Blue Cross Blue Shield lowers payment for therapists, pediatricians under new ‘downcoding’ policy

The day a Chicago woman named Rachel learned Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois was "downcoding" her longtime psychiatrist’s claims and cutting his pay, she immediately got to work. She reached out to elected and state officials to see what, if anything, could be done to reverse the insurance company’s new policy that left her psychiatrist getting paid so little for each visit that he was considering dropping her insurance entirely. “I’m going to do absolutely everything I can do to avenge my…