wes jansen

Interests: Health care managment and reform

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

The four-month investigation 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 led to the story by Lewis Krauskopf and Murray Waas led to the story.

“We published the story in April and the reaction was swift,” said Claudia Parsons, deputy editor for enterprise reporting, “The Obama administration and Congressional Democrats urged insurers to end the policy. The fourth annual Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism were presented in Phoenix, Arizona. Murray Waas is himself a cancer survivor who has been active on behalf of other cancer patients. ■