What is Digg?Sponsored by Travelzoo
Take Advantage of Ridiculously Low Holiday Airfares view!
travelzoo.com - Flights $52 and up for Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year. But move on it now.
207 Comments
- ecstasyeff, on 02/23/2008, -1/+136"I had cancer, my life was on the line, and these guys did not care, did not care at all" - that's the sad reality we're living in.
- DermDoc, on 02/23/2008, -5/+94Who's laughing now, Sickos?
- explnx, on 04/27/2009, -0/+67I'm amazed at how this was considered legal in first place.
- ymerej, on 02/23/2008, -1/+62That's the nature of punitive damages. They're not meant to reward the plaintiff, they're meant to punish the defendant.
- ctrlfreak13, on 02/23/2008, -0/+46What the ***** is wrong with the insurance industry?
- securitymonkey, on 02/23/2008, -1/+43This is the reality of for-profit health plans. Do yourself a favor and look for a good not-for-profit plan - send the for-profit guys a message to clean up their act.
- inactive, on 02/23/2008, -2/+39It's about time these apathetic insurance companies began to be held accountable for their malicious decisions and the life threatening impact they have on their customers.
- SanTe, on 02/23/2008, -0/+30Which hopefully will lead to more lawsuits until said health insurer stops their despicable practice of dropping people when they dare actually use the medical insurance they paid for.
Fight back. To suggest that people shouldn't pursue justice when they have been wronged because the corporation will just raise prices for everyone else is a ***** scare tactic and is only a losing proposition. The very concept of insurance is shared risk, and selling insurance is a calculated risk by the insurers. They make money by selling policies that they hope the majority won't need to use, which statistically is usually the case. But some do need it and as an insurer that is the risk you take, so you pay out when it is needed. If you don't, then you're just a thief and a blood sucking leech on society and you should go out of business. Your competitors who choose do the right thing will flourish and take up the slack in your absence. This is how a market economy is *supposed* to work, but for it to work it depends on the buyers (that's us) holding the sellers (the health insurers or any other business) to their end of the deal, and unfortunately that sometimes requires lawsuits when the seller won't play by the rules. - kalleanka, on 02/23/2008, -5/+33Am I the only one getting extremelly angry for that the $9 million is way too low.
These 9 millions mean nothing to them. They will keep doing this ***** all the time, and next year some other person gets another $9. It's not even a symbolic fee. To these companies it's nothing.
Make it $50 million or $100 millions and they will learn stop these practices. They KNEW it was wrong dropping her like that, but thought they would get away with it (just like the other 1600 cases they dropped).
Sorry to say it, but this will not change anything. We regular people will keep go thought this crap year after year until the government choose to remake the system completely. - zeusthemoose, on 02/23/2008, -0/+27No, what the insurance company did was wrong. They were wrong to cancel her policy in the middle of treatment. They probably thought they were saving a whole lot of money so that the upper management can see huge pay raises. Well now the tables have turned. ***** the insurance company, if they want to play with fire they should expect to get burned.
- loganhid, on 02/23/2008, -1/+25Profit before people
Sad Sad world we live in - GeneralJoey, on 02/23/2008, -10/+30Michael Moore was right? Who would have thought?
- jordanisj, on 02/23/2008, -0/+20It's punitive damages. You have to present the companies with a sum that will work out to more than a mosquito bite, or they'll continue the practice and consider 10,000 the price of getting caught. Since the article implies that many other people had been dropped like this before without the company being called on it, it would remain a profitable practice, and the company would keep doing it.
Awarding nine million means that the activity is much, much more risky and the cost-benefit analysis will come out on the side of not risking such a judgment in the future. Result: no one else goes through a life-threatening cessation of coverage and the courts don't have to deal with it anymore.
Summary: please think your ***** through in the future before posting. - DFrag, on 02/23/2008, -6/+25It's for profit. That's what's wrong. We need fully tax funded, universal healthcare for all citizens. Every other western nation has it.
- pauleric, on 02/23/2008, -0/+17It wasn't legal, that's why they lost in court.
