Several Black and Brown doctors who we have featured on previous On Point with Juandolyn Stokes shows including: Dr. Neil Anand, Dr. Felix Brizuela, Dr. Dralves Edwards, and Dr. Lesly Pompy joined us for a discussion about insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) who have been referred to as a "racket and a money-hungry cartel" for their part in criminalizing doctors, who cost them too much money for their medical diagnosis and prescriptions.
"They [BCBS] don't care about healthcare. The sicker you are, the more money they make," said Dr. Brizuela.
According to the doctors, BCBS has non-medical professionals making decisions about what is medically necessary for a patient.
"Medical decisions are being made by judges," said Dr. Edwards.
"BCBS uses the criminal justice system to intimidate doctors not to pay when doctors charge for expensive services. They try to intimidate doctors for medically necessary medicines or services," said one caller.
According to Dr. Anand they used the Freedom of Information Act on the state level to request information on how BCBS calculates their rates, and to find out why their rates continue to rise. A lawsuit by Ford Motor Company revealed that BCBS is one the richest companies in the world, richer than Walmart and Exxonmobil. A sample of 2,000 out of the 33,000 doctors who have been pursued by BCBS showed doctors of color and Jewish doctors were targeted.
Dr. Pompy reiterated that Ford sued BCBS after they realized they were paying too much for insurance [for their employees]. He cautioned that if the employer is paying too much for insurance, the employee is also paying too much.
Dr Edwards says BCBS uses medical fraud and false claims as grounds for attack.
"White doctors who are accused of filing false claims get a fine and keep practicing. If a Black doctor is accused of the same violation, which is 90% of the time, there's no trial, he goes to jail. He loses his family."
"When you can't work, your wife don't want you, your church don't want you, and people think you must be guilty of something if the government is coming after you. That has to change,' added Dr. Edwards.
With the current shortage of Black doctors, Dr. Pompy said, "We are going to need more Black doctors, particularly in poor communities."
But this will be difficult in the future because as Dr. Anand said, "BCBS is determining what doctors do is fraud. If it cost them too much money then they come after doctors and split the money with the government. Doctors become a slave to the system when they could just talk to you."
"Practicing medicine is an art and a science and we have a right to try different things to see what works," added Dr. Anand.
The doctor seemed to agree that "War on Drugs" is actually a war on doctors and Congressional oversight is desperately needed.
