So about five years ago, my wife was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous skin carcinoma on her leg. She had it removed and is fine, but was told that she'd never be able to get health insurance again since she has a "pre-existing condition."
I'm not sure if this was true or not, but it scared the hell out of her, and even though she's had a job the entire time, and had health insurance through her job, she's kept a SECOND health insurance policy with Blue Cross of CA, just in case.
I've bugged her for years to get rid of it, as it seemed like a waste of money to me, but it made her feel secure in case she's ever laid off.
Cut to: Her attempts to finally cancel her policy with Blue Cross today.
What happened? Follow me over the hieroglyphic squiggle...
So she calls Blue Cross and tells them she's quitting her optional plan due to the ACA.
IMMEDIATELY the customer service rep at Blue Cross begins reading off a laundry list of scary right wing talking points to keep her ponying up the cash. Here was her furious email to me this morning:
I canceled my health insurance and spent 10 minutes on the phone with a Blue Cross fuckwad telling me that Obama Care will essentially be destroying the health care system in 2014 by making all plans more expensive to buy into,basically ruining the country, and that I really should reconsider switching to a plan now while I'm "grandfathered" into the system so that I'm "only" paying $200 a month instead of the $800-$1,000 a month I'll be forced to pay under Obama Care.
To which I replied that it seemed like he had been "drinking too much of the Blue Cross Kool Aid", and that he should really educate himself more about what universal health care means for Americans. I seriously would slit my wrists if I had to work for Blue Cross and dish out propaganda like this to people... You know this is what they are telling people every day, and the scary thing is, people believe it.
I cannot believe America is this fucking stupid, and I'm so glad to be done with Blue Cross.
To which I emailed her asking for more details, and told her I was going to post this information to Daily Kos (as this is outrageous).
She wrote back:
It makes me sick, really. He told me that I would only have 3 plans to choose from anywhere I go, and that they are required to offer a certain level of care to people so that the plans will all be around $800/month. He said that young people will not pay into the plans because they're so expensive that they'll risk being fined 1% of their income because it will be less than paying for the plans.
Me: "Well, where do you think the money from the penalties will go?"
Him: "I dunno...the government? The IRS?
Me: It will go into HEALTH CARE costs that effect EVERYONE, thus keeping our premiums lower.
Him: I think you're kidding yourself
Me: I think you're drinking too much Blue Cross Kool Aid. Get me out of this plan
Is this legal???
Can Blue Cross really let its customer service employees scare people with boogeyman lies about ObamaCare in a blatant attempt to keep them paying money forever????
I am outraged, disgusted, and furious.
Blue Cross, you are a fucking joke.
Who can we write to about this? Does anyone know if this type of lying is legal or not? Isn't this misrepresentation of a product a violation of some truth in advertising law? It has to be, right?