A 17-year veteran of the San Francisco Fire Department is crowdfunding his stage 4 lung cancer treatment after his insurer, Blue Shield of California, refused to pay for the chemotherapy and immunotherapy his doctors say he needs.
At a Glance
- Ken Jones, 70, diagnosed with adenocarcinoma in March 2025 after 17 years on the job
- Blue Shield denied coverage and an appeal filed by his oncologists
- Out-of-pocket cost for the life-saving regimen is about $50,000
- Why it matters: City-negotiated insurance for public servants is under scrutiny as a firefighter’s family pleads for help
Jones retired from the department and believes his cancer stems from years of inhaling smoke and toxins. The American Lung Association notes firefighters face heightened lung-cancer risk because of on-the-job carcinogen exposure.
After the denial, Jones’s wife Helen, herself a 14-year firefighter, and daughter Rachel took their case to San Francisco City Hall on January 8, asking the city’s Health Service Board to intervene. The board oversees health contracts for city workers.
“Today, I am forced to stand here and beg because an insurance company decided that profits matter more than the life of a man who spent his career protecting this city,” Rachel said, in tears. “Blue Shield has decided that my father’s life is not worth paying for.”
Fire Department Chief Jeanine Nicholson, a cancer survivor, stood with the family.
“This is not the first firefighter this has happened to, nor will it be the last if something doesn’t change,” she said.
A Blue Shield spokesperson declined to comment on Jones’s case, citing patient-privacy laws, but told News Of Losangeles the company uses clinical criteria to authorize care and encourages members to raise concerns. The insurer also told NBC Bay Area it values its relationship with the city and will work with the Health Service Board on member issues.
Helen Jones told the board the denial is actively harming her husband.
“That denial is causing serious harm to Ken’s health and is now threatening his life. He has painful, metastatic tumors in his bones, in his lymph nodes, and soft tissues, as well as tumors in his brain,” she said.
Rachel added: “He ran into burning buildings, inhaled toxic smoke, and put his life on the line again and again, so that others could survive. Now, when he needs the help the most, the insurance company provided by this city through Blue Shield is denying him the medication his doctors say is necessary to keep him alive.”
With no coverage, the family launched a GoFundMe. The campaign quickly surpassed its goal, and on January 10 the family posted: “Thank you all for your generosity. We have reached our fundraising goal. We are honored and grateful for your interest and support. We encourage donations to the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Fund.”
Key Takeaways
- Jones’s doctors maintain the denied therapy is medically necessary
- The city negotiates insurance contracts for firefighters, placing the Health Service Board at the center of future reforms
- Similar coverage denials have affected other firefighters, according to Chief Nicholson
