The insurer reverses course and now will provide refunds to nonsmokers who didn't receive the available 25-35% discount.
Jump to full article: Minneapolis (MN) Star Tribune, 2006-05-12
Intro: Ending a dispute that critics said was unfair to nonsmokers, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota said it will issue refunds to nonsmoking policyholders who claim they were unfairly charged higher smokers' premium rates.
Until Thursday, the Eagan-based insurer had routinely refused to issue refunds to nonsmoking subscribers who complained that Blue Cross had never told them they weren't receiving the 25 to 35 percent discount given to nonsmokers.
After one longtime subscriber, William Marek of Montgomery, Minn., won a $2,000 judgment in small-claims court in March against Blue Cross for "unjust enrichment," the state's largest health insurer asked a district court to overturn the decision.
But on Thursday, Blue Cross senior vice president Richard Neuner said: "We've concluded that we are on the wrong side of this issue. We have done a lot at Blue Cross around the issue of tobacco cessation and prevention of smoking. We have members that are nonsmokers and we want to reward them in any way that we can."
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Quotes from this article:
We've concluded that we are on the wrong side of this issue. We have done a lot at Blue Cross around the issue of tobacco cessation and prevention of smoking. We have members that are nonsmokers and we want to reward them in any way that we can.
Richard Neuner, senior vice president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, which will issue refunds to nonsmoking policyholders who claim they were unfairly charged higher smokers' premium rates.
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