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A day after Politico reported the health insurance industry is launching a health care reform campaign next week, the progressive reformers are firing back.
In a stunning example of how insurance industry practices are part of the problem, a 19-year-old Florida woman was denied the brain surgery she needed and then told she was not covered under the plan her parents paid into.
From TampaBay10.com:
Caitlin needs immediate surgery for her condition, and she was hours away from getting it.
The problem? Her insurance company, Aetna. They approved the operation 15 minutes too late. Caitlin lost the operating room to another patient and had to be rescheduled.
Then, the company came back with an even bigger shocker. They told her they would not cover her brain surgery at all, that her benefits ran out.
The family would now have to foot the bill at a staggering $113,000. Tampa General Hospital was requiring $55,000 down, and the rest after the operation.
This is exactly why it is so important that we don't trust the insurance companies on health care reform. We have to make sure that Congress is ready to pass real reform in 2009.
If you are in Columbus, Ohio tomorrow, come on out to help us stop the insurers from thwarting real reform. More details here.
As Levana noted earlier, a group called American's Health Insurance Plans, an insurance industry front group, is launching a campaign to convince America that they are indeed satisfied with their private insurance coverage.
The idea that Americans can be satisfied with the current state of health care in America is silly. Americans aren't satisfied with rising prices, yet lower coverage. We aren't satisfied with the insurance industry's murder-by-spreadsheet. We need a public option for health insurance, and we need to make sure insurance industry practices that kill Americans are made illegal.
We are fighting back against the insurance industry tomorrow.
Tomorrow, in Ohio, AHIP will be launching their campaign and hosting a "discussion group among a group of uninsured people." HCAN will be there, along with our partners, protesting the insurance company practices and making sure people and the media know exactly how the insurance industry fails America. AHIP will be bringing their spin. We're hitting back with the facts.
If you're in Columbus, Ohio, or if you know anyone in the area, and would like to help us, sign up to attend the event here.
We need all the help we can get to take on the multi-billion dollar insurance industry. They will be using all their money and all their political connections to protect their profits and keep America's health care situation in critical condition. If you can come out to the event tomorrow, it would be greatly appreciated.
It's day 3 down here in Austin, and I'm liveblogging the panel "Emerging Trends in Health Care Online" with panelists Josh Orton, Ezra Klein, Ash Damle, Julia Eisman, and Health Care for America Now's Melinda Gibson.
The panel is about to start. More updates coming soon…
When insurance companies get to make up the rules governing who gets coverage and who doesn't, the concept of fairness goes out the window. If only regular people could use those "insurance company rules" in real life, right?
We've put together a video on this concept. It's funny (we think!), but the issues we're talking about are deadly serious. Check it out:
The analogy is apt. Insurance companies make up the rules as they go along, maximizing their profit along the way. As demonstrated in Melody Townsel's case, this system defies logic and leads to chaos, with hard working people left behind. This system is broken - it needs to change.
At Netroots Nation yesterday, we ran into Melody Townsel, who has a horrifying story of her ordeal with her health insurance company that she kindly shared with us. Watch it:
You heard that right. Townsel's insurance company declined to cover her daughter's hospital bills because of her daughter's "attempted suicide." Her daughter was two years old. Only after five appeals did Townsel force her insurance company to provide the coverage she deserved from the start.
It doesn't take much to realize the silliness of the insurance company's argument. These kinds of stories - more common than many realize - illustrate how badly our health care system is broken. Insurance companies have an incentive to deny coverage and boost their profits whenever they can, even if their reasoning defies logic. Though the insurance industry claims it's in the business of making people healthy, they routinely deny coverage at every turn. And it's all perfectly legal and acceptable.
This is wrong.
Hard working people in America should have a right to health care, health care that covers their illnesses and doesn't make excuses to boost profits. Quality, affordable health care should be a right in America. That's what Health Care for America Now is fighting for. With your help, we'll make stories like Townsel's a thing of the past.
From the Atlantic Philanthropies, Atlantic Currents:
We know now from the Institute of Medicine that quality care is elusive, despite the high price we pay for health care, more than in any other nation. We know that uninsured individuals are more likely to put off care, become needlessly ill and die, and we know that at least 18,000 Americans die each year because they lack health coverage. We know that most of the uninsured are in working families, headed by people who earn modest incomes, and we know that Hispanics and African-Americans are among the hardest hit when it comes to health care in the U.S., contributing to racial disparities in health outcomes. In short, we know too much not to wage the most effective fight possible for a goal that so many have sought to achieve in the United States for so long.
That’s why Atlantic recently approved a major grant – one of the largest for advocacy ever made in the U.S. – for HCAN, and why we hope you’ll join or support this coalition to make certain that every member of Congress and every candidate for the House, Senate and White House understands that meaningful health reform is an essential action item in 2009. To win this fight, HCAN is organising visits to hundreds of members of Congress, running paid ads, organising public events and generating press coverage. HCAN is keeping pressure on U.S. leaders by asking them to declare which side they are on – the side of the majority of Americans who want affordable, quality health coverage for all; or the side of the private insurers, who want a free hand in maximizing their profits. Most crucially, HCAN insists that real reform must provide us with a choice: keep the insurance we have, or choose another private plan or a fully public plan with which private companies will be forced to compete on price and quality.
As Stuart Schear, our Communications and Policy Executive and a veteran of many efforts to improve access to health care, puts it: “No matter who we are, how sick we are or how little we earn, every one of us deserves affordable, quality health care coverage, and HCAN is ready to fight to win in 2009.”
And so day two of Netroots Nation commences, with tons of stuff to do, and not much sleep to go on. Here's a shot of the main meeting room at Netroots Nation, where all the luminaries from the netroots and mainstream politics have been leading discussions for the 2000+ people here:
Of course, given the power of online activists these days, the media is out in force. CSPAN even brought their bus!
Peter Slutsky and I will be breaking out our video camera this afternoon and asking folks here to share their health care stories, just like so many of you have online. We expect to post some video for everyone to enjoy later this afternoon.
–Jason Rosenbaum, Deputy Director of Online Campaigns, Health Care for America Now
by Brigette Courtot, Policy Analyst
National Women’s Law Center
This post is part of a weekly series on Women and Health Reform.
What does a college student worry about? The last time I spoke with my younger sister—a rising college senior—she was fretting over how to schedule her fall classes so that Fridays were completely free. Tough life, right? But the truth is some college students have much graver matters to worry about, such as fighting a life-threatening illness like cancer. With all that those students and their families face on day-to-day basis, there is one thing that should not ever top their list of concerns: keeping their health insurance.
But after a college student named Michelle Morse was diagnosed with colon cancer, she found that it was impossible to take the leave-of-absence from her studies that she needed to fight her cancer and remain on her parent’s health insurance plan as a dependent student. Her insurance policy required full-time student status, so even while undergoing chemotherapy treatments, Michelle had to take a full course load just to keep her coverage.
Jacki, Melinda, and I have been at Netroots Nation in Austin, TX for about 24 hours now. So far, we've mostly been taking in the sights (and tastes!) of this wonderful city. Jacki interviewed me on what it's like to be here. Here's my sarcastic take:
We've also had a chance to sample some Texas BBQ:
Looks delicious, right?
Next up on the agenda: passing out Health Care for America Now stickers, attending health care panels, and more BBQ. Stay tuned for more updates!