I NEED A SHIELD AGAINST BLUE CROSS

I've written several posts on this blog regarding the controversial topic of universal health care (if you're interested in a couple of them, click here or here). The tone of those posts was more on the "hey, here's some information" side of things ... but now I'm genuinely angry. On the front page of Tuesday's Los Angeles Times was a little gem of a story titled Doctors balk at request for data. I highly recommend reading the story yourself, but here's a quote that sums it up quite nicely:

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.

I have to be honest here: I read things like this, and I have to ask why anyone on either side of the political spectrum would say that this way of doing business is, um, healthy for our nation. In Michael Moore's movie Sicko, he emphasizes early on that the film isn't about the people without health care; it's about people with it. This letter to doctors by Blue Cross is exactly the type of thing he's talking about. You see, Blue Cross and their ilk have a great little scam going: don't cover anyone with pre-existing conditions. And if someone gets really sick, try everything in your power not to cover them any longer. Another quote from the article:

Patients in a raft of lawsuits accuse the insurers of canceling coverage over honest mistakes and minor inconsistencies on applications that they contend are purposely confusing. Victims of cancer and other serious medical problems often are unable to get new coverage once their insurance has been rescinded and they may go without treatment when they need it most. Suddenly swamped by medical debt, some people have lost homes and businesses.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are running around in Texas and Ohio right now trying to convince you that this needs to change. But all it seems to take is someone like Rudy Giuliani to yell, "Socialized medicine! Socialized medicine!," and we all run in fear. Well, let's get real .... Blue Cross doesn't care whether you're a Republican or a Democrat. If you have a pre-existing condition, they don't want to have anything to do with you. And if you have insurance -- and get really sick -- they will try to drop you. It's that simple. This letter reveals their true intentions.

People who don't want to change the state of our current health care are afraid of government bureaucrats running the system. Fine, I get that. But I ask you to think about Blue Cross's actions and ask yourself if corporate bureaucrats controlling your health is any better? The fact is that a corporation will do everything they can to maximize profits, because that's what they do. And you know what: that's okay. However, in the case of medical insurance companies, that means only covering healthy people. And that's wrong!

For what it's worth, I'm writing this as someone with a good job and top-of-the-line private insurance. And, yet, I still worry ... for all of us.