Warning: Spoilers ahead for Grey's Anatomy season 19, episode 9
Grey’s Anatomy season 19, episode 9 featured an important storyline with intern Benson “Blue” Kwan and a patient that continues a controversial Meredith story. With a new group of interns introduced in season 19, there have been many parallels and continuations from earlier seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, and episode 9 provided yet another example of this. Meredith may have left Grey’s Anatomy, but Blue’s story with his patient shows that one of her biggest, most controversial storylines will continue.
A lot of Grey’s Anatomy season 19, episode 9 centered around a party the interns threw to celebrate moving into Meredith’s house following her exit from the series. While the party provided plenty of drama, Blue and Jules were stuck at the hospital and provided the opportunity to scrub in on one of Maggie’s surgeries. There have been many memorable and heartbreaking patient storylines over Grey’s Anatomy’s 19 seasons, and this story was no exception. Blue’s involvement in the case revealed more about his backstory and touched on an important issue that Meredith had seasons before.
Blue & Meredith’s Grey's Anatomy Storylines Address Important Health Insurance Problems
After Natalia, one of Maggie’s patients on Grey’s Anatomy, discovered that she’d need a surgery she couldn’t afford, Blue suggested she and her husband get a medical divorce. While the patients followed his advice, Maggie kicked Blue off the case. The actions and punishment weren’t as severe as when Meredith was fired from Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital for committing insurance fraud in season 15, but both storylines addressed the same critical issue.
Natalia’s marriage to Elliot increases her household income, which makes her eligible for less insurance coverage, which she needed to afford her surgery. So, while the couple didn’t want to divorce for the reasons most couples do, they decided to because of the problems with healthcare costs in the United States. In Grey’s Anatomy season 15, Meredith committing insurance fraud to help her patient get the care she needed but couldn’t afford highlighted this issue in a major way.
How Grey’s Anatomy Can Continue Addressing This Issue With Blue’s Character
When Webber confronted Meredith in Grey’s Anatomy for committing insurance fraud, her response was, “The system is broken, we know it is. So what does that say if we don’t fix it?” It wasn’t the first time Grey’s Anatomy addressed an important issue, and it certainly wasn’t the last. Currently, the OBs at Grey Sloan are wearing black scrubs as a protest for women’s reproductive rights, and issues such as alcoholism, domestic abuse, sexual assault, and gun violence have been tackled by Grey’s Anatomy as well. Blue’s character could continue this important trend with health insurance issues in particular.
After Maggie reprimanded Blue in Grey’s Anatomy for what she felt was crossing the line with a patient, Blue revealed the heartbreaking reason why he did it. Blue told Maggie that he still has debt from his mom’s medical bills from when she was dying. “You want me to pretend that medical bills don’t exist?” Blue asked Maggie. “That the system doesn’t force people to choose between bankruptcy and debt?” He said that whenever he gets a bill for his mom’s medical care, “it feels like a noose around my neck.”
Blue’s words to Maggie were reminiscent of Meredith’s to Webber’s in Grey’s Anatomy season 15, showing that not only did his story continue Meredith’s, but there’s an opportunity to keep addressing the issue with the healthcare system in America. Blue is ionate about the issue and will fight for his patients not to go through what he has. Grey’s Anatomy could use Blue’s character to highlight this critical issue just as Meredith had seasons prior.
