July 2022 was the month I finally bludgeoned HCF into obeying the law. After reluctantly accepting an order from Chairman Mark Johnson, HCF quickly decided that it had better things to do and made clear it would not pay the hundreds of thousands of dollars it owed Lift.
People dying from cancer did not matter to HCF CEO Sheena Jack.
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Margaret and I, 8th of December 2009.
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Margaret, 8th of December 2009.
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July 2022 – My Final Dealings With HCF
This table summarises my communications with HCF during July 2022.
Communication | Length | Sent | Response Date | Response Length | Response Sad |
Letter to Mark Johnson 8 July 2023 | 13 pages | Email to mark@markgmjohnson.com at 5:28 pm 8 July 2022 | Email 3.36 pm 9 July 2023 | 1 line | Acknowledgment of receipt of my letter |
Letter from Mark Johnson 29 July 2022 | 1 page | Email from Mjohnson@hcf.com.au 10.29 am on 1 August 2022 | I did not bother to reply | Zero |
Letter to HCF Dated 8 July 2022
My final HCF letter was dated 8 July 2022. By then, I had only contempt for HCF. This is the start of my final letter; I am breaking it into small bits.
I sent this to Mark Johnson on the same day that I sent my useless letters to the Federal Ministers. HCF had decided yet again to defecate all over Lift.
Re: Repeated False and Misleading Conduct and Probable Cartel Behaviour by HCF and Other Private Health Insurance Funds Introduction I have consciously refrained from responding to your letter dated 13 May 2022 even though that letter maintained the legally ridiculous assertion that HCF had acted within the law in refusing to process claims received for services provided to cancer patients by Lift Cancer Care Services. I refrained because I detected a hint in your letter (paragraph 5) that you and the Board of HCF might have directed the senior executives of HCF to comply with the law in future. I felt it appropriate to wait and see what happened. If HCF made good its refusal to comply with its legal duties, I was prepared to consider letting the matter be. HCF’S Agreement to Obey the Law Apart from the hint given in your letter, I received an email from Lynette Macks of HCF on 12 May 2022 listing a number of claims lodged with HCF for LCCS services which had been paid on a “discretionary basis”. Subsequent to 12 May 2022, a number of other claims were paid by HCF on a “discretionary basis”. For the sake of making sure there can be no mistake about the legal status of these “discretionary” payments, I point out that the making of “discretionary payments” does not provide HCF with any legal basis for claiming that it has complied with its legal obligations. If HCF decides to give me money that it says I have no legal right to receive, that is a bonus for me. It does not discharge any of HCF’s legal obligations to pay me any money. I was prepared to overlook this “legal technicality” if HCF simply started doing what it should always have been doing – obeying the law of Australia. Given recent developments, I think I will have to revisit this “legal technicality”. I was also heartened by being advised by Lift Cancer Care Services that by letter dated 1 June 2022, Julie Andrews from HCF made an “offer” to Lift Cancer Care services. You might be aware that the making of an “offer” has significant legal status. It is the prelude to making legally enforceable contracts. If an “offer” is accepted, an enforceable contract is created. In this letter, HCF “offered” to start complying with the law. Ms Whiting of Lift Cancer Care Services sought clarification of this “offer” in an email dated 1 June 2022 and Brian Osborne of HCF provided the requested clarification in an email dated 3:29 pm on 1 June 2022. I quote verbatim the email from Mr Osborne, complete with the red coloured font that he used in his email. “Dear Lauren, With respect to your queries: 1 Can you please confirm HCF will be paying all historical claims lodged by Lift Cancer Care Services (LCCS), dating back to 2018 on the basis of the documentation already provided by LCCS for each of these claims? Yes confirming HCF will pay historical claims, excluding where we have paid benefits direct to Members. 2 With respect to Julie’s second dot point (relating to ex gratia payments), I note that to comply with this, we would just need to be informed by HCF on a case by case basis if (HCF) has made an ex gratia payment to a Lift patient in respect of their episode of care at LCCS. In the absence of such advice from HCF, LCCS would not know that an ex gratia payment had been made to the member. I am sure that you will see this is just an operational necessity. Are you able to confirm HCF will be able to provide us with this information? Yes HCF will provide a list of Members where we have paid ex-gratia benefits and any duplicate claims will be declined. Regards Brian” The HCF “offer” to start complying with the law was accepted by Lift Cancer Care Services under cover of an email sent at 5:09 pm on 2 June 2022 by Ms Whiting. This is a verbatim copy of that email. “Dear Julie, Thank you for your email letter dated 1 June 2022. Lift agrees to the stated conditions under which HCF will make payments for claims made by Lift arising from services provided to HCF members as set out by the Private Health Insurance (Benefit Requirements) Rules (Rules). Lift will continue to provide a Type C certificate signed by the member’s treating practitioner that includes the medical condition or special circumstances that require hospital treatment. Lift will continue to obtain each HCF member’s informed financial consent before charging them with any out-pocket costs. Lift does not waive its rights in relation to past claims, since it understands that such claims will be paid in accordance with the4 terms of the 1 June letter, as confirmed in Brian Osborne’s email sent on 1 June (attached). Lift understands from your letter that HCF intends in future to accept and honour claims submitted by Lift directly to HCF on behalf of the patients of Lift, subject to Lift complying with the above. Please confirm that this is the intention of HCF. Regards Lauren Whiting CEO Lift Cancer Care Services” This exchange of correspondence that I have just quoted verbatim seemed to confirm that HCF had finally agreed in writing to start obeying the law. It also confirmed the making of a legally enforceable contract. I viewed this as a significant, positive development. It appeared to me that probably under orders from yourself and the other Directors of HCF, HCF was finally about to abandon its former complete disregard for the law – at least in relation to Lift Cancer Care Services.. |
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