As exhibit A, the segment focuses on Robin Beaton, a woman diagnosed with invasive breast cancer whose insurance was rescinded after Blue Cross Blue Shield misinterpreted an old acne diagnosis of Beaton's as pre-cancerous.

You can listen to or download the segment online for free here. It is excellent.

Ira Glass looks at the fine print in health insurance [PRI]

If you have a claim you think was unfairly denied, it's worth giving them a shout.

Be sure to read our Ultimate Consumerist Guide to Fighting Back, a go-to handbook for the dissatisfied consumer. Once you've decided to go the executive customer service right, be sure you read this first so you know what to say when you call the corporate avatar of your choice.

The Consumerist Executive Customer Service Index

ACS
Adelphia
Air Tran
Alamo
Alaska Airlines
Allegiant
Aloha
Amazon
America West
American Airlines
American Express
Amtrak
Apple
ATA
AT&T
AT&T Wireless
Bank of America
Barnes and Noble
Bell Canada
Best Buy
Blizzard
Blockbuster
Blogger
Bloomingdales
Blue Cross/Blue Shield
British Airways
Borders
Busey Bank
Buy.com
Cablevision
Charter Communications
Chase
Circuit City
Citibank
Comcast
Continental
cox
Delta
Direc-TV
Discover Card
Dish
Disney
Ebay
Enterprise
Equifax
Experian
Fedex
Frontier Airlines
Fry's
Gamefly
Geek Squad
Georgia Power
Helio
Home Depot
Humana
HSBC
IKEA
ING Direct
Insight
Keybank
Lenovo
Loew's
Macy's
Microsoft (and Xbox)
Midwest Airlines
Motorola
National City
Nicors
Northwest Airlines
Norton
Office Depot
Office Max
Orbitz
Paypal
Pitney Bowes
Qwest
RCN
Regions Bank
Register.com
Ryan Air
Samsung
Seagate
Sears
Sirius
Skybus
Sony Ericcson
Spirit Airlines
Sprint
Sports Authority
Staples
Symantec
T-mobile
Target
Time Warner Cable
TransUnion
Uhaul
United Airlines
United Health Care
UNUM Life Insurance
UPS
US Airways
US Cellular
Verizon landline/DSL/Fios
Verizon Wireless
Vonage
Wachovia
Walmart
Washington Mutual
Wells Fargo

In the event you can't find the info you are looking for here, you can scan our backlog of contact info, or use Google to uncover the addresses yourself. In the event you find something we don't have, feel free to share at tips@consumerist.com.

Researched by Alex Jarvis
Last updated: 11/07/2008

"As soon as we became aware of the mailing error, we worked to determine the exact cause, and we have made changes to prevent it from happening again in the future," said a Blue Cross Blue Shield spokesperson.

BCBS's parent company also said that it is in "the process of removing all Social Security numbers from such future mailings." The state of Georgia is requiring the insurance company to notify all those whose information was compromised and offer them one year of credit monitoring. You know, at the rate these data breaches are happening, we'll all have free credit monitoring pretty soon.

Here's what the AJC says you should do if this breach affects you:

Policyholders who received an incorrect EOB should contact Blue Cross's dedicated toll-free number at 866-800-8776 between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. Members who may have received an EOB of another individual should return it to Blue Cross. The company will provide a postage-paid envelope.

Private medical data exposed [Journal-Constitution](Thanks, Matt!)

Here's what some of you had to say about these two companies:

Bank of America:

"BoA is not just "a" bank, they're a bank with some of the least customer-friendly policies in America. Re-opening closed accounts then charging $35 for it? That's not a courtesy, that's fraud."

"Can u say overdraft? Lets take billions from the poor every year and feel good about it!"

Blue Cross Blue Shield:

"Any health company that tries to screw their own customers in a proactive way deserves to burn in hell."

"Blue Cross Blue Shield just dropped my 85 year old grandparents with no warning. Oh yeah, my grandmother just was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Coincidence? What a bag of flaming @*&%#s!"

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america.

My thyroid medication, having been around for 40+ years, has been considered a generic for years by every insurance company I've had in the the past five years (same employer, but the plans keep changing). The costs for my usual three-month prescription have been going up, from 15$ 5 years ago up to 30$ for the past couple of years. So I was a little surprised that yesterday BlueCrossBlueShield of Maryland would only pay $14.92 on a $75 total for my usual 3-month prescription, leaving me to pay $60.08 as a co-pay.

