Woman mauled by black bear, insurance agents

Last summer, while working on my ranch in the Southern Sierra mountains, I was attacked and badly mauled by a predatory black bear. Although my face was ripped off, and I was blinded, I was able to make my way back to my vehicle and drive myself down a rutted mountain road to a fire station for help. From there I was airlifted to UCLA Medical Center where a team of nearly a hundred people put me back together in a grueling seven-hour emergency surgery.

   That was the easy part...

   Although I’ve maintained a private individual health insurance policy with Blue Cross of California for thirty (30) years, they have, at every turn of my ordeal, tried to waffle, obfuscate, or outright deny me benefits for medical care.

I am also the daughter, sister, mother, sister-in-law, niece, and former wife of physicians–and spent my 20’s working in the medical malpractice insurance industry–so I do know the ins and outs of the system in detail. Medical insurance is a license to print money...by the industry's own admission.If anyone is interested in using me as a "spokesvictim," I’ve documented my injuries and recovery in both journalistic and photographic detail and have a complete record of my insurance travails. I am in an unique position to advocate for getting the insurance industry out of the medical care system–and am more than willing to offer up my privacy and dignity in order to do so. I am free to travel and testify, am articulate and funny, and have had highly positive responses to my public appearances thus far.