Mr. Swedish, Can You Spare My Sister A Dime?

My sister meeting with her grown
adopted daughter Nina, now 
in adult foster care.

"Woe to you who are rich, for you have had your fill of happiness."

- Jesus (Luke 6:24)

My 85-year-old sister Fannie Mae in Augusta County was recently notified that all of her health providers who are a part of the Augusta Health system are no longer accepting Anthem insurance, which administers Medicare and Medicaid funds. This means she will need to find other providers or find other insurance coverage. Neither option is realistic or available. Fortunately, her family and church family are able and willing to help as needed.

Augusta Health's position is that they should be reimbursed at the same level Anthem is paying for the same procedures at nearby University of Virginia and elsewhere. Anthem is refusing to do so, and so far the two sides haven't been able to come to an agreement, which leaves people like my sister in a quandary, and the rest of us in a state of confusion.

Fannie Mae, a retired registered nurse and certified midwife, has worked hard all of her adult life providing quality health care for others, both in the states and in two terms of service abroad, first

Fannie Mae as a nurse
(1972 family photo)

in Belize and then in Paraguay. She is single and the mother of a special needs individual she adopted years ago from a home for unwanted children in Asuncion.

Meanwhile, my sister needs ongoing and sometimes expensive treatment for her heart condition and for her macular degeneration.

What makes this situation maddening is that Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield earned $2.5 billion in net income in 2016, resulting in Chairman and CEO Joseph Swedish being awarded a 21 percent pay hike, upping the value of his compensation package to an annual $16.5 million.

You and I both know no one needs that kind of income. No one.

I hope we also agree that people like my sister deserve the same kind of affordable health care available to other aging adults in our society.