The Health Net Insurance Scam: Why do we get scammed?
I read a recent report on how a lady, Patsy Bates from Lakewood received more than $9 million in damages from Health Net, her insurance company. The company had illegally canceled her policy while she was undergoing treatment for cancer. The judge was pretty blunt (see link) in his ruling about what he thought about such practices.
However, I was attracted to one statement made by the lady.
After the ruling, in an interview she said, to quote:
….It’s boggling that someone can do that to you.
… Quote unquote.
Aren’t we all like that?
I don’t think its in our basic nature to be suspicious. We inherently like to trust and to believe. But that is the trait that cheats take advantage of. This can be something hard to accept.
We rationalize. We wonder why anyone would single us out to steal or to scam. That happens only to bad people, not to us. What harm have we caused anybody?
But actually a fraudster does not bother. It does not matter to him who his victim is. If it isn’t you, it would be somebody else. For them, the world is a mad rush. So little time and so many things to enjoy. Get what you can and live the way you want to. Who is going to find out?
Personally I believe all monstrously successful companies have indulged in one or the other different types of scam. That it would be impossible to make a fortune without doing so. Not that it cannot be done, but who has got the time? By the time you get to the riches, you would be too old to enjoy it. Therefore, this is the ‘here and now’ generation.
This is why innocence in today’s world is not only rare and wonderful but also a difficult thing to retain in ourselves. It is remarkable to be innocent and open in one moment and closed and guarded in the very next. It would be a quality worth acquiring.
Especially in this world, where there is a constant game of cat-and-mouse being played out. Where the only options are to either close yourself to the world or to trust and get along. But making sure, in the latter case, that when you are cheated, the fraudsters payback big-time.
Like this lady did.
Bravo, Ms. Bates!
Related posts:
A simple solution to end this health insurance abuse is have the states regulate the health insurance industry just like a public utility is regulated.
This will rein in the obscene profits made by the insurance industry taking advantage of the vulnerability of sick Americans.
How does one deal with an eight hundred pound Gorilla that misbehaves and denies coverage for your medical bills?
Patsy Bates found out when a California court awarded her 9 million dollars for damages.
Her insurance carrier, Health Net cancelled coverage when she needed breast cancer treatment.
Her lawyer, William Shernoff, not only read the book, he wrote the book: “Fight Back and Win: How to Get HMOs and Health Insurance to Pay Up”.
Bravo for LA City Attorney Delgadillo and New York City Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for going after the health insurance industry for fraudulent practices such as cancellation for pre-existing conditions and underpayment for out-of-network doctor bills.
To read more:
http://jeffreydach.com/2008/02/24/fighting-the-abusive-practices-of-health-insurance-companies-by-jeffrey-dach-md.aspx
Making Your Health Insurance Company Pay Up by Jeffrey Dach MD
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:40 amWonder if regulation is the only solution here. A move to bring in regulation runs the risk of making a public service more inaccessible.
However this definitely seems to be a better idea than the case-to-case third-party review as proposed by the insurance companies.
Since the insurance companies are appointing the third-party, it would be next to impossible to get a review with any amount of credibility attached to it.
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:21 pm