By Abigail Van Neely : missionlocal – excerpt
Time is of the essence, say friends and family of retired firefighter with Stage 4 cancer
Retired San Francisco firefighter Ken Jones was diagnosed with cancer last March. On Jan. 7, his insurance provider, Blue Shield of California, refused to pay for his treatment, his family said.
“Blue Shield has decided that my father’s life is not worth paying for,” Jones’ daughter Rachel said at a meeting of the San Francisco Health Service Board Thursday afternoon.
In the 17 years Jones worked at the fire department, his daughter said Jones never asked if saving lives was too expensive.
The city is responsible for negotiating its public servants’ health-insurance contracts, and the Health Service Board oversees that relationship. Jones’ family and other retired firefighters were there to ask the board to override Blue Shield’s denial…
Jones was at a clinic preparing to begin a round of chemotherapy on Wednesday when the family learned that Blue Shield was refusing to pay. Her husband’s doctor was “shocked,” Horvath added… (more)
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