Health insurance company asks doctors to rat out patients
February 12, 2008
Of all the reasons to vote for universal health care, this one makes the very short list. The Wall Street Journal is reporting Blue Cross of California is looking for loopholes when they sent out a letter to doctors asking doctors to report medical conditions the patient may have failed to report when applying for health insurance. Health insurance companies are allowed to cancel policies for people who do not list all medical conditions when applying for health insurance coverage.
Blue Cross insists the method of sending a doctor the patient’s application for coverage so the doctor can add any medical conditions the patient may have left off the health coverage application is necessary to keeping health insurance costs down.
Thank goodness, doctors are not joining this Sherlockian activity where patient trust would surely be broken. According to California Medical Association president Richard Frankenstein, “We’re outraged that they are asking doctors to violate the sacred trust of patients to rat them out for medical information that patients would expect their doctors to handle with the utmost secrecy and confidentiality.”