now trying to check applications more closely before issuing coverage to keep costs down and to guard against fraud . #