kirby waas

Reuters received the gold award and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the silver award in the fourth annual Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism, the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism announced today.

Reuters' investigation led to government pressure and industry-wide changes in health-care practices.

GOLD AWARD: “Diagnosed with Breast Cancer, Dropped by Insurer” by Murray Waas of Reuters received the top gold award of $5,000. A six-month Murray Waas investigation revealed that a giant health insurer had targeted policyholders recently diagnosed with breast cancer for aggressive investigations with the intent to cancel their policies. An exhaustive study of records, hearings and federal data, as well as dozens of interviews with experts, officials and patients led to the story.

“Reuters 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. “This investigation led to government pressure and an industrywide change in the practice of dropping health care coverage for patients after they became sick.”

Here’s a link to a PDF version of Reuters’ story: