An insurance company suspends your medical coverage for months—or longer.
You’ve faithfully paid all premiums for your medical insurance—and have the records to prove it. But the company doesn’t care.
Think it can’t happen to you? It did to a couple I’ll call Diane and Mike.
Mike worked as a paralegal for a Los Angeles law firm. He was getting health insurance for himself and his wife, Diane, under a COBRA arrangement.
COBRA stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. It’s a Federal law that was passed by Congress and signed by President Ronald Reagan.
One of its provisions creates an insurance program giving some employees the ability to continue health insurance coverage after leaving employment.
But a COBRA can sometimes act the same way the deadly poisonous snake does—with unpredictable and lethal results for those depending on it.
In this case, after Mike left his law firm to work at another, he found the COBRA didn’t operate as it was supposed to.
A snafu developed, involving
- the COBRA management company,
- the hospital where Mike and Diane had long been patients, and
- Mike’s former employer.
Each of these institutions blamed the other for failing to provide appropriate information.
So the insurance company suspended Mike and Diane’s health insurance–completely ignoring their medical needs.
Of course, for most people who have dealt with an insurance company, this won’t come as a surprise. Insurance companies aren’t in business to do good. They’re in business to make money.
Then, one day, Diane called me on an unrelated matter. During the conversation, she let slip the suspension of her medical insurance.
I was stunned at the news–and outraged when she said this had been going on for six months.
At once, I offered my services as a troubleshooter. She accepted.
I decided to call the office of my State Assemblyman. In California, the 80 members of the Assembly serve two-year terms, and are limited to being elected three times.
The 40 members of the State Senate serve four-year terms, and can be elected twice.
Because they face re-election sooner, members of the Assembly must stay closely attuned to resolving their constituents’ problems. That’s why they employ staffers who are experts at navigating through the maze of State agencies.
California State Capitol Building
And State Senators make certain their offices are equally well-staffed with such experts.
When I called my Assemblyman’s office, I didn’t ask to speak with him. I knew I was too politically unimportant to rate a direct chat at that level. And I didn’t need to talk with him, anyway.
I simply told the secretary that I wanted to speak with the office’s specialist on insurance.
California has an Insurance Commissioner who directs the state’s Department of Insurance. The mandate of this agency is to license, regulate and examine insurance companies.
Soon I was speaking with Frank, the Assemblyman’s expert on insurance matters. I quickly explained the problem my friends were having. And, to my surprise, I found that he and I hit it off right away.
Frank said he had a friend–Steve–who worked as an investigator for the Department of Insurance. Then he generously offered to put me through to him. I thankfully accepted.
Soon Steve and I quickly found ourselves getting along well. Then he asked me: “What’s your friend’s number?”
Diane hadn’t authorized me to give her number to anyone, but I decided to forward it. If Steve was that interested in examining their problem, I wasn’t going to throw a damper on his enthusiasm.
Soon Steve and Diane were discussing the situation.
The insurance company Mike and Diane were relying on was, like many such companies, registered in Florida. But, in order to legally do business in California, it had to obey the laws of the State of California.
And California laws forbade exactly the sort of behavior this company was engaging in.
And shortly after that conversation, Diane’s insurance company got an unexpected call from the Insurance Commissioner’s office.
The message was simple–and blunt: Restore that coverage–now.
And, within 48 hours, it had been fully restored.
There are several important lessons to be learned here:
- Maintain accurate records of all your premium payments. And keep them accessible–as in file folders, a safe deposit box or an online file.
- Don’t let your insurance company victimize you. Once you’ve paid your premium, you’ve lived up to your part of the arrangement. Now it’s their obligation to provide the medical care you need.
- Know the names, addresses and phone numbers of your representatives–at local, state and Federal levels. Websites such as http://www.govspot.com/ and http://www.capweb.net/ will instantly provide this information–and a great deal more.
- Know the name, address and phone number of your state Insurance Commissioner.
- If your elected representatives can’t or won’t assist you, complain to the news media. Start with the local newspapers and TV stations. If that doesn’t work, try the Internet.
- If the agencies that are supposed to help consumers won’t aid you, make them part of your complaint to the media.
- If you’re disabled and/or have children who are affected by the insurance cut-off, play up this angle in your contacts with public agencies and/or the media.
- If all else fails, consider filing a lawsuit against the insurance company.
