{"id":415479,"date":"2026-01-18T19:49:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T19:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/415479\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T19:49:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T19:49:17","slug":"s-f-officials-press-blue-shield-to-cover-firefighters-cancer-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/415479\/","title":{"rendered":"S.F. officials press Blue Shield to cover firefighters\u2019 cancer care"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Daniel Lurie joined San Francisco firefighters and other elected officials on the steps of City Hall on Friday to demand that Blue Shield of California cover cancer treatment that has been denied<\/a> to retired firefighter Ken Jones, a 17-year veteran of the force.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou all always have our back, and we\u2019re always going to have your back, especially when it comes to your health care,\u201d Lurie told the crowd of over 50 people, including many firefighters and health practitioners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jones was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer about a year ago. In early December, his doctor \u2014 a leading oncologist at UCSF \u2014 recommended a new treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But his insurance company, Blue Shield, denied the request, claiming that the plan did not meet standard oncology guidelines, according to Helen Horvath, Jones\u2019 wife. Jones, whose health has deteriorated and who was undergoing treatment, was not at the rally.<\/p>\n

Jones is not the only firefighter whose care was denied: Supervisor Matt Dorsey said at today\u2019s rally that he has \u201csince been made aware of three other firefighters facing cancer in which their treatment was initially denied or delayed by Blue Shield.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn two of those cases, treatment was finally approved, but only after extraordinary advocacy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The denials have led some elected officials to question the city\u2019s contract with Blue Shield. Last year, the city changed<\/a> healthcare providers for some public workers from UnitedHealthcare to Blue Shield, affecting some 5,000 employees and retirees, Dorsey said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven what we have seen play out over the last year, including but not limited to these denials, we are starting to regret that decision,\u201d Dorsey said.<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 family first spoke out about his denial of care last Thursday. The next day, on Jan. 9, Blue Shield approved a new treatment plan \u2014 but not the one Jones\u2019 doctor recommended.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Horvath said the modified plan covers a different chemotherapy medication and doesn\u2019t include immunotherapy, which was recommended by Jones\u2019 doctor.<\/p>\n

Horvath said the delay in care has impacted Jones\u2019 health. \u201cWhile we waited, and the oncologist and his team tried in vain to get through Blue Shield\u2019s appeals process, Ken\u2019s condition deteriorated,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"AKen Jones, retired firefighter with the San Francisco Fire Department. Photo courtesy of his wife, Helen Horvath.<\/p>\n

\u201cDelays in treatment are not paperwork issues,\u201d said Sam Gebler, president of Local 798, the firefighters\u2019 labor union, speaking at the rally. \u201cThey are life and death decisions. When insurance companies deny cancer care to firefighters, it sends a chilling message that once your service ends, once you hang up your gear, you are expendable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Adam Wood, vice-president of the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation, said one retired San Francisco firefighter died in December 2025 after a two-month delay in his cancer treatment. The foundation is now reaching out to other organizations to see if other retirees have also been experiencing denials in treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure this is not a problem that\u2019s specific for firefighters,\u201d Wood said. \u201cI think we just noticed it first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Firefighters have a higher risk<\/a> of being diagnosed with and dying from cancer<\/a>. In California, a legal presumption<\/a> automatically links firefighters\u2019 cancer to their job.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blue Shield did not respond to questions on Jones\u2019 case, or any of the other firefighters who were denied coverage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Medicare members, health plans must follow medical policy established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,\u201d the company wrote in a statement to Mission Local.<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 doctor is Matthew Gubens<\/a>, a world-renowned expert in lung cancer working at UCSF. Horvath said he has a deep understanding of innovative cancer treatments and knows Jones\u2019 specific situation. \u201cHe\u2019s the right person to make treatment decisions, not an insurance company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shannon Stabile, a retired paramedic, said hearing the speeches at the rally was quite rough. Her wife, retired battalion chief Denise Newman, served 28 years in the San Francisco Fire Department and was recently diagnosed with stage three endometrial cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stabile said her wife has two insurance providers, Workman\u2019s Comp and Blue Shield. She hoped at least one of them would cover treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frightening to think you pay thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars into this system, and the one time you need it, it\u2019s not there for you,\u201d Stabile said.<\/p>\n

The firefighters\u2019 union has vowed to continue pressing for coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirefighters don\u2019t get to deny calls. We don\u2019t get to walk away when things get hard. Neither should insurance companies that promise to fix the problem and profit from our service,\u201d said Gebler with Local 798.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will stand with our brother and we will fight until this is fixed, not just for him, but for every firefighter who may face this nightmare in the future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Daniel Lurie joined San Francisco firefighters and other elected officials on the steps of City Hall on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[5723,97,252,253],"class_list":["post-415479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-firefighters","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}