Wellmark BCBS may owe you money

The Drake University Vampire is On the Loose

A Drake University student from Kansas City, Missouri needed to be treated at Mercy Hospital after he fought with someone near the bathroom at the Dublin bar and part of his finger was bitten off. I kid you not. The young man is Andrew Brooks, a 22-year-old fingerless man. The Dublin is at 2307 University, Des Moines, Iowa. I don't believe the Dublin had this in mind when they added finger food to the menu. Metromix gives The Dublin a 4 star rating. You can visit The Dublin had a MySpace page previously but it may have been taken down.

http://www.myspace.com/thedublin

Is this woman being overcharged criminally?

And in Waterloo, yes we are back to Waterloo a woman who left the hospital with a heart monitor still attached was charged with theft. Apparently she wasn't fond of the no smoking policy. If she was following doctor's orders, and not intending to permanently deprive the hospital of the monitor, then how could that be a theft? Allegedly the heart monitor has a value of $1,000, but there is not market for selling such an item. And with the hospital's pricing structure the $1,000 valuation is doubtful at best.

You may have had your health insurance claim wrongfully denied.

Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Iowa wrongfully rejected a mere 25,000 claims for customers in Iowa and South Dakota. A "system error was causing rejection of some claims that should have been paid." I thought people reviewed these claims, not computers. What's with that? Hard to believe but apparently even the computer needs lefty-righty rehab.

"He said the issue involved customers who had "riders" on their policies, excluding coverage for pre-existing conditions. For instance, he said, a person who'd previously suffered an injury to his left knee might have agreed to exclude future treatment to that knee from coverage when he signed up for Wellmark insurance. But then, if he injured his right knee, the glitch in the Wellmark system might have mistakenly caused rejection of claims for treatment."

BCBS hired a consulting firm to analyze the situation. I wonder how much the consulting firm was paid. They should have hired the two kindergartners that walked away from Kitrell Elementary School in Waterloo this past week. I'm sure they could have told them which is the left leg and which the right.

Bottom line is if you had a surgery done on a body part in which you have two of them and the claim was rejected then chances are you'll need to check with BCBS to see if you have money coming to you.