The End of My Rope (Dawn Smith - fromMoveOn)

[Soylent Brice]

Dear MoveOn member,

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?
(link)

Here'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

[renate]

1. Yes, but Dawn... don't you care about Max Baucus?

He would be in a lot of pain, too, without that $1.5 million from the health "care" industry.

Honestly, people with brain tumors can be so selfish. Can't they think of senators and insurance company executives for a change?

[Hannah Bell]

2. people with brain tumors are communists.

[Soylent Brice]

3. WE MUST STOP THE SPREAD OF COMMUNIST BRAIN TUMORS!!

[liberalhistorian]

11. This is just one of the many, many reasons

why the mandated insurance bullshit is just that, bullshit. We want health CARE not health INSURANCE. There's a HUGE difference. Having insurance in no way guarantees that you'll receive needed care and that you won't be financially ruined from an illness.

And as someone who used to have CIGNA at a former employer, I can attest to how difficult they are and what a pain in the ass it is to deal with them. One of the worst insurers I've ever had. I remember when I broke my wrist and needed surgery, I received endless forms from them requesting "more information" about how it happened, including the name and address of the person's house where I'd fallen, if THEY had insurance, etc., etc., etc. I'd give them the info, then receive the same fucking request a few weeks later. Id then send them the SAME damned info, get the same request weeks later, wash, rinse, repeat. Meanwhile, the bills were piling up unpaid and I was getting harassing calls from collectors. They were probably trying to figure out any way at all in which they wouldn't have to pay. It took months to get them to pay anything at all; meanwhile, many of the bills had been sent to collections, damaging my credit at that time.

[lady lib]

4. Here's the link to tell the CEO of CIGNA what circle of hell he belongs in

http://pol.moveon.org/dawnsmith/?rc=homepage

[Soylent Brice]

8. thanks for posting that.

the link i had on my email provides my name.

*eeek*

[mrbarber]

5. "Dr. Jeffrey Kang"

He's no doctor. Any "doctor" that lines their pockets with the blood of innocents is no more a doctor than Mengele was.

[liberalhistorian]

10. Exactly. I've thought for a long time that

any so-called "doctor" with an insurance company who pulls this shit, or goes along with it, or, even worse, facilitates it at the behest of their "masters", should have their licences revoked permanently. Period. And then they should be brought up on charges for those cases where they knowingly denied needed treatment, or knowingly gave wrong opinions in order to justify their master's denial of care (and that happens frequently, frankly.)They're no better than corporate attorneys who spend their days screwing over people instead of using their skills and knowledge to help them. In fact, they're even worse.

And doctors who refuse to treat people without insurance or money, no matter how badly it's needed, as well as hospital executives who act similarly, should get the shit thrown at them as well.

[AndyA]

6. Disgraceful.

Was there every really a time when corporations did something just because it was the right thing to do? Realizing that their goodwill would do more than any ad campaign? What a sad, pathetic state things are today. Truly shameful. :(

Sending good thoughts to Dawn.

[Gman2]

7. I say park in Eric Cantor's hallway. He said the place to start is HIS OFFICE.

Then, charrities. One sick person refucing to leave, would speak loudly. In fact, the sick descending on republican offices, like to the pool of healing, in the bible, would freak them out. Maybe a few that go on a rampage, might even help. This die quietly thingie, makes me want to do harm. I too am expected to die quietly. Got my disease from lying Bush. Heart failure from BPA in plastics. Moldmaker. I can never get ins. No help, unless I go indigent. Fun stuff.

[Soylent Brice]

9. a pile up in the halls and in their offices is a great idea.

only way to avoid us is to physically step over us at that point.

with camera crews in tow.

THAT'S what we need. to be in their faces.

[liberalhistorian]

12. Is there a link where we can add our names

to the letter?

[Soylent Brice]

13. here:

http://pol.moveon.org/dawnsmith/?rc=homepage

Lady Lib posted it upthread.

:)

[NashVegas]

14. This Needs to Be Run Split Frama Against the Ad That Canadian Woman Made

About how she might have been stuck on a waiting list for two months if she hadn't been able to get the Mayo clinic to take her straight in.

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. Pre-existing condition

If you have a brain, you're at much higher risk of getting a brain tumor.