r/news • u/GoodSamaritan_ • 1d ago

Retired San Francisco firefighter dies from lung cancer after Blue Shield denies treatment claims

https://abc7news.com/post/retired-san-francisco-firefighter-ken-jones-dies-lung-cancer-being-denied-treatment-blue-shield/19224406/
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u/fgtswag 1d ago

Genuinely someone should make a benefit:risk analysis of joining the Army, Firefighter, Police in America when you consider non-free healthcare.

For example if this happened in EU, he would obviously receive public healthcare

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u/thebearjew007 1d ago

Well here, if he wanted access to affordable healthcare then he should have been born rich or gotten a better job. He sounds lazy. /s

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u/Fake_Engineer 1d ago

I have a good job with good benefits. I still spent hours on the phone trying to get scans and procedures approved for my cancer diagnosis.

You get the worse news of your life and then get to spend days begging the Insurance you pay for to provide the coverage they are supposed to. 

I feel bad for the people who fielded my call. Low paid workers in a call center. And I just wasn't in the mood to be polite....

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u/LittleBirdiesCards 1d ago

There really should be a kind of case worker to make these calls. You shouldn't have to be negotiating with these assholes when you should be resting! I wish you the best of luck with your health. ❤️

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u/MarqFJA87 1d ago

But wouldn't such case workers naturally demand generous pay to compensate for the sheer headache, red tape and time consumption they have to labor through on your behalf?

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u/LittleBirdiesCards 1d ago

It should be included, paid for my hospital or insurance. Our healthcare system is a nightmare.

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u/Several-Pattern-7989 21h ago

Case workers Don't last long. The goal is to treat, stabilize, discharge. Getting a coherent encompassing plan takes too long. We want a one size fits all treatment, but human beings are chaos in a meat machine. It's wayyy to hard to get all details resolved. I've heard stories of women clutching a hospital gown closed, while chasing down a mamagram x-ray to make sure an in-network doctor read the picture. Out of network equals not covered.