Blue Cross Quickly Becoming the Toyota of Bad Business

By Allen Flatt Ballidis & Leslie on February 23, 2010

In a not so surprising turn of events, Anthem Blue Cross has managed to show the face of greed in the course of one month. First it attempted to justify a 17% premium increase for individual policy holders. Note the subtle difference, then did not seek an increase for all policyholders such as corporations and company benefit health plans. The individual policyholder received this increase because Anthem decided their profitability was just not enough last year. (Check the profitability for yourself!)

It is amazing that Anthem Blue Cross can try to justify a 17% increase when the entire nation is in a recession, health care as well as other business. There can be justification, but of course people at the company will be paid huge sums to monkey with numbers and justify why poor Anthem cannot do business without the increase.

Now today, we hear they denied a liver transplant to a man who would have died, because to receive this liver would have been “out of network.” Greed and deceit are the mainstays of big business, and we are seeing the large icons slowly lumber to take every nickel from you and me.

Toyota, yesterday, admitted that it knew of acceleration problems in its vehicle computer software for more than 5 years and hid the fact from the public. Many times, I wrote in the past, that faulty mats were an unlikely caused of acceleration and I did not feel pedals were to blame. The latter explanation however was unable to be evaluated, at least until the senate and congressional investigations started.

Corporations will act for profit at the expense of our liberty and financial welfare. The only mechanism is the ability to allow a jury to decide if they violated our rights and principals. Sadly, too many continue to argue that we need less lawsuits and therefore institute laws that insolate large companies. One example is ERISA the federal law that does not allow any attorney fees or penalties to be assessed against a health insurance company, even if it causes a death.

Wake up and smell the greatness we call America, the land of the greed. I vote to restore the ability for all companies to pay the price of injustice, and restore the ability of a jury to decide its fate.