Two months after its launch, the Huffington Post Investigative Fund published the story of Benjamin French, a 12-year-old from Michigan who was born without part of his right arm. His family’s insurance provider, a Teamsters health plan administered by Blue Cross Blue Shield, had refused to cover his most recent prosthesis because he had reached his lifetime maximum benefit of $30,000. Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow read from the story on the Senate floor during a debate over health care reform.
The following week, the Teamsters health plan said it would cover French’s device and raised by $30,000 the cap for others under the same health plan.
