Legislation:

It's time for change

"Those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world usually do." - Steve Jobs

This website finds itself in the right place at the right time. America is divided, with a major 2024 political election on the horizon. Healthcare is a major issue. Pennsylvania is a battleground state. By demonstrating the outrageous behavior that is taking place at Independence Blue Cross, the company will become a focused lightening rod about what's wrong with health care. Each candidate needs to be evaluated on the following question: "How would you protect Joe the worker from companies like Independence Blue Cross?"

Independence Blue Cross is an organization aggressively engaging in self promotion efforts such as advertising and social media. The organization portrays itself as a leader in health insurance. The reality for consumers is much different. For example, according to Reddit.com, Independence Blue Cross scores 1.7 stars out of 5. Some comments include:

“Never once had a satisfactory experience talking to a Independence Rep“

“I called before physical therapy to confirm it was covered. I was told I could receive 35 sessions! Went to physical therapy and the insurance (Independence) rejected the claim. I was being charged $6,000 dollars!“

“Just don't understand why the insurance commissioner allows them to get away with this crap. If enough people would bother to write to the Pa. Insurance Commissioner if would force an investigation.“

“Speaking as a practitioner that's dealt with IBX for many years, this company does not care about people. It's total profit-focused garbage.

Quotes Taken from this website on 04/30/2024

Proposed Legislation

The insulin EOB law: There are legitimate reasons to deny insulin. The insurance companies will be able to maintain their right to deny. However, any time there is a denial of insulin, the health insurance provider is required to print on the EOB that insulin is available over the counter. This is a simple measure that places no significant financial burden on the insurance companies, but is capable saving life and improving the quality thereof

Revamping of Section 1519(c) of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code: The process is "blind". That's appropriate. It protects innocent people who are seeking to protect the public from retribution. However, the same concept protects perpetrators who would weaponize the system. Under the proposed system changes, the submitter of the complaint's information would be held confidently by the state. If it's later determined that the submission was nefarious, the state can then then use the submitter information to present criminal charges to a district attorney.

Outside auditing: A big problem here is that independence Blue Cross works autonomously. They are the judge, jury, and executioner of all things within their walls. With any complaint they receive, they have full and soul ability to address or deny at their discretion without consequences. They are able to act in a god like manner. Under proposed legislation, the consumer would be able to take their complaint to a third party assigned by the government. It's clearly a no-brainer that if you call a health insurance company, and then receive a fake driver's license suspension stating the dates that you called, that the insurance company is involved. It was physically possible for information to be communicated in any other way.

Health insurance must maintain insurance also: Per Dr Richard Snyder, of Independence Blue Cross, the company does not maintain any type of errors and emissions insurance. Under the proposed law, the insurance companies will be required to maintain an insurance such that if a major incident were to occur at their causing, the patient would be able to file a claim against the health insurance's insurance.

National Medical Card (NMC): Under thid proposal, when a patient is diagnosed with a life long illness such as heart disease or diabetes, the National Medical Card will ensure the patient has access to the drugs associated with the diagnosis. The patient will be able to present themselves to any pharmacy nationwide, and have the right to purchase the drugs regardless of whether they have health insurance or not via the permanent prescription encoded in the card.

Pandemic protection: The COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic has taught us that we need to work together. The virus did not ask anyone who was their insurance provider before it infected them. Therefore, it's a great disparity that some persons were able to get access to coronavirus resources such as vaccines, and treatment, and others weren't. Under the proposed law, if there is a significant contagion in the community, all health insurance providers will be REQUIRED to maintain a certain minimum set of behaviors. No one will be denied access to pandemic care simply because they are a financial burden to an insurance company.

Blind Diagnosis - This concept is borrowed from the e-Commerce industry, and is capable of protecting both the patient and the insurance company. in e-Commerce, many small mom and pop type businesses would like to sell on the Internet. However, accepting credit cards over the Internet is risky and dangerous due to ongoing and ever increasing cybercrime. This issue is resolved through merchant services. When the consumer goes to complete a transaction to one of these websites, they are seamlessly bounced from the vendor's website to the merchant services vendor. The merchant services vendor handles the credit card information, and then passes back a result to the vendor website as to whether the sale was successful or not. The vendor is protected because never can the consumer claim that the vendor had their credit card information, because in fact they never do have it. Likewise, in a blind diagnosis scenario, medical providers would submit diagnosis information directly to a government agency. The government agency will then pass a message to the insurance company such as Independence Blue Cross, as to whether the claim is payable or not. The patient would not be able to claim, as I do, that the insurance company weaponized the diagnosis information, because it's impossible as they never had it.

