Blue Cross Blue Shield told me to let my mother die to avoid paying for her nursing care

I will start this blog by saying that I am not naive. I know insurance companies exist to make money. Making money is the goal of every business, but it is when you start putting profits over doing the right thing or the moral thing is when I have a problem with insurance companies. From my experience, no insurance company put profits over doing the right thing more than Blue Cross Blue Shield.

We used to hear the stories of the sleazy used car salesman that would do or say anything to earn a buck. The used car salesman has been the standard many use to describe a sleazy business practice. I must say, Blue Cross Blue Shield may have outsleazed them all when they told me to let my mother die. No, trust me, you are reading what I just wrote correctly. A Blue Cross Blue Shield advisor or whatever her job title is actually told me to let my mother go to stop the insurance company from paying for her cancer treatments.

I must admit that I am a person who rarely uses bad words or get upset. I am a person who has been caught up in shootouts coming home from school. I am a guy who once had five Chicago police officers put their loaded gun to my head on Western Avenue for no reason. I am also a person who have witnessed things growing up on the south side of Chicago, that most kids should not have to witness, but with all that said, I can honestly say that the Blue Cross Blue Shield worker was the most cold-hearted person I have ever spoken to in my life. She was so cold in telling me to give up on my mother so her company wouldn’t have to pay to the point I told her she will meet her maker one day.

The truth is, her coldness is why Blue Cross Blue Shield hired her to do their dirty work. Insurance companies like BCBS needs cold-hearted people like her who are willing to put the bottom line before providing good healthcare. My mother nursing home stay was costing the insurance company thousands of dollars per week, and they needed someone to put an end to the heavy cost, which unfortunately, is something too many families have experienced.

BCBS likely made it clear to her that her job is to protect the company’s bottom line at all costs. She in return for efforts, get rewarded with a high salary, paid vacation and medical benefits for her and her family that she is paid to prevent others from getting.

To her, she was doing her job by telling me to let my mother die, but she did it in a way to protect the company image by suggesting I put my mother in hospice care. Hospice care is for people who are terminally ill and has either ran out of options or has decided to discontinue treatments. My mother had options. She wanted to treat her cancer with chemo, but BCBS wanted her to give up to save money.

The BCBS worker knew for my mother, going into hospice care meant not treating her cancer or in other words it meant dying, but that did not matter. She wanted to find a way to stop BCBS from paying the thousands a week in nursing care, medical tests and possible cancer treatments. Remember, BCBS hired her to protect their bottom line and putting my mother in hospice care was the best option for the company. The problem was that it was not the best option for my mother.

BCBS made my mother cancer battle a nightmare. At a time when her only worry should have been about fighting her cancer. BCBS kept trying to kick her out of her skilled nursing home to save money. Her doctor at the nursing home kept submitting forms to keep her there, but BCBS fought him all the way since her skilled nursing home stay was costing them thousands.

Even before my mother’s cancer diagnosis, BCBS was a nightmare for my mother. The nightmare started when she broke her ankle and needed skilled nursing care. For BCBS, a loophole meant they did not have to pay. My mother, a 70 year-old woman could not bear weight on her ankle after ankle surgery. Since she could not bear weight on her ankle, she could not make progress in her rehabilitation at the nursing home. For BCBS, that was the loophole they needed to refuse to pay for her nursing care.

For most people, expecting a 70 year-old woman to walk on a broken ankle a few days after ankle surgery is nonsense. Professional athletes in their twenties can’t walk on a broken ankle a few days after ankle surgery. So, why would BCBS expect a 70 year-old woman to do something a young twenty-something professional athlete can’t do? Maybe, that is the point.