March 17, 2008
Ohio television station tests the health care system
A Cincinnati television station decided to test the health care system after getting numerous complaints about Anthem Insurance company. Many of the complaints were about mental health care and how Anthem responded to their claims.
That’s when we [WCPO] first told you that the governor of Ohio was asking for an investigation after we made him aware of complaints about Anthem Insurance company.
Since then, the I-Team’s continued to get complaints that the situation is getting worse. So we decided to test the system ourselves, and to find out what happened to that state investigation the Governor promised.
One person named Kate called over 50 providers that were listed as 'in-network.' Out of those 50 - only 8 still accepted Anthem patients and 5 refused to give her an appointment.
"It does not pay for us to take Anthem. It does not cover our overhead," said an office manager for a local psychiatrist's office who asked us to hide her identity because she fears retaliation from Anthem. She says she hears from patients like Kate every day.
Then WCPO's I-Team called 17 mental health providers at Cincinnati's Children's Hospital. They found only 5 providers willing to see new patients.
The state's Department of Insurance looked into the matter and found no violations of existing Ohio law. However, further investigation by the I-Team discovered that the review by the Department of Insurance was based on information provided from Anthem.
Hamilton County eventually dropped Anthem as an insurer.
The full story at WCPO.com.