Smiling on Facebook costs Canadian her insurance

[coyote]

Source: AFP

MONTREAL (AFP) – Facebook 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.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091121/wl_canada_afp/lifestylecanadahealthinternetfacebook

[Chemisse]

1. I am wondering how the insurance company was able to

Access her Facebook photos. Most people restrict their info to friends. Is Facebook sharing/selling this access?

[boppers]

3. Most folks give it away.

"what could happen"?

[TCJ70]

8. You have to set it to be for your friends only...

...the default is for anyone to be able to see them.

[DavidDvorkin]

13. I think she said it was set to restricted access

So they should not have been able to see it.

Which makes me wonder as well whether Facebook let them see it.

[WriteDown]

14. Most likely this was vengeance from a former coworker/friend. nt.

[DavidDvorkin]

18. I hadn't thought of that

Could well be.

[Vinca]

2. I suspect this is long term disability coverage since Canadians

do not lose health coverage . . . unlike Americans.

[boppers]

4. Sick leave... for depression...

and a beach party?

I don't know anybody clinically depressed who goes to beach parties... I DO know some who go, and then leave, or can bear a few hours of it, but if she's cheating the system, well, that will catch up with her.

Of course, if she was depressed, she wouldn't care that much about being caught.

[fasttense]

5. That's no health insurance as we know it in America

That sounds more like disability insurance.

"Enjoying herself during a male strip-tease show at a Chippendales bar, celebrating her birthday and bathing in the sun."

If that doesn't cheer her up nothing will.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

6. Canadian Health would never prescribe a beach party

... but, sitting bundled up, next to a hole in lake ice, waiting for a fish to take the bait ... THERE's a perfect cure for depression, eh?

:hi:

[AndyA]

7. Amazing what Frist and insurance companies can diagnose with just a photo, isn't it?

They must be really brilliant! :eyes:

This is so pathetic. If you're depressed, I guess you should be taking too many pills every chance you get, or hiding in the bathroom with razor blades cutting yourself. :eyes: Obviously this insurance company knows ZILCH about depression.

[metalbot]

10. Depressed? Maybe? Too depressed to work? Maybe not...

I don't think they are denying that she's depressed. What they are denying is the statement that her disability is so severe that she can't work.

I've had family members suffer from extreme depression, so I know this is a real medical condition, but I'd also submit that it's possible she SHOULD be working.

[blueamy66]

12. I've suffered from severe anxiety and manageable anxiety.

When I was at my worst, I didn't leave my bed.

Now, I am 95% better and work 40+ hours a week.

If she can romp at the beach, then she can work.

JMHO

[Feron]

20. Not necessarily.

Not everyone is the same and that is the problem with anecdotes. Some people can seemingly function with major depression while another person doesn't leave his or her bed.

I've dealt with serious depression and there were moments in which I was happy. However that didn't mean that I was all better.

From my experience, her friends dragged her to these places in an effort to help her feel better. It may have also been her doctor's suggestion. And it may have even worked for a moment. But that doesn't mean that her depression is mild enough to go back to work.

And with this Facebook nonsense, the woman most certainly will be even more reluctant to leave her home for a therapeutic excursion again. Or leave her home at all.

Another reason why I don't have a Facebook or MySpace page.

[blueamy66]

24. True. I stand corrected.

I never thought of her being taking out to try to make her feel better.

[WriteDown]

15. I knew a cop in NYC who claimed he had a back injury and

was on long term disability for years. Didn't stop him from regularly skiing though. I always wanted to send a few photos of him on the slopes to his long term disability insurance. Never did, but was sorely tempted.

[tammywammy]

22. My friend's former boss was on leave for a neck injury

Then posted pictures of her at an outdoor concert jumping around in the mud. She's not a very nice woman, so I hope that someone turned her in. Karma

[LynnTheDem]

9. It was her LTD (long term disability) that was discontinued.

No Canadian loses their health insurance.

[SidDithers]

11. Exactly...

what she's probably lost is income paid to her while she's off on sick leave. This income support is provided through an extended health benefits insurance plan, usually paid for by her employer.

The cost of treatment for her illness or injury is still covered by her government health benefits.

Sid

[Posteritatis]

23. I lost mine briefly, but it was pure pilot error on my part

Either missed or forgot to submit the form to update and renew my health card. Noticed I'd let it lapse, went "consarnit," filled out a quarter-page form, confirmed my donor status, and everything was back to normal about a week later.

We're usually prodded to update that three or four months before it lapses, but the city renumbered and renamed a bunch of streets recently so everything was thrown into chaos for awhile. The situation was pretty unusual and, as I said, as much my own fault as anything else.

The article, though, is referring to disability coverage, which is a whole different ballgame.

[usregimechange]

16. depressed people often smile for pictures but i suppose go to the beach infrequently

[aikoaiko]

17. It doesn't sound like her depression was keeping her homebound.

:shrug:

But these things are complicated. It stuns me that the health insurance didn't rely on a more thorough investigation before pulling her benefits.

[tonysam]

19. We are getting only one side of this story--hers.

I'll bet there was a LOT more evidence against her than just FB pictures.

As for disability, I knew somebody I had worked with shortly before I was canned who tried to get Social Security permanent disability even though she was working full time, but apparently SS rejected it. She said she had fibromyalgia, but SS evidently rejected her claim.

After all, she could work full time, even if she missed work frequently and could barely put in a full day when she did show up. She ended up going to Canada, apparently wanting to eventually qualify for the health insurance system there.

[question everything]

21. Everyone has to learn the hard way

that anything digital - photos, emails, posts on message boards, sex tapes - can turn back and bite them.

[HipChick]

25. IBM allows you to work from home..

I don't know what role she plays in the company..but don't know why this wasn't an option..she's only mad because she got caught..

[Spike89]

26. Sounds very fishy

I suppose she may have captioned and dated the photos she posted on Facebook, perhaps something like "Here I am, free not to pretend I'm depressed on Tuesday, November..." However, that isn't really likely is it? So, does anyone really think depressed people NEVER smile, or that if they do that they are cured? Does being hauled out by your friends on your birthday mean you are not depressed? Could a vacation have been an attempt to "shake" the depression?

This story doesn't make sense with just the info we're given.