Refunding of Premiums - If it is determined that any insurance company has denied access to care for a period of 365 days, the insurance company will be required to return all of the premiums for that patient for that year. The premiums do not necessarily need to be returned to the patient, we don't want to encourage anyone to force premium returns. The money collected could go into a catastrophic fund for other Healthcare victims.
This small change makes a fundamental difference: When the insurance company collects premiums for a period of one year, and provides no service, they make 100% margin on the money they receive. If they are forced to return premiums, they make 0% margin on the same patient. Nobody wants to work for nothing. Independence Blue Cross is a very skilled financial organization. If we force them into a scenario where they make less money when they don't perform, their performance will increase.



When a new card comes, and I still can't use the insurance, I put the card away in hopes that some day I can use it. Here are the last six cards:

Here are the cards I can't use
Here are the cards I can't use

Freedom of Insurance Reporting - I have spent the last 7 years paying out-of-pocket for all my medical needs. It has been very expensive. In addition, I pay 11 % of my income automatically to Independence Blue Cross. My technique is to learn from the internet and then buy products over the counter. When the scenario becomes too extreme, I go to urgent care and pay cash. I always fill out the forms the same way: I have no history of illness and I don't have health insurance. Although denying valid conditions does not allow the provider to treat me optimally, falsifying the forms is the safest way to get medical care without the risk of Independence Blue Cross finding out. In March 2023, I had a typical diabetic lesion. I have been able to thwart them in the past many times. This one became beyond my control so I went to urgent care as usual. In this instance, urgent care insisted that I was diabetic with infected blood and bones and that my condition required immediate emergency room treatment. No efforts to talk them out of it were successful. So I reluctantly when to the emergency room at the Paoli Memorial hospital. There, I had to argue with the intake staff. Their computers insisted that I have insurance via Independence Blue Cross. And I do. Technically. I tried everything in my power to broker it so that I would be on a payment plan directly with the hospital. They would not allow it. I then spent 4 nightmarish days and nights worrying that the hospital was go to submit my diagnosis to Independence Blue Cross, who could once again weaponize it against me. I also had to deny any diagnoses other then the ones they presented
I am seeking legislation that will allow the patient the option of not using health insurance regardless if they are covered or not. Without this legislation, I cannot approach an emergency room and am further isolated from medical care.

Blue Cross Insurance
HMO Law - HMO plans further restrict the patient to remain within the insurance program network. This should give the insurance provider additional onus over claims administration and customer service. Under the proposed law, insurance providers would be required to.provide minimum levels of.customer service and complaint management.when it's an HMO at a higher level than PPO and Indemnity plans, where the patient has the option of using out of network providers.


In Pennsylvania, healthcare lobbying has been a significant force, with large corporations and trade associations exerting influence over legislators. Here are some key points related to this topic:

Healthcare Profiteers and Lobbying Spending:

Healthcare has consistently been the top sector in lobbying spending in Pennsylvania for at least the past 10 years.
In 2022, nearly $30 million was spent on direct healthcare lobbying, around $11 million on Medicare and Medicaid, and over $13 million on insurance lobbying.
These expenditures surpass the total lobbying spending on energy, the state budget, and education combined.
Large healthcare insurers and hospital systems are major contributors to this lobbying effort. Influence of Large Corporations:
Large hospital systems and health insurers wield immense power due to their critical care role and status as major employers.
The members of the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) employ nearly 600,000 people across the state, constituting about one in ten jobs statewide.

Lobbying Priorities: These healthcare entities lobby against:

Adequate nurse-to-patient ratios.
Policies holding hospitals accountable for medical malpractice.
Legislation requiring state Medicaid contractors to cooperate in good faith with labor unions. Industry Trade Groups:
Companies collaborate through industry trade groups such as:
Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania
Hospital and HealthSystem Association of Pennsylvania

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