Pandemic Denials: How We Got Sick, and Insurers Got Rich!

During this pandemic, we’ve all been living in a state of denial. No, not that kind of denial...COVID-19 is very real and inflicting very real-world consequences. However, there’s one consequence of the pandemic that has largely been ignored. Health Insurance companies are making record profits while at the same time increasing our premiums and denying our claims” How is this possible during a Pandemic? Here’s how they did it... Delayed or Deferred Care: When The pandemic lockdowns began, it was a HUGE windfall for insurance companies. Suddenly millions of people were staying home, avoiding or delaying their medical treatment and generally staying out of our healthcare system...Unless they had to. As we all know, this lasted for MONTHS, so while we all kept paying our monthly premiums, insurers simply didn’t pay out as much as they normally would...leading to gross profit margins in excess of 24% more than in 2019. Pandemic Premiums: Each fall, we hold our breath and wait to see just how much our health premiums will increase for the next year. Surely they won’t do that to us in a pandemic year right? Wrong! In 2020, despite double digit increases in profitability, insurers took an additional 4% in premiums from employers compared to 2019. And, in 2021 states like Texas are scheduled to see marketplace rates increase by almost 10%. They allowed media stories of overrun hospitals and fears of soaring pandemic-related healthcare costs to justify increasing their rates...all while we anticipated the next “wave” to hit. But when the COVID waves did begin to wreak havoc on our healthcare system, they deployed the most insidious tactic yet. Daily Denials: Recent data shows...Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical claim denials have risen 11% nationwide, with the most denial rates found in the Pacific Coast (13.1%) and the Northeast (12.9%). The two regions that were hit hardest by the first wave of COVID-19 outbreaks. Worse yet...the same study showed 86% of those denials were potentially avoidable due to bureaucratic delays. Unbelievably 48% of those claims cannot be recovered. Plainly put, insurers get to keep money that should have made its way back to our frontline workers. This isn’t right. We know it...and they know it. Go to PandemicDenials.com to sign our petition and share your Pandemic Denial story. Let’s put an end to these practices once and for all. SOURCES: KFF.ORG GROUP PLAN AVG. GROSS MARGINS, Q3 2020: https://www.kff.org/private-insurance... KFF.ORG 2020 EMPLOYER HEALTH BENEFITS SURVEY: https://www.kff.org/report-section/eh... KFF.ORG 2021 PREMIUM CHANGES: https://www.kff.org/private-insurance... AJMC.COM MEDICAL CLAIM DENIAL RATES RISING: https://www.ajmc.com/view/medical-cla...