- LeeSoong, on 02/23/2008, -4/+19She was paying for ''Health Insurance'' it says so right on her policy.
Obviously when she got sick, she wasn't healthy anymore, so they canceled her policy.
You have to read the fine print very carefully these days... - chobo2, on 02/23/2008, -0/+14like ymerej said its to punish the defendant. You think like layer fees plus $10,000 is going to effect a big company. Like say the lawyer fee costs $10,000. So thats what $20,000. A huge company like that just lost $20,000 vs saving $6mill....hmmm that's really going to make the company think twice to do that again. They will just chop that up to doing fussiness.
- inactive, on 02/23/2008, -0/+13The damage to their reputation will be more of a factor that the $9m. People who read this story will probably avoid Health Net Inc. if possible.
- onionlayer, on 02/23/2008, -0/+13Good
- DFrag, on 02/23/2008, -7/+20Anyone with a brain.
- FuZi0nDET, on 02/23/2008, -2/+14I can't understand how these companies can hand down death sentences to innocent people. Sure terrorism is out there; but this ***** 1,000 times more likely to happen to any one of us. I hope the people that are behind these sad acts get what's coming to them!
- lucutus, on 02/23/2008, -2/+13Epic win! Horah
- zeusthemoose, on 02/23/2008, -0/+10If the insurance companies want to screw over the individuals, then the insurance companies should expect the courts to allow the individuals to screw the insurance companies right back. They deserved what they got.
- LupeFiasco, on 02/23/2008, -2/+12What the hell are you talking about?
If something like that did happen in Canada(the government canceling her treatment in the middle) it would be huge news, but it doesn't. Just admit your system is broken already and stop trying to use our health care as a scapegoat. It is far from perfect but something like this would have never happened in Canada. - Qeveren, on 02/23/2008, -0/+10Like most corporate business, they reward psychopathy in their employees?
- dsmx, on 02/23/2008, -2/+11You healthcare costs will go up regardless, the company is only interested in making money they do not care about your health.
- aceakm, on 02/23/2008, -1/+10JUSTICE!
- Arkz, on 02/23/2008, -0/+9Greed...
- queestaesto, on 02/23/2008, -1/+10You can't trust the insurance companies will ever do the right thing. My mother was paying $750+ in insurance every month. She ended up having a stroke and thought all the bills were being paid like they were SUPPOSED to be by the insurance company since everything was covered in the policy. A few months later my mom started receiving bills in the mail for THOUSANDS of dollars from the hospital. The insurance company wasn't paying ANY of the bills! Came to be that the insurance company did this to many other clients. Instead of paying bills, they were lining their own pockets with the money! Thankfully they were investigated and forced to make payments. I think she said they ended up going out of business later because of that, but I could be wrong...this happened around 4-6 years ago. It just shows how greedy and uncaring the health INDUSTRY really is. They don't care if you get better, even live, as long as they get their cash.
- Ajajadude, on 02/23/2008, -0/+8I think he meant the company thought they could get away with this sort of thing.
- dumpyhumpy, on 02/23/2008, -1/+9Boy, I'm glad I don't live in California%u2018.
- inactive, on 02/23/2008, -1/+9Not really. There are a WHOLE lot more Doctors in the US than pro baseball players. And the best Doctors also make tons and tons of money.
- DigitAl56K, on 02/24/2008, -0/+7I agree, I come from the UK, where the NHS is always criticized, but they've served me admirably many times with no worry of financial hardship. Out here in the US, I'm scared to catch a cold, and I *have* insurance. The amount of legal mumbo jumbo the insurers send you, disclaimers on this and that, recommending doctors obtain quotes before treating you, declaring that going to emergency room for non-emergencies might not be covered (how do I know it's not an emergency if I feel like I'm dying??), makes you scared to even seek the treatment you pay hundreds of dollars for each month. (Yes, you pay even if it's through your employer, if they weren't paying for it you'd get a bigger paycheck).
Then when you do get something done, you start getting statements from the hospital and from the insurer listing procedures, and it's hard to understand what is referring to what (hey, I'm not a doctor), and what the insurer has covered out of the total cost.