Now an extra 30$ extra every three months won't make me broke, but I do wonder why I'm paying 120$/month for insurance that is basically useless to me. I called BlueCross and their response was that my prescription isn't considered a generic anymore but a "nonpreferred Tier 3 medication" (whatever that means) with a copay of $100. Since the total cost of my prescription is $75, they "pay" a pro-rated percentage. When I asked about my limited options were since I'm already taking a "generic", their response (and this is a quote) was "we can change our copays at any time".

I can't be the only one in this situation, since thyroid hormones are among the most prescribed medications in the country. Since I don't have a thyroid, not taking medication isn't an option for me.

I also wrote to my employer: it's a small company, so BCBS is the only option we have for insurance. We all just renewed our insurance on 5/1/2008, and the paperwork we were all given in April to mull over said my prescription would remain @$30 for a a three-month supply.

I do have an out as far as changing insurance companies, since I'm getting married and my future husband can add me to his insurance. The wedding isn't until next year, however, so we may have to go to the courthouse in the very near future - like next week - so I can get better health insurance.

First, the bad news. Along with Synthroid, Levoxyl is actually brand name (source: Drugs.com, Medicine.net). I don't know whether the insurers in the past mistakenly said it was a generic or what, but it looks like BCBS is right.

Now, the good news. The generic for Levoxyl is levothyroxine, and Target will sell you a 3-month supply for $10. So will Wa-Mart.

Even if you're paying for this out of pocket, it's cheaper than your copay was even 5 years ago. Hope this saves you some money, and a trip to the courthouse. Of course, consult your doctor first before switching out any medication (especially as some commenters are saying generics can actually vary subtly from the brand name, and some patients can have adverse reactions to different kinds of thyroid meds). Here's another potentially useful idea from commenter Bohemian:

"Some people can't take the generic versions of the brand name thyroid medications. They do actually have a different formula to them so some people are unable to properly absorb the generic drug.

She could try disputing the BCBS change. Most BCBS plans still consider synthroid to be a lower tier medication so the copay is cheap. Sometimes a doctor's note stating that the patient can not take the generic alternative is enough to get an exception to the increase thus putting the drug back to the lower tier pricing."

(Photo: trekkyandy)

First and foremost, I am 15 weeks pregnant, unmarried, and I just graduated from college. This should be an exciting time for me, as I'm starting two new chapters in my life; unfortunately, enrolling for health insurance has become a burden.

Pregnancy is considered to be a "pre-existing condition" much like diabetes, cancer, or any other kind of health malfunction that would label me as less than perfect. I am a non-smoker, was a varsity athlete in college, and am of average height and weight. I have no other pre-existing medical conditions at all: I have no allergies, no asthma, and I've never had any major surgery. When I called Blue Cross Blue Shield, they denied me coverage due to my "condition". When I asked if this would be a common concern for other health insurance companies, they said, "Yes, you will find this with all health insurance companies."

So I called other companies. Aetna and Assurant both denied me as well. Every company told me I was more than welcome to enroll AFTER I had my baby. Being 15 weeks pregnant, it would be tough to me to find a job since I am beginning to show, so any hopes of long-term employment with health benefits would be a long shot.

However! There is a glimmer of hope! I can stay on my father's health insurance for $400 a month through COBRA. Had I not been pregnant, I would have qualified for a health insurance plan for about $175 with BCBS. My boyfriend has health insurance through his company, but since we're not married, I don't qualify. I also looked into state health plans, but with my current jobs (all part-time, do not offer insurance) I make too much money to qualify. Fantastic.

Who says health care in the US doesn't need to be fixed?

—
Thank you,
Katlyn

Unfortunately HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, says that group health insurers cannot consider pregnancy a preexisting condition, but doesn't have the same requirement for individual plans. That's why they're able to deny coverage in your case. Also, you try to should avoid any coverage gaps because according to iVillage:

HIPAA doesn't apply to someone who previously had no health coverage at all and then gets into a group health plan through a new job. So if you had no insurance, got pregnant, then landed a new job with insurance, your new health plan would not have to immediately cover your pregnancy. You might have to sit out a preexisting condition waiting period, a period that could be longer than your pregnancy and in the meantime pay for your visits yourself.

