Americans are breathing a sigh of relief after this major health insurer waved the white flag on this disastrous policy

The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has ignited discussions about healthcare coverage nationwide.

Some people are understandably angry about how their health insurance companies don’t cover the things they need.

And now Americans are breathing a sigh of relief after this major health insurer waved the white flag on this disastrous policy.

Anthem reverses course after policy firestorm

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield is one of the largest health insurers in the country.

The company did a complete 180 recently after getting massive backlash over a policy it recently planned to implement that would limit the length of time a patient would be covered while under anesthesia.

In a statement, Anthem claims that the decision to reverse course was because of “significant widespread misinformation” about the policy.

The statement said, “To be clear, it never was and never will be the policy of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to not pay for medically necessary anesthesia services. The proposed update to the policy was only designated to clarify the appropriateness of anesthesia consistent with well-established clinical guidelines.”

The insurer would have used something called “physician time values,” a metric for anesthesia limits published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Under this metric, maternity patients and all patients under the age of 22 would have been exempt.

However, Dr. Jonathan Gal, economics committee chair of the American Society for Anesthesiologists, said it was not clear how the CMS gets those values.

The American Society for Anesthesiologists asked Anthem to “reverse the proposal immediately” in mid-November.

The organization said that the policy would go into effect in New York, Connecticut, and Missouri starting in February, but it was not clear how many other states would have been affected.

Notices about the change were also posted in Colorado and Virginia.

Once the information about the policy went public, people all over the nation voiced their concern and outrage, largely on social media.

Some people encouraged those in affected states to call their lawmakers; however, others noted that the policy would potentially prevent patients from being overcharged.

According to Gal, the new policy would have been unprecedented, and it ignored the “nuanced, unpredictable human element” of surgery.

He also bluntly said that it was a “money grab” from Anthem.

Profits over patients

Gal continued to express his disdain over the policy, saying, “It’s incomprehensible how a health insurance company could so blatantly continue to prioritize their profits over safe patient care. If Anthem is, in fact, rescinding the policy, we’re delighted that they came to their senses.”

Some people were so angry about the change that they posted the name and photo of Anthem’s current CEO online.

This sets a dangerous precedent, particularly in the wake of the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s murder.

Before Anthem announced they rescinded the policy, Connecticut comptroller Sean Scanlon said it was “concerning” and would not affect the state after having conversations with Anthem.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul also emailed a statement saying her office had successfully intervened as well.

Strangely, the insurance company’s new policy came out just one day after Thompson was killed in New York City.