The Right Card. The Right Care. Real Stories.

“It was right after my husband and I got married. I came home from exercising at the gym, and I passed out. This had been going on for a while. But I didn’t have health insurance so I told myself that I was dehydrated and I ignored it. I didn’t want to worry about the money portion of it all. It's a very helpless feeling when you need care and the reason you don't get that care is because you're afraid of the costs. It's terrifying.

But this time, my husband was there. He was trying to wake me up and get me in the car so we could go to the emergency room. I kept fighting him on it, and he couldn't figure out why. Finally I broke down and told him that I wouldn’t be able to afford the emergency room costs or the medicine.

And then he told me he put me on his Blue Cross plan yesterday.

So I went in. And I found out that it wasn't dehydration; it was something very serious. I had a heart condition. The doctor told me I was very lucky that I came in when I did, or else I would have needed surgery.

Knowing I was insured by Blue Cross gave me security and made me feel more comfortable. It’s a security like none other. Having the Blue Cross Blue Shield card in my wallet — well it feels like armor. It feels like I'm part of this special elite club and can get what I need, whatever the crisis.”

“In December of 2011, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, Stage 2A. When I got the diagnosis, there was an initial shock, I guess, but I worried most about my daughter because she had lost her father to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma a few years before.

So I would say, like a mantra to myself, I want to be alive for 20 years and have at least one grandchild.

Instead of taking my diagnosis as a verdict, which is kind of negative, I turned it into a challenge.

And because I had Blue Cross Blue Shield, I didn't have to worry about how I was going to go forward with this challenge. I knew that things were going to be covered. Blue Cross gave me a level of ease that enabled me to move forward with what I had to do to get well.

Today I have a mouse pad at home with a pink ribbon on it. And every anniversary I take a Sharpie and I write down one year, two years, and now I'm up to 13.

I’ve been cancer free for 13 years and looking forward to so many more. My daughter still has her mother, and I have two beautiful little grandsons.

Blue Cross Blue Shield takes worry out of your life at a time when you don't need to be worrying at all, you need to be positive.”

“My wife was frying okra. My wife, she's from Mississippi so that's her favorite thing to do – fry okra. Just so happens she left the burner on high and it didn't take long to ignite. I ran to the stove, grabbed the pot, and before I was able to move the pot off the burner, the flame ignited on me. I just dropped the pot, which caused grease and flame to land and hit my arm. That's how I got second- and third-degree burns. The pain – it was unbearable.

And the treatment is long. It takes a long time to heal. I was out of work for about three months.

And I've still got bills coming in from living in my house. Utility bills, my car. But I didn’t have to worry about paying my medical bills. It would have been expensive without Blue Cross Blue Shield to the point I probably would have been overwhelmed. But thanks to Blue Cross, I was able to focus on healing without worrying about the financial burden.

In the end, everything worked out perfectly, to be honest with you.

I don’t eat fried okra, that’s the funny part of the story.”

I have a solitary, fibrous tumor that is growing in the meninges of my brain.

Over the years, I've had three brain surgeries for it, two bouts of radiation for 30 days each. And now, as a result of those surgeries, one additional surgery for the insertion of a shunt.

The tumor is following a blood supply and I don't believe it's going to go away. But you can get busy living or you can get busy dying. And I choose to press on.

The healthcare system, it's a lot to manage through. At some point, Louisiana Blue assigned me a case manager who works on my behalf, streamlining everything.  She’s wonderful and has been very helpful throughout this whole situation. She always gets us straight answers that are manageable for real people. She's in contact with my wife constantly when there's something going on. Having her in our corner, pulling the rope in the same direction, is super helpful.

I've been with Louisiana Blue for 15-plus years and it’s very comforting. It gives you the ability to do the things that you want to do because you don't have to worry about whether or not you're going to be able to get the treatment you need. The costs for the treatments are astronomical. But we haven't felt the financial burden because we have Louisiana Blue.

I'm just your average guy who has had a little bit of unlucky stuff going on. But God is good and you keep going with determination. To be honest, I don't really know any other way.

We've been very blessed and very lucky, and we're very grateful because we know that Louisiana Blue is going to be there for us when we need them.

I started teaching 20 years ago, and that was the first opportunity to have health insurance. There were multiple insurers, but everyone told me to choose Louisiana Blue. So I did.

For years I was the picture of health. I never missed school. But a couple of years ago, I started feeling something in my stomach…

When I found out it was cancer, I was shocked. Scared. I only had one friend that I knew of who had cancer, and she passed away. So you always think the worst.

Telling my three kids I had cancer was tough. I made my husband tell them. I still can't talk about it because it makes me upset.

But having Louisiana Blue took away a huge worry. The medical bills were taken care of. That was not the worry at all. I don't know how people without health insurance can make it with cancer. Seeing how much things cost, we couldn't have done anything without Louisiana Blue.

Louisiana Blue gives me peace of mind. I will always have that card with me.

I've been cancer free for 18 months now.