10/01/2009 06:57:30 PM EST
Please Help Dawn Smith beat CIGNA's Continuing Horror Treatment
posted by gatekeeper50
You can help Dawn Smith by signing the MoveOn letter below and by contacting your Senators and Representative. Sen. Maria Cantwell (WA) is a member of the Finance Committee and was a fence sitter until recently after thousands of her constituents contacted her. Read below Dawn's letter what happened after Sen. Cantwell heard from her constituents:
Dear MoveOn member (and TYT reader),
I'm at the end of my rope. What CIGNA is doing to me is—well, it's outrageous.
I have a brain tumor. Doctors are ready to help me. But CIGNA has been blocking me from getting testing and treatment for two years, while almost doubling my premiums. Then, this week was the kicker. CIGNA's pharmacy called to say that the co-pay on the medicine that helps control my debilitating head pain is skyrocketing from $10 to $1,115. That's not a typo. They're making me pay one hundred times what I'm paying now, in addition to my $753/month premium.
I can't afford that. So when the pain comes, I won't have any defense. I'll spend hours in the fetal position, out of my mind with pain.
When my story went public a couple of weeks ago—with the help of over 100,000 MoveOn members—CIGNA said they would pay for a test I'd been asking for at Cleveland Clinic. It was a step in the right direction. But after two years of denials, and with a long course of treatment ahead of me, I knew better than to just take them at their word.
So I asked questions. But they wouldn't offer any explanation for why they denied my coverage for so long, or any assurance that they had changed their procedures so I wouldn't face the same unjust denials again. And I began to wonder if they were more interested in just sweeping my story under the rug than actually helping me.
When I got this latest news from CIGNA's pharmacy on Tuesday, I kept asking myself, is this a mistake? Or is this happening because I went public with my case? Are other CIGNA customers receiving the same phone calls?
I used to give CIGNA the benefit of the doubt, but after years of unexplained denials, I've had enough. So I'm asking for your help again. For myself, and for everyone else who is suffering, I am asking CIGNA for answers.
And I think it would help if thousands of people like you were to join me in demanding them. I'm writing them a short letter with a simple question: Why? Can you add your name to my letter?
http://pol.moveon.org/dawn/
?id=17404-9225915-359Z9rx&a
mp;t=1Here's what I've written to Dr. Jeffrey Kang, CIGNA's Chief Medical Officer:
As you probably know, your company has denied me needed care for two years while I suffer from a debilitating but treatable brain tumor. I pay my $753.47 premiums. I follow the proper procedures. But CIGNA refuses to give me the care I need.
Instead, you keep increasing my prices. First my premiums rose by hundreds of dollars, and now my prescription costs are going up by more than 10,000%.
What makes you think you can treat sick people this way? When will you stop doing this to me and the thousands of people like me who are suffering? And if you solve this latest problem, how do I know you won't do this to me again next week—that you're actually changing your ways and not just trying to make your PR problem disappear?
Please answer these questions. I need to know, for the sake of my health and my life. Many others have signed this letter too, to support me and make sure I get answers.
Respectfully,
Dawn Smith Thanks for all you're doing. I don't know where I'd be without MoveOn members' help.
Most sincerely,
Dawn
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Washington state's Cantwell wants changes made to Baucus health care bill
Les Blumenthal | McClatchy Newspapers • Published September 16, 2009
WASHINGTON — Sen. Maria Cantwell said unless significant changes were made she would be unable to support a major health care reform bill unveiled Wednesday by the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
The Washington Democrat, a member of the Finance Committee, said the measure from Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., did not include a government-run insurance option and failed to overhaul the Medicare reimbursement formula which is critical to Washington state.
"I wouldn't vote for a bill that doesn't have Medicare reform and the public option," Cantwell said in a telephone interview. "What would I tell the people in Washington state?"
Baucus has spent months trying to negotiate a bipartisan bill with Republican committee members, but in the end he failed to gain any GOP support. Cantwell's opposition may be an early sign Baucus could have trouble from some Democratic committee members. The committee is expected to consider the legislation next week.
Baucus' bill would extend health care coverage to 29 million of the estimated 47 million people who don't have it, expand Medicaid to cover some of them, require everyone to have health insurance and create new state insurance exchanges, or marketplaces, where consumers could shop for a plan. The bill would also bar insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
The Montana senator said his bill would cost about $862 billion, a lower price tag than any of the other health care reform bills currently floating around Capitol Hill.
As Baucus unveiled his plan, the White House released a new analysis of U.S. Census numbers which showed the number of uninsured people in Washington state had grown from 763,000 to 808,000 in 2008. The number includes people who haven't had insurance for an entire year and does not include those who have lost their coverage because of the recession.
Cantwell has faced some criticism because she had not spoken out decisively in favor of the so-called public option.
But Wednesday she made clear it was critical if she was to support the bill. The senator said such an option would likely lower premiums by creating competition for private insurers and provide a much needed safety net for people living in poverty or near-poverty.
"The public plan would be cheaper than subsidies for the insurance companies," Cantwell said.
Cantwell and the other Democratic members of the state's congressional delegation have long-insisted any reform bill has to include changes in the Medicare reimbursement formula. Medicare reimbursements for doctors and hospitals in Washington state are among the lowest in the nation. The current formula punishes states like Washington which have efficient health care systems and rewards those that have inefficient systems, Cantwell said.
If the efficiencies already adopted by Washington state were imposed nationally, Cantwell said it could save Medicare roughly $100 billion a year.
Cantwell said she and others will likely offer amendments when the Senate Finance Committee meets next week.
"It's a long process," she said. "We will see what happens."
