Thursday, May 29, 2014

An Anthem To Healthcare Death Panels


 

By Jeff Simpson

An ex-republican candidate for vice-president, whom I refuse to name ever again in hopes that she disappears from the public spotlight, likes to tell people that Obamacare mandates "death panels".   Unfortunately for America(and Wisconsin), others like Paul Ryan (R-Wall St.) have repeated that flat out lie.  

The problem is, we actually DO have death panels, but they come courtesy of the people who Paul Ryan represents.

Big Pharma!

For another family in California, the Big Pharma, for profit, healthcare companies struck again

 As if this isn’t hard enough
On May 13 an MRI found 20 tumors in my husbands brain. On May 15 he could barely breathe and was in a lot of pain. A CT scan that day revealed he had a softball-sized tumor in his lung, tumors in his other lung, his liver and possibly his bones. On our way home from the imaging center our primary care doc called and told us to turn around and get to the hospital right away. My husband was admitted and they promptly removed more than a pint of fluid from his lungs, which helped him breathe better. We were there for 6 days while they performed a bronchoscopy, did more scans, gave him drugs to stop his brain from swelling and administered emergency chemo.
Today I got a letter from Anthem Blue Cross regarding his hospital stay:
"Coverage for the requested service is denied because the service does not meet the criteria for “medical necessity” under your description of benefits. To assist our Medical Director in making this decision, we have put a process in place to send all information about the service to a clinical reviewer with appropriate credentials. Based on their opinion, we have determined that covered for the requested service is denied. Our Medical Reviewer Layma Jarjour MD has determined we cannot approve your hospital stay for cancer. We do not have enough facts to show that it was medically necessary. "
Anthem is owned by WellPoint. Did you know Wellpoint CEO Joseph Swedish earned almost $17 million during his first year on the job? Now you know how they can afford to pay him.

Thank goodness, Ms. Keating struck back via shining light on this horrendous situation.   You will not find Big Pharma horror stories on any AFP website, because these stories actually happen!   

Luckily the local news picked up on this Anthem death panel story and we are able to share it with all of you. 

CAMP MEEKER (CBS SF) — A Sonoma County man battling more than a dozen tumors in his body is fighting a new battle with his insurance carrier, who has denied coverage for his treatments.
Jeffrey Rusch of Camp Meeker knew the news was bad when an MRI found 20 tumors in his brain. Two days later, a C-T scan at Sutter medical center in Santa Rosa brought another devastating blow, discovering a large tumor in his lungs, and more in his liver and bones.
Doctors told Jeffrey he would need to be hospitalized immediately.


 Our prayers are with Zoe and her husband!   Cancer is hard enough to fight without having to fight the profiteers.  


No comments:

Post a Comment