Insurer that cut client's care fined $9M
By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 6 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - A woman who had her medical coverage canceled as she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer has been awarded more than $9 million in a case against one of California's largest health insurers.
Patsy Bates, 52, a hairdresser from Lakewood, had been left with more than $129,000 in unpaid medical bills when Health Net Inc. canceled her policy in 2004.
On Friday, arbitration judge Sam Cianchetti ordered Health Net to repay that amount while providing $8.4 million in punitive damages and $750,000 for emotional distress.
This kind of corporate bullshit goes on constantly. My insurance company NEVER pays what it is supposed to. I'm always getting bills from doctor's offices, labs, etc. and I scratch my head and say "hmmmm, I thought I had 100% coverage for that." I call the insurance company and complain and low and behold, someone "made a mistake while processing that claim." How many people just go ahead and pay such items? Imagine how many millions of dollars the insurance companies cheat Americans out of just using that tactic alone. Last time I threatened to initiate a class action lawsuit if they ever "made a mistake" again.
How many billions have they saved by canceling the policies of people with serious illness like the example above. Most Americans just accept such recreant behaviors by corporations and go on.
This is all just another example of corporate pillage and corpo-fascism in America. . . that these SOBs think they cn get away with such actions. . . obviously they can and do, otherwise they wouldn't take the risk of having to pay $8 million settlements.
Does that piss you off?
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I can't do anything but agree on this topic. Insurance companies, investment banks, oil titans, etc. get away with broadsiding the common person and then buries that same person in mounds and mounds of paperwork that takes months and years to sift through - just to prolong doing the right thing. I'm glad that the lil' guy finally got one over, but there is still a looooong way to go.
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