“California’s Real Death Panels”–Data Reveals California’s Private Insurers Deny 21% of Claims

[kpete]

“California’s Real Death Panels”–Data Reveals California’s Private Insurers Deny 21% of Claims


President Obama begins his final drive for healthcare reform tonight with a nationally televised prime-time address to a joint session of Congress. His speech comes after an explosive August recess consumed by raucous town halls and talk of government-run “death panels.” We take a look at California’s “real death panels.” That’s what the nation’s largest nurses group is calling private insurers, as new data reveals they denied one of every five claims over the past seven years. We speak with Charles Idelson of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

Transcript:
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/9/californias_real_death_panels_data_reveals

[boobooday]

1. I lived there for 20 years, and had employer-provided insurance from 3 or 4

of the companies cited.

They all had hundreds of ways to dick you around. For example,one day out of the blue, Cigna informed me that although they would pay for my insulin, they would not pay for the syringes I needed to inject it. Can't drink it. Can't rub it in.

Their excuse was that the syringes were disposable, and thus could not properly be categorized as either "pharmacy" or "durable medical goods."

It's just one bullshit delay/denial after another, all adding up to their fat profits.