Insurer denied needed medical tests, Senate finds

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC

“I gotta tell you Kathy, I can’t keep living like this,” said Michael Fields, 46, who was experiencing tightness in his chest, numbness in an arm and light-headedness as he begged the voice at the other end of the line for help. “It’s been going on for weeks. I don’t know what else to do. I mean you know, I’m trapped here.”

“Alright, let me put you back on hold,” came the reply.

Fields, who lives with his wife and son in Elkton, Md., was not speaking with a 911 operator. He was calling a representative from his insurance provider, Blue Cross/ Blue Shield of Delaware, and he was about to find out that for the third time he was being denied a crucial test to determine if he had coronary artery disease — a nuclear cardiac stress test.

A Senate investigation released Friday found a pattern of inappropriate denials for tests like the one Fields’ doctors say he should have received from the start.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42613298/ns/nightly_news/

---

Move along. Private insurer death panels are ok. That's the Ayn Rand capitalist system. :sarcasm:

[habitual]

1. this is the dems way of reminding seniors and others which side

of the fence they need to be on for their own good.

Great Job... I see a clear strategy here designed to blow the Repubs to kingdom come on the privatization of medicare.!!!!

w00t!!

[freshwest]

2. Agreed. K & R.

[Bozita]

3. Death panel, for sure!

from the link in the OP...

"Karen Weldin Stewart, Delaware’s Insurance Commissioner, was mildly critical of Blue Cross Blue Shield’s overall handling of nuclear stress tests. She complained that, in some cases, tests were denied by medical personnel not fully qualified to make the decision. She said that the company used guidelines less likely to result in approval of the tests than those adopted by the American College of Cardiologists."

[ProfessionalLeftist]

4. Meanwhile, idiot Republicans scream "I don't want no guvmint interferin' with my healthcare!"

..... but they don't mind FOR-PROFIT INSURANCE COMPANIES doing it...that's just A-OK.

Corprat death panels are fine by them, apparently.

[Trajan]

5. And to make sure this never happened again ...

The Senate agreed on a plan that outlawed any complaints about insurers ...

:sarcasm: .. more or less ....

[habitual]

6. Don't miss the recordings off the phone calls on the right hand

side of the article... they are chilling.

[glinda]

7. Should come as no surprise as it was BCBS.

[unblock]

8. ah, but they're not denying him the tests! they're only denying reimbursment for the cost!

see, he's free to get whatever tests he wants!
this is amurika, land of the free!
he's free to pay for the tests himself.

:eyes:

at least, that's the republican/health insurance company line.

[handmade34]

9. best health care in the world...

if you can afford it... :thumbsdown: