Felling Goliath (a wheelchair update)

After five months of paperwork, and two denials, it only took two days of a full-on media blitz for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas to cry “Uncle!”

On Monday, I received a phone call from Jackie in BCBS’s Escalation Department (that’s the “oh cr*p this is a social media nightmare!” department.) She informed me that they had gotten a “waterfall of tweets” and were pulling Ella’s file for an “Urgent review.” She told me that it had been put into the “review within the week” pile as soon as they saw my first tweet, but with the growing crescendo had inspired them to get on it a little faster. (Thank you tweeters and people who messaged them on Facebook.)

Tuesday the tweeting continued, and caught the attention of Monica Crowley from Fox News and political pundit Michelle Malkin who were kind enough to retweet it to their hundreds of thousands of followers. It was at that point that my phone rang again and the same Jackie spoke with a shaky nervous tone as she told me that it was in front of the medical review people as she spoke.

This morning, the tweets started up again early, and before noon I was once again speaking with Jackie who said “Good morning, Mrs Frech, I have good news and good news! After review by the medical necessity committee we have approved not only the wheels you want, but all of the upgrades you had asked for. You will still be responsible for the co-pay of 20% of the cost! but the entire thing is now approved and we’re mailing the letter to you this afternoon.”

When she estimated the total co-pay amount for me, I started to cry (but I didn’t let her know that.) The amount she quoted was within pennies of the amount raised by our “Swear Jar” over the past two days. Within 48 hours, the power of the internet, the generosity of so many, and the power of prayer had not only brought down the Goliath of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, but removed the mountain of the enormous co-pay. I have all of you, and Our Heavenly Father, to thank for that.

One of the enthusiastic tweeters (@MtDave1) reminded me of this passage from the book of Luke:

Then he told them a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’ For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.'” The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.

So, thank you all for helping me to be like the widow who persistently harangued the judge for justice, and adding your prayers to ours so that God compelled them to do what was right.

**post from my phone while I’m traveling. I apologize for any typos.
***Any funds from the “Swear Jar” which are over what is needed for Ella’s chair will be donated to other children we know who are fighting a similar battle. Thank you.