We don't want that to happen to you, even if $400 a month sounds like a lot to pay for health insurance.

Have any of our readers been in a similar situation? How did you get through it? Do you have any advice for Katlyn?

Pregnant without health coverage [iVillage]
(Photo: Jonathan Harford )

Here's what readers said in previous rounds about why they hate these two companies...

Blue Cross Blue Shield:

"BCBS is just plain evil. They make a profit from deliberately denying service not based on your medical needs but on their bottom line. I personally have had nothing but trouble with them since the very first day I was "covered" by their organization.

BCBS is the best rationale I can think of for government run healthcare, and that's saying a lot. "

"Blue Cross bid our contract for insurance assuring us that they would provide the exact same services, THEN turned around a year into the contract and denied claims we could take with our previous services."

"Big Pharma, shame on you."

"So I was just reading an email that I received from my insurance carrier (Aetna) about their delay in their ending coverage of monitored anesthesia for colonoscopies. They said because of misinformation given to the public from websites (like the consumerist I'd imagine) they delayed pulling the plug on covering anesthesia. They didn't say they were abandoning their plans just yet just delaying them until they can strong arm their members into agreeing to stop using monitored anesthesia in favor of the cheaper sedation methods. I would guess most of the BCBS affiliates will do the same and drop their coverage of monitored anesthesia if they haven't already.

As I get older, insurance companies make me very nervous and anxious. That's a shame."

"Did you know that if you lose your job and are told your coverage is "through the last day of the month," so July 31 or whatever, that only means through midnight ON July 31? So nothing on July 31 is actually covered? Standard procedure for them."

"As I've posted before, health insurance companies take 40-45% of every dollar WE give them and pocket it as pure profit. Consumers have GOT to wise up to what's going on and demand their representatives do something about it NOW. Health insurance is something that should not be allowed to operate in a 'free market' fashion - health care is something that should be inviolate, highly ethically bound. MDs are supposed to abide by high high ethical standards, so should health insurance, pharmaceuticals, biotech, and hospitals. This is a very fixable problem - one that the f$#@ing politician piece of feces are great at pointing OUT to us, but are useless in coming up with a viable solution. (like so many other failed governmental policies such as the 'war on drugs', the penal system, the social welfare system, etc.)"

"Blue Cross Blue Shield hands down. CNN can't hold you hostage when your life hangs in the balance. And BC/BS was in it up to their eyeballs (late 1960s) when health insurers were theorizing how to convert their product from a function of the free market into a commoditized necessity shifting costs from what consumers were willing to pay in a competitive pricing environment to the five stage process of creating socialized healthcare which guarantees their profits. They suck beyond all comprehension. Further I cannot say without risking banishment."

"Health insurance companies are murdering swine whose practice of denying services ultimately kills people."

"Blue Cross Blue Shield just dropped my 85 year old grandparents with no warning. Oh yeah, my grandmother just was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Coincidence? What a bag of flaming @*&%#s!"

"Anthem BCBS turned me down for individual coverage because I had cancer six years ago, and take an anti-cancer med. They told me to feel free to reapply once I've been "sign, symptom and treatment-free" for 15 years. My oncologist says the anti-cancer med I take is considered "treatment." So in order to get Anthem to cover me, I would have to go off the drug that keeps me from getting cancer...for 15 years.

Does that make sense to you?

My consolation in all of this is that I expect Anthem BXBS to be gone in 15 years. And I'll still be here. "

"Any health company that tries to screw their own customers in a proactive way deserves to burn in hell."

Sprint:

"My family has been with them for upwards of 10 years and CSRs treat us like garbage. Granted, we stick with them (it works for us), so some people will inevitably say "stop being part of the problem", but really, they do need to improve customer service. The last few times I've called, I've spoken with people who barely, barely speak English."

"A good friend of mine (a Sprint Customer) is from Kansas City, home of Sprint's corporate headquarters. He tells me that when he drives by the corporate compound, he gets no cell phone reception, making the sprint office an invariable "dead zone" of cell service. What else could you ask for?"

"My friend has had Sprint for years and has gone through three different phones, all of which get poor signal and don't receive some incoming calls."

