I read the news article on The Chattanoogan about the former BlueCross BlueShield employee who was fired for sending emails to state legislators about “her concerns and grievances regarding vaccine mandates.” I also read the comments that were posted on The Chattanoogan’s article link on Facebook. Just like the whole vaccine mandate issue, the opinions are to the extreme.
BlueCross BlueShield is no stranger lately to negative media regarding their despotic and perhaps even premature vaccine mandates.
But it’s not what you would expect from a company that is supposedly the custodian of the health and medical insurance for thousands of Tennesseans. Even Roy Exum talked about the trust Tennesseans used to place in BCBST, and the waning of that trust with the treatment of its employees in the past few months. Is it just more “profit over people?” Is that limited to BCBST’s employees?
The comments in The Chattanoogan’s Facebook post echo the concern of many Tennesseans on both sides of this issue. There are questions regarding the integrity of our local government, social media policies, the vaccination issue, and many others.
It is not clear from the Breaking News article if the BCBST employee used company email and contacted the legislators during her scheduled work hours, or if she used her personal email and her personal time to contact her elected officials regarding her concerns. It should also concern all Tennesseans that a member of the Legislature is allegedly playing partisan politics with a large corporation.
Another interesting comment is from BCBST’s Vice President of Corporate Communications & Community Relations, according to his Facebook profile, where he states:”
“Yeah, they reached out for comment after our call. It was bound to happen. I hope she got a pro bono lawyer, cuz she’s gonna lose.”
It seems a bit ironic that the employee was fired over a social media issue and that this comment by a representative of BCBST was left on social media.
Again, BlueCross BlueShield has become increasingly unpredictable these last few months, but then again, what hasn’t.
Holly Abernathy
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It has come to our attention that a BlueCross employee posted a comment on the Chattanoogan’s Facebook page that was intended to be a private message. We want to be clear that this comment does not reflect the position of BlueCross, and we regret this occurred.
We are reviewing the matter, and will take appropriate disciplinary action, consistent with our policies and procedures.
Dalya Qualls
SVP and Chief Communications Officer
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee