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Here’s your Death Panels

Published by on April 22, 2010

Murray Waas
LOS ANGELES
Thu Apr 22, 2010 11:00am

(Reuters) – One after another, shortly after a diagnosis of breast cancer, each of the women learned that her health insurance had been canceled. First there was Yenny Hsu, who lived and worked in Los Angeles. Later, Robin Beaton, a registered nurse from Texas. And then, most recently, there was Patricia Relling, a successful art gallery owner and interior designer from Louisville, Kentucky.

U.S. | Health | Healthcare Reform

None of the women knew about the others. But besides their similar narratives, they had something else in common: Their health insurance carriers were subsidiaries of WellPoint, which has 33.7 million policyholders – more than any other health insurance company in the United States.

The women all paid their premiums on time. Before they fell ill, none had any problems with their insurance. Initially, they believed their policies had been canceled by mistake.

They had no idea that WellPoint was using a computer algorithm that automatically targeted them and every other policyholder recently diagnosed with breast cancer. The software triggered an immediate fraud investigation, as the company searched for some pretext to drop their policies, according to government regulators and investigators.

Once the women were singled out, they say, the insurer then canceled their policies based on either erroneous or flimsy information. WellPoint declined to comment on the women’s specific cases without a signed waiver from them, citing privacy laws.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63L2LS20100422

Published by on April 22, 2010

Every CEO of a social network should be required to use the default privacy settings for all of their accounts on the service.

Anil Dash

Remember, we are against lavish spending, unless it is for something we like

Published by on April 22, 2010

The RNC spent more than $340K at a semi-annual meeting in Honolulu in Jan., the latest example of the party spending lavishly on itself while GOP officials worry they won’t have enough money to take advantage of a promising national landscape this fall.

According to FEC reports filed late Tuesday, the RNC spent $167K on facilities for the 3-day meeting, which took place at a posh resort in Waikiki. That figure doesn’t include rooms and office space for the party employees who staffed the meeting, which added up to at least another $90K.