"Sprint is absolutely abysmal. After my friends dropped them, Sprint said they would be getting a $45 check from Sprint since they were canceling after a month to month. Sprint went ahead and billed them again for the next month and wanted $60. This is two months after he canceled service with them."

"I made the mistake of signing up with Sprint several years ago, and immediately learned that Sprint has the worst customer service I've ever experienced anywhere. My bill was paid via auto debit, so from day one my history of bill payment was flawless. They thanked me by giving me too many bad billing and customer service experiences to describe here, but I can summarize it as a culture of meanness with customer service reps and store salespeople that seemed to be playing a game of "beat the customer.""

"Sprint had found numerous ways to screw me over when I was with them—up until they renewed my contract without my permission (which took away a discount I had with them for being military). Screw you Sprint, AT&T treats me far better than y'all ever did."

"Every encounter I've had with Sprint Customer "Service" has been negative. Used them as a LD provider 20 years ago; gave up after three or four months of having them change access codes without warning. Tried again a few years later when I had a Sprint-USAA co-branded calling card. The one time I tried to get a question answered about a bill resulted in me cutting the card up and mailing it back. About 5 years ago, my kid purchased a Sprint cellphone plan, decided it wasn't working as desired, and returned it within the 14 day grace period. Took two letters and a threat of small claims action to get the deposit refunded.

It'll be a cold day in Hades before any telecomms service labeled "Sprint" is used in this household. "

"Sprint. I've actually been with Sprint for about six years, mainly because I get a discount on my bill as a perk of a job I had, well, about six years ago. The problems I've had with them have been pretty minor in the long run, but a real pain in the ass in the short run. For instance, they have a spending limit on your account; when you've exceeded your minutes and reach your spending limit, your service is disconnected. Without warning. This has happened to me at least twice, when I've been traveling and find myself in roaming areas for extensive periods of time. Even an automated text would be nice, Sprint!"

"Years ago - I think this was in the early 1990s, we had Sprint long distance. I called customer service because there were dozens of little $1 charges on there that I didn't call. Now, some years before that (mid-80s)I and some friends of mine were teenage hackers who "bounced" through legitimate phone numbers, also no doubt leaving a little trail of $1 long distance bills, to eventually get to a point where you could make a long distance call and not pay for it. I doubt this can be done nowadays, but back then it could. So when these little fees to numbers of people I had never heard of showed up on my own bill, I knew exactly what it was. So I called customer service and complained someone was "bouncing" on through my account in this manner and the service rep told me there was no such thing as I was describing, and refused to credit my account - and his manager said the same thing. When this went on for 3 months, we canceled our long distance account with Spring, because every time I called I got the same idiotic answer - even after I explained to one manager, finally, how to do it! Clearly they were idiots then I don't see that they've improved any since."

"Until recently I had no problem with them. I'm in a rural area, and my reception is questionable sometimes, but so are all the other carriers here. Our network is still 1xRTT, but the only carrier who isn't is Verizon, and they're insanely expensive for the same plan. It's irritating, especially since Sprint has promised us EVDO upgrades for two years now and has completely failed to deliver.

The straw, though, was that Sprint has been calling me over and over and over trying to sell me new phone/new contract. The people are nice enough about it, but I've asked them over and over to stop freakin' bugging me to buy a new phone. I've told them I'm not getting a new phone until they go EVDO. They're all very nice, all promise me I'll never get another call, and I usually get another one in a week or two, lather, rinse, repeat. So that's two things now that they've promised me that they can't deliver on. In the grand scheme of things, I suppose they're minor quibbles, but it all adds up to Sprint promises not being worth the time it took to get them. "

"I worked for Sprint, so I know how bad they really are. I quit after a year working for them. I was put on written warning for not hitting my quota of new sales. I guess all the customers that I saved for them that were spending hundreds of dollars a month just didn't matter to them. Or the fact that in every other performance metric I scored in the top percent (customer satisfaction, accessory sales, upgrades, renewals, lowest number of cancellations, etc.). I was often sidled with doing the manager's job because he would hide in the back room from irate customers or would leave early all the time. I'm good at diffusing situations and good at problem solving, so I would end up fixing mistakes made by other reps all the time. When they put me on written warning, I told them that they could put me on written warning all they want because I refuse to do anything that I find morally reprehensible (such as adding 3 lines to an old lady's account when she's on a fixed income, telling people they can't keep their phone numbers when they upgrade so the have to add on another line to get a phone cheaper, etc.). The funniest part of all this is that after I left, they called me to offer me a job training their staff on customer service. Glad they see value in keeping their customers happy now(not!)!"

