Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield reversed a policy change Thursday that would have denied claims for patients’ anesthesia treatments following a groundswell of public opposition, according to multiple reports.
The proposed policy change would have stopped reimbursing patients in New York, Connecticut and Missouri for anesthesia if their procedure exceeded an allotted time limit. The company retracted their original statement after receiving significant backlash.
“We realized, based on all the feedback we’ve been receiving the last 24 hours, that our communication about the policy was unclear, which is why we’re pulling back,” Janey Kiryluik, vice president of corporate communications at Elevance Health, Anthem’s parent company, told The New York Times.
Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was among the policy’s critics.
Outrageous. I’m going to make sure New Yorkers are protected. https://t.co/Mqtjeu0ZD7
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) December 5, 2024
“Outrageous. I’m going to make sure New Yorkers are protected,” she tweeted in response to the original policy.
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield sent letters explaining the policy to providers Nov. 1, the outlet reported, but the policy came under intense scrutiny Thursday following the assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Many social media users celebrated the murder, citing United Healthcare’s high rate of denied insurance claims.
UHC had the highest amount of denied claims of any insurance company in America. How many ppl have died and suffered because of their denials? How many families have suffered? No one is crying for the rich CEO who makes huge money off the backs of the sick people denied care. https://t.co/9B52SFAvfh pic.twitter.com/EL1F9RZ01A
— 🅹🅰🆇 🅿🅰🅶🅴 🇵🇸 🇲🇽 (@jakki_jax) December 4, 2024
The backlash appeared to prompt many large insurers, including Anthem, to remove information about company leadership from their websites.
New: multiple major health insurance companies (Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Caresource, Medica, Elevance Health) have taken down pages on their websites which listed their leadership, following the murder of United Healthcare CEO https://t.co/DSRZbpiBg8
— Joseph Cox (@josephfcox) December 6, 2024
