How do I pressure Blue Cross Blue Shield to cover my surgery?

Post date: 2023-10-28 13:33:20

I have gender affirming surgery scheduled for Tuesday in San Francisco, California. I just found out that my insurance, BCBSofVT, has denied my pre-auth on the grounds that it is "not medically necessary". My surgeon's office is working with me to put pressure, but BCBS are closed for the weekend. I would like to put some public pressure on them through social and newsmedia, per the recommendation of the insurance liason from my surgeon's office. How do I best go about this?

Further Details:

- all gender affirming care is deemed medically necessary by the state of VT, so this is an illegal decision of theirs. BCBSofVT is a nonprofit

- I had my first two stages of this surgery at a practice in New England that is now closed due to medical malpractice, so this is my first surgery with this practice. This is my final stage

- this is my first time trying to get gender-related care through BCBS, I have not needed anything from them before now.

- I don't use social media much (have a fb and instagram, no twitter/X) so my reach is not great, but I can connect with others who may have greater reach

- I have a background in journalism but I kind of doubt that this case will interest journalists much until the date of my surgery is actually passed. That said, I do know how to write and talk to those people

- I am not sure if I want to focus on the transphobic aspect of this case, in case of transphobic public response, but I do feel that this is the most salient part of it. Thought?

- I have all the required letters, medical history, etc, to validate my need for this final stage surgery.

- I have flown across the country and taken a month off of work for this surgery. My financial investment in this particular surgery is significant.

What do you think are some good first steps? How should I proceed? No office that can help me at BCBS is open until Monday morning.

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