(0 comments)
Yet another story in the long fight of for-profit “health” insurance companies to protect their right to hurt, disable, maim and kill people into order to boost their stock price:
One of the worst abuses of the private health insurance industry is its practice of denying claims to pay for necessary care for patients. This practice has become so rampant in the industry that a recent study by the California Nurses Association found that a whopping 21 percent of all insurance claims filed in the first half of 2009 in the state of California were denied by insurers.As the story of six-year-old Madison Leuchtmann of Franklin County, MO, demonstrates, even children are victims of this insurance company abuse. Madison was born with bilateral atresia, which means she lacks ear canals in both ears. In order to hear, she wears a special device on a headband that allows her to make out sounds. Despite her disability, Madison is at the top of her kindergarten class and is slowly learning to read.
Yet Madison, due to her growth, will soon require a new hearing implant to be able to recognize sounds. Her hearing and speech therapist warns that “if she doesn’t get her implants by age seven, she’s not going to be able to blend her words. … She won’t be able to hear herself [talk].” Madison’s pediatrician, Dr. Randall Clary, also insists that without the implant, the girl may never be able to hear again.
Unfortunately, the Leuchtmann’s family insurer, Cigna, has issued “one denial after another,” flatly refusing to cover the $20,000 bill for the implant. In a written statement to the local news station Fox 2, Cigna explained, “It is not unusual for commercial benefit plans to exclude hearing assisted devices,” prompting Dr. Clary to angrily respond, “This is obviously medically necessary. You have a child that has no ear canals!” Dr. Clary also told Fox 2 that he sees these sort of denials “on a weekly basis.”
The United States is the only developed country without a universal, cradle-to-the-grave health care system. In no other developed country would a girl be on “the verge of never hearing again” because a for-profit insurance company decided that its bottom line was more important than keeping a child from going deaf.
Leave a Reply
Fast Food
Official Gingrich-Cain 2012 response to Rick Santorum’s homophobia: “Rick, Rick, Rick. Don’t you know that the anti-gay bigotry only carries water if you have a few failed straight marriages under your belt?” Follow all their other words of wisdom here. (0 comments)Ron Paul Quote of the Week: Honest Rape
Here’s Grandpa Fustypants on rape and abortion:“If it’s an honest rape, that individual should go immediately to the emergency room, I would give them a shot of estrogen.”
via (4 comments)Unhinged vagina-shackler on Komen’s volte face:Cancer is Cancer! Aboration is Aboration!
(0 comments)Since it’s Mitt Romney week everywhere, I figured I’d post this op-ed by an ex-Mormon, which is a pretty interesting take at the institutional culture of the LDS church. Not much to say about it, but it’s definitely worth 5 or so minutes of your time. (0 comments)Why Bipartisanship Is Impossible, In One Sentence
When one party climbs back to power by promising action on the economy, does nothing on it, and instead spends literally all its time trying to hurt the other party. (0 comments)New From The Gingrich-Cain Front
Newt rants about cable movies he doesn’t like, and flips out when Herman tries to seize control. Catch all the fun here. And the main site is here, as always. (0 comments)Headline of the Week: Making Rapeanade
Leave it to TBogg:
(0 comments)Rick Santorum Suggests That When Life Gives You Rape, You Should Make Rapeanade Back when I was in junior high and the Clinton Impeachment was going on, I could hardly have imagined that Clinton would be used as an excuse for wrongdoing by Republican leaders. But that’s where we are. Interesting, isn’t it? (0 comments)Catch up with the official Gingrich-Cain “Great Statesmen” series over at @GingrichCain12. (0 comments)Only 65% of White Americans Have a Favorable Opinion of MLK Jr
…with a whimper. Drum is worth reading on this. I think he’s just got to be the most overhyped and overcovered guy who never managed better than third place since…Joe Lieberman? (0 comments)Mitt Romney's Overwhelming Inauthenticity
It’s amazing to me that Mitt Romney brings up France as a scary comparison point to himself so often when he spent years there and speaks the language. It’s such a minor point, but telling. Of all the people running for president, Mitt Romney has to be the most aware that the rightwing caricature of ... (0 comments)Mother Teresa Doesn't Deserve Sainthood
Case in point. It’s amazing how all the famous/respected Catholic figures from the 1990s have turned out to be incredibly corrupt, isn’t it? I’m sure they’re somehow connected. Of course, as I’m a Protestant I know little about such things. (1 comments)I Fixed It! Ban Sitting Politicians From Running For Another Office
Wonkette reminded me of one of the provisions that I want to write into my fantasy Constitution:No person who holds any elected office shall be permitted to seek election to any other office until he shall have permanently vacated his current post.
(2 comments)The Kardashians want their own magazine?
Unintentionally hilarious: “Bachmann, 55, told a small group of supporters Tuesday night that she was staying in the presidential race…”What other kind of group of Bachmann supporters could there be?(0 comments)Santorum Finishes #2, Sliding Down In The Final Minutes To Lose To Romney
DOWN THE VINE
Syndication
Really, every other developed country covers $20,000 hearing implants? With every major insurance plan on offer? U.S. Medicaid and S-CHIP cover them as well?
I have no idea, but these are questions I would need answered before I see an outrage.
Moreover, my outrage would not be directed at "evil profit motives" (which are what bring us the existance of $20,000 health implants to begin with) but rather the lack of consumer choice for avoiding plans with abnormal coverage denials.
Well, I'll just go out on a limb hear and say that a child born with a birth defect whereby she had no ear canals, and the only way to save her from permanent deafness was to implant a hearing device in what would have been the ear canal area, most countries would deem that to be a medically necessary procedure (see, e.g., pacemaker) and would cover it.
Just a point of clarification, my outrage is not directed specifically at "evil profit motives". I am outraged at evil profit outcomes. The profit motive is a great thing and produces untold wealth for people all up and down the ladder. However, when taken to extremes, when people's lives are at stake, and especially when the profit motive is nicely packaged into a hyper-protected/consequence-free (i.e., no civil liability for denial of claims) environment in which smart regulation is nowhere to be found, you get really atrocious profit-motivated outcomes.
Well, I'll just go out on a limb hear and say that a child born with a birth defect whereby she had no ear canals, and the only way to save her from permanent deafness was to implant a hearing device in what would have been the ear canal area, most countries would deem that to be a medically necessary procedure (see, e.g., pacemaker) and would cover it.
Just a point of clarification, my outrage is not directed specifically at "evil profit motives". I am outraged at evil profit outcomes. The profit motive is a great thing and produces untold wealth for people all up and down the ladder. However, when taken to extremes, when people's lives are at stake, and especially when the profit motive is nicely packaged into a hyper-protected/consequence-free (i.e., no civil liability for denial of claims) environment in which smart regulation is nowhere to be found, you get really atrocious profit-motivated outcomes.
Part of Cigna's over all business plan, it took then fifteen years to settle all the laws suits over their HMO's.