Blue Cross and Blue Shield denied payment for the proton therapy Robert “Skeeter” Salim’s doctor ordered to fight his throat cancer. But he was no ordinary patient. He was a celebrated litigator. And he was ready to fight.

  • @xkforce
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    6511 months ago

    Oh look its the death panels the republicans assured us didnt exist in the current healthcare system

    • @MacGuffin94
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      1311 months ago

      The premium for the non death panel plan are much higher

      • @Alexstarfire
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        611 months ago

        Yep. Called “out of pocket” in case anyone is in the market.

    • HubertManne
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      711 months ago

      yep. in the us if you are a top trial lawyer you can have rights akin to europeans.

  • @cogman
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    5711 months ago

    The reason Blue Cross took this case all the way to court is simple, to send a message to anyone else denied “be prepared to spend millions fighting us, oh and you still have cancer so you’ll likely die soon”.

    • stopthatgirl7OP
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      2711 months ago

      I’m sure they figured since he was stage 4, he’d die and they wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore. The lawsuit was probably just stalling for time along with the message.

  • m-p{3}
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    2811 months ago

    It’s a win, but it feels so small when you think of all these other patients before him who could have been cured or lived longer with fewer side-effects in the dystopian hellhole that is the US health insurance ecosystem.

  • [email protected]
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    2411 months ago

    That’s good for them, but makes you wonder just how many people get refused but lack the resources to fight this or end up settling or forgoing care.
    That’s sad

    • snooggums
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      1511 months ago

      We already knew it was thousands of people being denied cancer treatment before Obama care, and clearly the number still isn’t down to zero.