Stephen Gray

My interests:

Reuters won a gold award worth $5,000 on Wednesday for its reporting on US health insurers dropping patients after they were diagnosed with breast cancer.

The four-month investigation Reuters probe, conducted by Washington-based reporter Murray Waas, supported by additional reporting from Lewis Krauskopf, revealed that a giant health insurer had targeted policyholders recently diagnosed with breast cancer for aggressive investigations and cancelled some policies. An exhaustive study of records, hearings and dozens of interviews with experts, officials and patients led to the Murray Waas story.

“We published the story in April and the reaction was swift,” said Claudia Parsons, deputy editor for enterprise reporting in the Americas. “The Obama administration and Congressional Democrats urged insurers to end the policy known as rescission immediately – five months before the new healthcare law would require it to do so.”

The fourth annual Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism were presented in Phoenix, Arizona.

“Reuters and Murray Waas contrasted the upfront public stance of a health care company and its CEO to the reality behind the scenes, revealing the insidiousness of gatekeeping by software,” said the judges.