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RECRUITING SUPERSTITION TO ATTACK ABORTION
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, RELIGION, Social commentary on August 22, 2022 at 12:13 amIn the 1960 movie, “David and Goliath,” the hero and his girlfriend are sitting in a cave during a thunderstorm. David assures her of his undying love, and they share a passionate kiss.
Then, amidst the sound of thunder, she says, “I must go—I cannot tarry.”
David tries to talk her out of it, but she rushes out of the cave into a nearby flock of sheep—and is struck dead by lightning.
David is horrified—and grief-stricken: “Why, Lord, why?”
In the ancient world, lightning bolts were seen as the arrows of Zeus—or Yahweh (the Hebrew name of God). There could be no clearer sign of Heaven’s anger at a particular person that s/he was struck by lightning.
Today, we know that lightning, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Severe Storms Laboratory, is “a giant spark of electricity in the atmosphere between clouds, the air, or the ground.”
At least, those who believe in science—not superstition—know this.
And if you are the tallest object around, or are close to water or trees or metallic objects, you are likely to be struck. It doesn’t matter whether you’re good or evil.
Lightning
Yet millions of superstitious Americans continue to believe that their lives are ruled by forces of Good (as symbolized by God) or Evil (as symbolized by Satan).
One of these is Assemblywoman Shannon Lee Grove, who represents Kern County in Central California. A Republican, she served as the minority leader of the California State Senate from 2019 to 2021.
Grove has a unique explanation for California’s worsening drought: Climate change/global warming has nothing to do with it. It’s God’s wrath over legalized abortion.
Speaking before the California ProLife Legislative Banquet held in Sacramento on June 8, 2015, Grove said:
“Texas was in a long period of drought until Governor [Rick] Perry signed the fetal pain bill,” she told the audience. “It rained that night. Now God has his hold on California.”
Grove was referring to House Bill 2, a Texas bill banning abortions 20 weeks after fertilization, four weeks earlier than the standard set by Roe v. Wade. It was based on the unproven assertion that fetuses can feel pain after 20 weeks.
In addition, the bill:
Shannon Lee Grove
“This is the infallible word of God,” Grove said, holding a Bible above her head as attendees clapped. “I fear Him more than I fear anyone.”
Among her audience at the Grand Hotel were anti-abortion activists and clergy, including Catholic Bishops for Life, Pray California, Californians for Life and the California Republican Assembly.
Apparently, God still has his hold on Texas, even though Texans passed a rabidly anti-abortion bill.
Almost all of Texas is facing a severe level of drought. Only a few parts of the state—such as El Paso—aren’t abnormally dry.
The website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the drought was primarily caused by natural climate variability and climate change caused by human activity.
Drought
Asked specifically about her comments, Grove refused to expound on the relationship between abortion and drought.
But on June 11, 2015, she issued a statement on her Facebook page: “I believe—and most Americans believe—-that God’s hand is in the affairs of man, and certainly was in the formation of this country.
“Is this drought caused by God? Nobody knows. But biblical history shows a consequence to man’s actions.
“We do know for sure that California’s water shortage crisis has been compounded by liberal politicians’ poor decisions—not properly managing our water resources and refusing to build water storage for decades.”
Clearly embarrassed at being unable to prove her own statement, Grove retreated to a safer line of attack: Drought is the fault of “liberal politicians.”
Even some anti-abortion activists didn’t agree with Grove’s theory.
Pro-Choice Kern County called her comments “absolute lunacy” and created a mock-up of a T-shirt: “I made a desert with my abortion and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.”
Grove isn’t alone in believing that God’s displeasure lies behind natural disasters.
Another is Bill Koenig, the conservative editor of World Watch Daily. God, he asserts, is righteously enraged at California’s acceptance of same-sex marriage and abortion.
“We’ve got a state that over and over again will go against the word of God, that will continually take positions on marriage and abortion and on a lot of things that are just completely opposed to the scriptures.”
Abortion isn’t mentioned as a sin in the Bible. Yet it’s a ready culprit for natural disasters—in the sermons of fundamentalist preachers.
Evangelist Pat Robertson blamed abortion for Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
And Steve Lefamine, the director of Columbia Christians for Life in South Carolina, agreed with Robertson that abortion caused Hurricane Katrina.
In an interview with the Washington Post, he claimed that when he viewed the full-color satellite map of the hurricane, he saw an eight-week-old fetus in the image.
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