Woman loses health insurance for smiling on Facebook

By Agence France-Presse
Saturday, November 21st, 2009 -- 3:02 pm
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facebook Woman loses health insurance for smiling on FacebookFacebook can be a double-edged sword, a Canadian woman learned when an insurance company cut her health benefits, claiming she was healthy after seeing pictures of her smiling in bikini at the beach.

Nathalie Blanchard, 29, took long-term sick leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Quebec, more than a year ago for severe depression. She was receiving monthly benefits from her insurance company, Manulife.

When Blanchard called Manulife to inquire why the payments dried up, the insurance company said that "I'm available to work, because of Facebook," she told CBC television.

She said that Manulife cited several pictures Blanchard had posted on her social networking website page, including some showing her enjoying herself during a male strip-tease show at a Chippendales bar, celebrating her birthday and bathing in the sun.

Based on these postings, the firm claimed Blanchard was no longer depressed.

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Manulife declined to comment on the incident but said in a statement that "we would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on websites such as Facebook."

But the company did recognize that it uses such information to learn more about their clients.

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Story comments are below...

  • Max_1
    Her wellness is between her and her doctor...
    ... Not some pencil pusher trolling facebook looking for clients so as to deney them their claims.

    THAT'S A DEATH PANEL!
  • Phil E. Drifter
    She's a dumbass for not setting her Facebook permissions properly. Had she set her security properly (and posted a mundane, dreary pic of herself as her profile pic) she'd still be getting her paychecks, but no, she's a dumb broad.

    Like that dumbass who called out sick from work and then posted his status on facebook as 'I'm so hungover i called out of work' and his boss commented 'dont bother coming in tomorrow cuz you're fired'
  • starvapor
    The pathetic, irrefutable fact, is that insurance companies and their bean counters have been the real death panels for thousands of people for many years.

    They will use any happy, temporary slice of happiness, in the life in a suffering person as an excuse to make sure that no healthful future will exist for those victims.
  • Mooftown
    Wow that is fucked up that people working for insurance companies are paid to check your personal facebook page and god knows what else to look for anything ANYTHING that they can use to deny your coverage.

    Check out tha movie Sick-o if you haven't seen it, what these companies are really all about is revolting. It's free to watch online, just type watch sicko for free in google.
  • gr0o
    When you apply for disability or worker's comp you sign an agreement that the insurance company can check up on you through pretty much any means that does not directly invade your privacy; anything posted on the web is fair game. It is also VERY likely that you will have occasional surveillance done on you anywhere from 2 to 10 days a year to make certain that you are acting within the medical guidelines given.
    It's a necessary evil unfortunately, there are too many people committing insurance fraud in these systems.
  • zogtheobvious
    What a fundamental (and no doubt deliberate) misunderstanding of depression!
  • Trantorian
    Certainly don't try to treat your depression by having fun. Then you may not get covered. Of couse, the criteria for treatment is what you post on facebook.

    You should have stayed depressed, girl!
  • cpark
    Manulife declined to comment on the incident but said in a statement that "we would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on websites such as Facebook."

    Clearly, there are further facts that led to the cut-off of this woman's monthly payments.
    I DO understand depression. I've been there, and have supported family members and friends who have struggled with.
    At no time during their struggles were they well enough to frequent strip bars and beaches while at the same time too depressed to work.
  • ekwhite
    I'm afraid you have no understanding of depression. I suffer from clinical depression - luckily it is mild enough that I am able to work. Being clinically depressed does not mean you can never smile. On good days you can do that. On bad days it can get so bad you can't even get out of bed.

    This reply is to cpark.
  • Savantster
    .
    If there were facts, they could present them. There are no facts presented, and since it's in their financial interests to claim there are, they will claim there are even if they don't exist.

    Until this goes to court and they procure the facts they claim exist, we won't know, will we.

    and here we go with the anecdotal bullshit.. now you're a doctor because you know that someone who's depressed never smiles, or is never convinced to get out of the house, especially on their birth day? and you also know depression is exactly the same for every person (from your vast medical training), so if someone from "your family" did X or Y, it must apply to everyone equally, right?
    .
  • Boson Bison
    This is the "mental health industry." "I feel fine." Not according to your records. According to your records you're a nervous wreck. "That was because I lost my insurance. Since I got it back everything's OK. The medication is working." Our records indicate you are sad. According to our digitized computerized health system records you have a history of having different moods on different days. This is highly erratic behavior. "That other person isn't angry at me anymore. What about him?" We don't cover group therapy.
  • cpark
    Yep. I'm with the insurance company on this one.
  • Savantster
    .
    Then you don't understand what Depression is, nor do you understand that an instantaneous instant caught on a camera doesn't tell you anything substantive about someone's mental state.

    It is up to doctors to decide if she is "depressed" (in a dangerous, clinical way), not a picture on the interwebs.
    .
  • anninaz
    Perhaps you're right, we don't know what depression is. But I do know what goldbricking is. I once worked with a girl that generated probably 1/4 of my income for 2 years due to calling in sick at least once or twice during a 5 day work week. She came equipped with Dr. excuses, but I know for a fact that she took off to party with friends and smoke dope. Since someone had to cover her shifts, the other 4 people she worked with had to absorb her time off. It was lucrative, but I must admit, it got old fast.

    That is not to say that I am certain this person was goldbricking, nor would I presumed to judge that based on the evidence presented. She may have been goldbricking or she may still be sick with (clinical) depression. However, I don't believe for a moment that her insurance was cut off due to facebook. If anything, it was cut off due to her own foolishness by posting the pictures in such a public way on a basically public forum. If she wanted to share pictures of herself having a grand old time, she should have sent them to her friends privately in emails or something.
  • Buford
    Wow... sooo much stupidity in only two paragraphs.

    - You worked with a girl that generated 1/4 of your income due to calling in sick? In what type of industry do you work?

    - You don't feel that her insurance was cut off due to Facebook, but instead due to her foolishly posting the pics so publicly? So in your opinion, social network pic sharing justifies the loss of health insurance?
  • wyrdless
    The goldbricker didn't loose her health coverage, she lost her disability check.

    And yes, if the insurance company finds out that you aren't really disabled they stop sending you checks. They probably also sent someone to her house to take photos of her not being disabled. They have been doing that for decades.
  • jamzz94549
    Fuck you, you ignorant prick! I've suffered from depression...some days are better than others but dealing with the overall symptoms can be extremely overwhelming....

    that was meant for cpark, or I mean cprick...
  • mescalitospoke
    No F you, so do I. I'm not going to take a year's vacation from my responsibilities for it. There are plenty of people who function every day depressed. GROW UP
  • yvonneo
    How do you know there "are plenty of people who function every day depressed?" Depression is not about feeling blue every now and then. If a person is severely depressed, they cannot function properly.

    Have you actually been diagnosed by a physician as suffering from depression? It sure doesn't sound like it, because you don't seem to know or understand even the basics of this very debilitating mental disorder.
  • jexter
    And there are plenty of people who become so non-functional because of their depression that they actually choose to END THEIR OWN LIVES. And very often their acquaintances (though not their closest friends) are totally taken by surprise. "She seemed so happy!" they'll say, and because they DON'T FUCKING UNDERSTAND WHAT DEPRESSION IS, they're confused.

    Kind of like you, douchebag.
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