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america

STILL OPEN FOR VOTING: Bank of America vs Monster Cable, US Air vs Microsoft, Time Warner Cable vs American Airlines, Time Warner Cable vs American Airlines, Home Depot vs Wellpoint, Wal-Mart vs Citibank, Capital One vs ATT, Sallie Mae vs eBay/Paypal, TransUnion vs Diebold, Best Buy vs CompUSA, DeBeers vs Verizon, Exxon vs United Airlines, Sony vs Ticketmaster, Comcast vs The American Arbitration Association

The good news is that Ander has gotten checks from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida. The bad news is that they're $6265 off the mark of what he should be getting. He has worked with BCBS and the Florida Insurance Commissioner, but neither has been able to successfully make BCBS' check-sending system match the reality of their financial obligations to Ander...

I’m a long time reader, but I’ve never posted anything. I need help, I’m at the end of my wits. Here’s the down-low:

December 10th, 2007 I had a bi-lateral arthroplasty on my jaw for TMJ. This was medically necessary as proven by an MRI and approved beforehand by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of FL. The grand total came to $7125, and since the doctor was a non-participating provider I had to pay in full up front and the doctor’s office would file with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of FL for me to get reimbursed.

A couple weeks later I called up the automated claims line to check the status and it said it was denied, and the human rep I was transferred to said it was for lack of information on the claim. Come to find out, the doctor’s office had submitted it with the office provider number, not the doctor’s number which BC/BS required. It was immediately refilled with the correct number. I called to check on it a couple weeks later to find it was denied AGAIN for the same reason. The info was faxed over again and this time I spoke to Felicia and got a confirmation number that they did actually get the info. Two weeks later it’s the same deal. They never got the info.

Now I’m getting a little frustrated. I called the Insurance Commissioner on 2-19-08 and was working with Debbie. She spoke to the insurance lady at the doctor’s office and we sent Debbie all the information we had: the original claim, the EOBs, everything. Debby sent BC/BS a nice letter stating they had 30 days to remedy the claim. About a month later I got a check in the mail and a letter from Debby saying the claim was resolved! Too bad it was $430 for a claim that was less than half of what it should be. I called back Debby and told her NO, it was NOT resolved. She said there was nothing else she could do and I should speak with my local insurance rep at my work who could file a grievance and appeal.

I decided to call up customer service one more time on 5-5-08. This time I spoke with Stephanie who was very helpful. I told her the whole deal and explained that the claim should be filed with the $7125 amount, not $3100 for a claim that I or the doctor’s office still don’t know what is for. She then did reprocess the claim with the correct amount and correct provider number and furnished me with a reference number. Thursday, 5-15-08, I got another $430 check for the aforementioned mysterious claim.

Today, 5-20-08, I called a lawyer to set up a consultation. I’d really rather just get my claim paid than have to go through all this legal nonsense. Please Consumerist, do you or the venerable hive-mind have any tips, or can find me some addresses I can drop a formidable EECB on? Thanks for any help.

We'll help you get that EECB started. It looks like the email address format is lastname.firsname@bcbsfl.com, or sometimes just lastname@bcbsfl.com.

Here are some company executives:

Robert I. Lufrano Chairman and CEO
R. Chris Doerr EVP, Chief Administrative Officer, and CFO
Fred Ryder SVP, Corporate Development and Strategy
George W. Foyo [President, Operations, South Florida]
Tony Jenkins [President, Market]
Daryl Veach [Chief Actuary & Vice President]
Jeannette W. Ekh [Chief Information Officer]

How did we figure this out?

1. We googled Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida.
2. The website is bcbsfl.com
3. We googled *@bcbsfl.com
4. Glancing through several pages of results we saw an email address or two that gave us the company format.
5. BCBSFL's Google Finance page had some of their high level execs.
6. Googling "Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Florida" gave us some more execs.
7. Now just combine and you'll have yourself a functional executive email carpet bomb.

