Health Care For America Now

Susan Pearl has a story to tell about her son, Ian:

Ian survives on a ventilator, a lasting condition stemming from respiratory collapse he suffered in 1991. His premiums from a Guardian Insurance policy Susan bought in 1981 have risen from $100 per month to over $3,000 per month. And now, Guardian is eliminating his policy, calling him a "dog" in internal documents. In Ian's own words:

I am not a "dog." That's what health insurance executives called me because I have a disease. I'm also not a "trainwreck," another term they used for members like me.

…

After decades of medical emergencies, we still weren't prepared for the latest crisis — this one created by the same insurance company that once saved my life. Guardian abruptly withdrew our health plan from all policyholders in New York where my father's business is based. Guardian offered a 'replacement' plan with low benefits and no home nursing benefits. They knew that I would never survive with such a plan, but they didn't care.

Suspecting that this action was related to the high cost of my care, we filed a lawsuit and have asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to enforce existing federal laws and require Guardian to continue my health plan. Without federal intervention, I will lose this insurance, and that would be a death sentence.

Our lawsuit uncovered insurance company documents that confirmed my suspicion that I'm a target of discrimination. The documents revealed Guardian had compiled a "hit list" of its costliest members, including patients with muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, and paralysis. Guardian executives referred to us all as "dogs" and "trainwrecks," and they debated how and when to dump us from the rolls. Laws prohibited the cancellation of the individual members with serious chronic health problems, so Guardian opted to cancel the plan for all members of this specific health plan in New York, an action that violates federal law.

Instead of living up to their obligations to Ian, and because they can't just recind Ian's coverage, Guardian decided they could make more money if they discontinued the entire product line, cutting off everyone on this plan in the state of New York, an action that's perfectly legal.

Read more… (and an update)

Health reform is at the finish line. Ian is just one of the reasons we need health care reform and we need to finish it right. We'll be posting one story every hour for twenty-four hours today to make sure we finish health reform right.

If you haven't joined our campaign to finish health care reform right yet, please join us and send a letter to Congress and the President, demanding they make health care affordable for everyone and hold the insurance companies accountable before a final bill is sent to the Oval Office for a signature.

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