People in the US seem to believe that their healthcare is better because they pay so much for it, and that socializing healthcare is just paying for other people's expenses, which is crazy. Time after time evidence shows that people in other countries with better healthcare pay less in healthcare related taxes than the average American pays for insurance. And of course this makes sense: In countries where healthcare is socialized you are paying the cost of treating sick people. In countries like America with insurance-based schemes, you are paying the cost of treating sick people, PLUS the profit of the insurance companies, which everyone knows is massive. - inactive, on 02/23/2008, -1/+8Love America, Everything is for sale....
- minoss, on 02/23/2008, -1/+8That's because people chose their health care. Oh wait, the vast majority of people don't. It's whatever is provided by their employer most of the time. Sorry, this won't happen until people are actually able to chose a health plan.
I'd rather be given more money and buy my own insurance. And it would actually be insurance (ie - low premium, rarely used, only high cost & rare procedures) instead of the current system of health care cost insulation which is high premium and often used for all procedures. It's this insulation combined with lack of consumer choice that is ***** up with our system. - Qeveren, on 02/23/2008, -2/+9Cite some actual examples?
- EarlOfLade, on 02/23/2008, -2/+8Legal? We are talking USA here. Not exactly a paradise of law abiding companies.
- Whackly, on 02/23/2008, -0/+6Deal.
- iidestined, on 02/23/2008, -1/+7human lives should not be a for profit industry
- Qeveren, on 02/23/2008, -1/+7"you're worth more to them alive and paying premiums."
... until you need to make a large claim on your policy, at which point they'll go to great lengths to deny coverage. Their concern is shareholder value. - snugglebear, on 02/24/2008, -0/+6This is exactly why I like being in Canada. As many problems we have here with out system, its never that the system is trying to save money by screwing us. Its what I see as fundamentally wrong with the American system. You're taking companies who's goal is to make profit, and putting people's lives on the line.
- down4twenty, on 02/23/2008, -0/+6i hope she does the right thing and donate some of that money to help other cancer patients who have been denied coverage by these heartless bastards
- inactive, on 02/23/2008, -0/+6Or give back to the charity that paid for the continuation of her treatments.
- cthellis, on 02/23/2008, -0/+6If all companies could be hit for was "lawyer costs + whatever they would have owed in the first place," do you think that would reduce their desire to pull maneuvers like this, or INCREASE it?
- inactive, on 02/23/2008, -2/+8If you think this is limited to California, you are crazy. You need to stop reading Digg, and actually "dig" for information. ***** like this happens every day, to every state, to almost any American. They almost even passed a bill that would allow Doctors to find reasons for your insurance company to "drop" you. It's called big government - and this is what America voted for 3 1/2 years ago.
- bxblox, on 02/24/2008, -0/+5We could say the same about the companies profits
- Riffraffs, on 02/23/2008, -0/+5and if you are low income, prescription drugs are covered as well
- Whackly, on 02/23/2008, -0/+5I've been increasingly annoyed by some of the things I'm seeing on Digg. Just today I have seen someone say "I contribute it to...." when they meant "I attribute it to...." and "He should of...." when they meant to say "He should have...." or "He should've..." Have we gotten so used to using contrations like should've that it becomes its own word and we no longer recognize that should've is short for "should have?" Typos are one thing. Digg is informal. Who cares about an occasional typo? I don't. I, however, used to work with this ignorant ass butthead who thought he was as smart and wise as Plato and he constantly used words incorrectly. So now whever I see someone do that I automatically associate them with that *****. This is how a grammar nazi is born.
- omoshiroi, on 02/23/2008, -0/+5Any higher and the punitive damages would have been reduced. The US Supreme Court has declared punitive damages beyond 10x compensatory damages would be excessive. See State Farm v Campbell. At $879,000 in compensatory damages (medical bills + emotional distress), the jury awarded almost as much as they could... which is a good thing.
- andibarnes, on 02/23/2008, -1/+6Shouldn't be, should it. If each side of the aisle would stop attacking the other, maybe your federal government can finally get around to some desperately needed tort reform!
-
Show 51 - 100 of 209 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is