Health Care For America Now

Veronica De La Cruz has a story to tell about her brother Eric:

I want to tell you about my only sibling, my brother Eric De La Cruz.

Diagnosed with Severe Dilated Cardiomyopathy five years ago and in need of a heart transplant, my brother Eric passed away far too early this July 4th. All because the health care insurance system in the United States is broken.

You see, unlike most of us (but like millions of others), Eric couldn't get private insurance. His employer didn't offer it as a benefit. And his heart condition, while treatable, was a pre-existing condition that no private insurers would cover. Sadly, there was no affordable, public option to protect Eric. So he remained excluded from the basic right to life-saving treatment that all people deserve. Although a heart transplant would save him, without coverage, Eric's condition needlessly and slowly deteriorated.

Read more…

Health reform is at the finish line. Eric 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.

Click here to join our campaign to Finish Reform Right.

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.

Click here to join our campaign to Finish Reform Right.

Lee Roberts is insured, but as a cancer survivor, if she changes jobs, she won't be covered because she has a pre-existing condition. She doesn't like dealing with the insurance companies. She wants real reform for Maine, reform that lowers costs and gives us the choice of a public health insurance option available on day one to keep the insurance companies honest. She's asking Senator Snowe to pick Maine over the insurance industry.

Watch:

Health reform is at the finish line. Lee 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.

Click here to join our campaign to Finish Reform Right.

Celebrities Edie Falco, Martin Sheen, and Stockard Channing are on board for health reform:

Health reform is at the finish line. These actors and others are just a few 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.

Click here to join our campaign to Finish Reform Right.

Kelly Arellanes, an AT&T worker from Arkansas, was in a coma for three weeks after a 2004 horseback riding accident. Kelly and her husband David had to pay more than $200,000 in medical bills when Kellys emergency surgery was not covered by UnitedHealthcare.

Watch:

Health reform is at the finish line. Kelly 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.

Click here to join our campaign to Finish Reform Right.

Nurses from AFSCME speak out:

And medical providers from SEIU have a story to tell:

Health reform is at the finish line. Our nation's medical providers are just a few 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.

Click here to join our campaign to Finish Reform Right.

An insurance company executive turned whistle blower speaks out:

I'm the former insurance industry insider now speaking out about how big for-profit insurers have hijacked our health care system and turned it into a giant ATM for Wall Street investors, and how the industry is using its massive wealth and influence to determine what is (and is not) included in the health care reform legislation members of Congress are now writing.

Although by most measures I had a great career in the insurance industry (four years at Humana and nearly 15 at CIGNA), in recent years I had grown increasingly uncomfortable serving as one of the industry's top PR executives. In addition to my responsibilities at CIGNA, which included serving as the company's chief spokesman to the media on all corporate and financial matters, I also served on a lot of trade association committees and industry-financed coalitions, many of which were essentially front groups for insurers. So I was in a unique position to see not only how Wall Street analysts and investors influence decisions insurance company executives make but also how the industry has carried out behind-the-scenes PR and lobbying campaigns to kill or weaken any health care reform efforts that threatened insurers' profitability.

I also have seen how the industry's practices — especially those of the for-profit insurers that are under constant pressure from Wall Street to meet their profit expectations — have contributed to the tragedy of nearly 50 million people being uninsured as well as to the growing number of Americans who, because insurers now require them to pay thousands of dollars out of their own pockets before their coverage kicks in — are underinsured. An estimated 25 million of us now fall into that category.

Read more…

Health reform is at the finish line. People like Wendell and fighting for health care reform and 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.

Click here to join our campaign to Finish Reform Right.

From the National Women's Law Center comes Chris Turner's story:

Here at the National Women's Law Center, we've worked hard to uncover and fight against the outrageous insurance practices women face. Stories, like Chris Turner's, show how the broken health care system is hurting women and their families. No one should face the discrimination that Chris faced. Women and their families need health care reform that works for them - and they need it now.

Health reform is at the finish line. Chris 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.

Click here to join our campaign to Finish Reform Right.

Via MoveOn comes the story of Dawn Smith:

Health reform is at the finish line. Dawn 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.

Click here to join our campaign to Finish Reform Right.

Because of insurance company greed and denial of care, Stacie Ritter lost everything. Here's her story:

Health reform is at the finish line. Stacie and her family are just a few 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.

Click here to join our campaign to Finish Reform Right.