(Photo: Getty)

Here's what our readers said when they nominated these two companies:

Blue Cross Blue Shield:
"operate on "screw the customer" as their guiding principle. "
"for sending out those letters to get Dr.'s to rat out any patients that they think might have had a pre-existing condition when they signed up, no matter how long it's been since they signed up, and then lying about it in a press release. I won't even touch on their capricious rate increases and cancellations of the past."
"They have made an art of denying claims and coverage to people with valid claims. "

CNN: The commenter who nominated CNN did so in the following nomination comment: "Blackwater, Halliburton, Exxon, Diebold, Fox, CNN and the NY Times." I think you can figure out from the context why CNN is on this person's shitlist.

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america/

STILL OPEN FOR VOTING:
Gamestop vs Monster Cable, Bank Of America vs Toys R' Us
Toshiba vs Microsoft
US Airways vs Washington Mutual
American Airlines vs Blockbuster
Time Warner Cable vs Radioshack
Wellpoint vs Charter Cable
Dell vs Home Depot
Sears vs Citibank
Wal-Mart vs TJMaxx
Mattel vs ATT
Capital One vs Video Professor
eBay/Paypal vs COX
Apple vs SallieMae
Diebold Vs Pfizer
MTV vs TransUnion
CompUSA vs DirecTV
Target vs Best Buy
Allstate vs Verizon
DeBeers vs 1800 flowers
Starbucks vs United Airlines
Exxon vs Crocs
Google Vs Sony
Ticketmaster vs Wachovia
Facebook vs The American Arbitration Association
Comcast vs Menu Foods

(Photo: Getty)

(again, definitely different for different plans, if you call the customer service number, they'll be able to advise you on exactly how this works) A customer calls up, says they disagree with how a claim is processed. If there's something I can do, I do it (call the dr's office to get a different dx code, med recs, whatever) If it's something that's blatantly wrong, I can send it to appeals to have it fixed. If that doesn't work, and the customer disagrees with what I've found, I can still send it to adjustments for the Standard Inquiry. (this is a proto-appeal) it takes 14 days (generally) The member is sent either a new explanation of benefits (if the claim is adjusted), or a letter saying (sorry, the claim is right). On to round two, which is technically Appeal-1. This has to be done in writing. It takes 30 days to process, and the member gets either the eob, or the letter, on to round three, Appeal-2, same idea 30 days to process, member gets the eob or the letter.

If that doesn't work, the next step (at least for the plan I cover) is one last appeal, which gets sent, not to BCBS, but to the company that the member works for. They review it there, same 30 days for processing, and they send the member a letter. I don't know if this is typical (there's a lot of chances for claims to be changed here), but the general process is the same.

The best thing I can tell you guys, is send as much information as you can gather, ER records, pathology reports, doctor notes, peer reviewed literature, whatever you can find to prove the medical necessity of the service. I gather from the difficulties that are put up around it, that insurance companies don't want people to try this, but it's worth it, and it's worth going through the entire process as well.

After going without any healthcare coverage for 3 years, (husband's employer didn't not offer it and husband and child have preexisting conditions that make self paid insurance imposable to afford) was ecstatic to find out my husband's new employer did offer insurance! Even though it is at a very high premium and a $2000 deductible, it's better than nothing, right? At least that's what I thought, till I tried to use Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City...

Picture: The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City management team.

I set my daughter up a doctor's appointment for a well needed check up, and in just one weeks time was sent a statement for BCBS that they don't cover any of procedures that was done that day! NOT ONE!? So of course I called BCBS and they were very apologetic about this "mistake" and would fix it, it will take about 10 days. A week later I receive a bill from the hospital claiming that BCBS had denied all charges. I called the hospital and told them that BCBS opened a case about this, I kid you not, the billing clerk started laughing, and stated, "Good luck with that!" She went on to say that most of their patients have problems with BCBS paying up. I call BCBS and ask them about the open case on the claim. I was told by Jerri, that someone had just closed the case. She had no idea why they closed it, but was informed that she was "on top of it" and would take care of it, which was Aug, 16, 2007, but was also informed that it can take up to 3 weeks now to fix the problem. Jerri also had a bit of an attitude, which was totally uncalled for and unprofessional.

