Posted 4 months, 6 days ago in 
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A few months ago, I – and many other Anthem/Blue Cross/Blue Shield customers - received a letter from the company informing us that unless we signed up for “direct withdrawal” from our checking accounts for our monthly bills (They used to be called premiums, but I refuse to call them that since the word premium is a positive; these are bills, simple as that), we would be charged a $5 “paper bill fee” per month. I assumed this charge would only pertain to those of us who pay their bills directly, not through an employer or retirement plan. Why should I have to pay this fee when many others don’t? And why would any company deliberately make many of their customers angry, especially in this economy?
I am not adverse to paying my bills online – I am not comfortable giving anyone direct access to any of my bank accounts. However, this is an insurance company, licensed to do business in the state of Colorado, telling me they are going to charge me $60 a year for failing to comply. Sixty dollars a year may not seem like much, but for some folks that’s a week’s worth of groceries. Steamed, I whipped off an e-mail to the State Insurance Commission.
I guess I wasn’t alone. Today, I received a letter from Anthem stating, “In light of feedback we received from some of our members and DORA’s Division of Insurance, we have reevaluated the paper bill fee and have decided not to charge the fee at this time.”
A small victory for the little guy, with a P.S. For more than two decades Americans have been complaining about the insurance mess in our country. Years ago, somebody told me, “If something’s broke and you don’t fix it, somebody will – and you probably won’t like they way they did it.” The insurance industry has had plenty of warning shots, plenty of time to fix what is broken. They didn’t fix it. It’s time somebody else does. Too bad if they don’t like it.
Vicki Felmlee
Grand Junction
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