Now, on Aug, 29 2007 my husband and I suffered a devastating miscarriage. Being near midnight we went to the ER. The hospital was very compassionate about our loss and was able to get us in quickly and expedited our treatment. The following day I called BCBS and informed them that we had made a visit to the ER, and was told it wasn't necessary to call them just for ER visits, but only when we are admitted. Believing that BCBS would never make the mistakes at they did the previous and only time we have used our insurance I thought everything would go smoothly. Boy was I wrong!

On, Sep, 21 2007 I received a statement for BCBS that they were denying all of the claim. I called them and asked why they were denying the entire claim, and was told by Jane, "We do not cover ELECTIVE abortions. If you chose to terminate your pregnancy for non-health threatening reasons, BCBS will not cover it." WTF!!!??? I asked her, "Are you saying that my records state that I had an ELECTIVE abortion, in an ER at 12 o'clock in the morning?" It was then, I think it clicked in Jane's mind what she was dealing with and told me how sorry she was. I lost my cool and even started crying. I had a miscarriage not an abortion, and being treated in such a condescending way by BCBS really ticked me off. Thinking what an incredibly huge screw up, BCBS will be right on it trying to fix this, well you would be wrong. I was told to call the hospital and have them fax over my records stating I didn't have an elective abortion. Who the heck can get an elective abortion in a busy ER at 12am, anyway?

Mind you we have had Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City for less than three months, they have denied every claim we have submitted to them. EVERYONE! Even though all claims are clearly covered under our policy, is this the going to be the norm dealing with BCBS? Any help would be very much appreciated!

-Tonya Gullino

• How To Launch An Executive Email Carpet Bomb
• Company Ignoring You? Fax 'Em To Death
• Get Your Complaint Resolved By Posting It To The Company's Stock Forums
• How To Reach Executive Customer Service

UPDATE: Tonya writes in the comments:

I'm the writer of this letter. I just got off the phone with the hospital and was told that the claim was not miscoded. The billing clerk told me that the wording clearly stated that I had had a spontaneous miscarriage and not an elective abortion. I was also informed that this is common practice with BCBS of Kansas City to deny miscarriage clams as an "elective abortion."

For those that wondered, I didn't not have a D&C. The miscarriage was complete before I arrived at the ER.

I have been contacted by the media. I want to thank you Ben and for all the supportive comments, you all have been a Godsend.

Tonya Gullino

Patrick M. wrote in to talk about his recent experience trying to get his wife a blood test. "This is a story of poor health care and not the typical they-are-refusing-my-coverage stuff. Just poor customer service."

And it is that. Nothing like fasting for 12 hours only to find out that your HMO never bothered to make you that appointment. His wife's ordeal, after the jump.

So I know this might be some uncharted territory for you guys, however, I thought I'd give it a shot.

This is a story of poor health care and not the typical they-are-refusing-my-coverage stuff. Just poor customer service.

My wife and I have blue cross blue shield - so in the realm of health care, it's supposed to be "good" (if course, this is all relative). My wife had to make a blood appointment for some blood test, she had to go through the ever large company Quest Diagnostics. Since Quest is a this national corporation that supposedly has efficiencies of scale they made her call a 1-800 number to schedule the time and location of said test. When she called the operator said there were no locations in our area. Thankfully our doctor had supplied two locations. Needless to say, somehow the operator then found said locations and made an appointment. My wife then asked if there was anything else she needed to know. The operator acted as if this was a crazy questioned. My wife asked if she needed to fast before the appointment. "oh, yea, yea, you need to, 'um, fast for 12 hours before your appointment." After fasting fro twelve hours my wife showed up to her appointment - or what she thought was her appointment. The local quest office did not have her down for an appointment and made her wait for over an hour till they could accommodate her.

So to sum:

National corporation does not post numbers for local offices and instead makes you call a 1-800 number where, in theory, they have highly trained operators

Said operator can not find location

Said operator schedules appointment and does not inform patient of the need to fast beforehand

Locale Office has no appointment and make patient wait over an hour

So, we are consumers and are wondering what is the appropriate level of customer service for this type of incident. Why should retailers and direct to consumer brands work to give a customer a satisfactory experience (e.g., a coupon) and not someone like Quest?

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter should you feel it appropriate.

The problem is, of course, that you can't easily switch insurance providers, a lot of times. Therefore, there's no incentive for them to try to keep your business.