Thanks to CIGNA, A Six-Year-Old Girl May Never Hear Again. Each Day's Delay, Another Horror Story.
If they're already admitting to causing deaths, why should they care about a little girl's hearing?
What more do we have to do to fight back against these horror stories? What will it take to get these insurance companies to see the inherent immorality of focusing on the bottom line to the exclusion of all else? Think Progress:
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.”
insurance companies ration health care all day every day.
the GOP, my nephew is an ENT specialist. He routinely does 3-5 cochlear implants a week. The patients are referred by their GP and after assessment, he does'em.(Some are given other procedures, if deemed more effective) His wait list is 10 days, none if an emergency. The cost to the patient is zero, the benefit incalculable.
"What will it take to get these insurance companies to see the inherent immorality of focusing on the bottom line to the exclusion of all else?"
The only thing that will have any effect on these players is strong regulations.There is no appealing to anything vaguely human about them because it's a quality that simply does not exist.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
insurance industry. It was never ment to be there and to act human its only purpose was to make money! There was never any thought given to actually trying to help people it has always been first and foremost profits! Insurance as it exists today is nothing but a rip off! It was supposed to spread the risk but if profit is your reason for being then what you really do is take your cash and deny you the services you paid for! If you go to a doctor any one I have ever met.
Lets say you have insurance that pays a cretian percentage. This doctor may charge the insurance a lot more then if you went to the office and paid cash. One man that worked for the same company as me. his wife got sick when the company was changing insurance providers.
They would not pay anything, either insurer!
Marv told this one doctor that the insurance companies were refusing to pay but that he could pay him. The doctor said well if you are going to pay me directly we will make it fifteen hundred, instead of the thirty five hundred he was going to get from the insurance.
The ones who want to cheat will cheat. But if we end health insurance we will save 30 to 35% of the costs right off the top. How much more could it be worth when the doctors and paitents don't have to spend days, weeks, or even years arguing over the payment!
Ron Wyden (OR) has scored a seeming victory in expanding health care choice. I'm not sure how far this translates towards a public option we all can join, but the alternative is that Wyden (my senator) has caved too.
My fingers are crossed ....
Corruption favors the wealthy.
FAUX News ran this story? It goes against their GOP beliefs of not caring about children.
Stories like this should not only focus on the truely personal drama; it should also focus on the cost to society. This girl will need to have hearing assisance aid in the future: paid for by society-at-large.
The 6 yr old's? My own? Her town newspaper? This is atrocious, so I feel I must do something more than write in a comments thread.
Your Congresscritter appears to be Michael C. Burgess, M.D.
It's kind of tough to e-mail another critter as they often try to limit it to their own constituents, but hers is Blaine Luetkemeyer.
Senators for Missouri (or Texas) can be reached through here.
I'm not sure about newspapers, but I think The Missourian, which covers Washington and Union, might be a good start.
Rock on.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
...in case anyone wants to cut and paste.
---------------------------------------
In the middle of the health care debate, I am writing not to ask you to change your vote, but to use your influence to help someone who can not help herself.
I am writing on behalf of Madison Leuchtmann, a six year old girl who is going deaf because her insurance company refuses to pay for her treatment. Madison was born with bilateral atresia; the lack of ear canals in both ears has limited not only her hearing, but her ability to learn speech as well. Despite her disability, she is at the top of her kindergarten class; with the help of a special device she wears on a headband, she is slowly learning to read.
However, as she grows (and she is growing fast as a six year old girl), she will soon need a hearing implant. This will cost approximately $20,000; however, her insurance company, Cigna, refuses to cover this expense, stating "It is not unusual for commercial benefit plans to exclude hearing assisted devices."
Congressman Burgess, this is not a case of Cigna simply refusing a request for a hearing aid. This child has no ear canals! Without a hearing implant, she will not be able to hear at all.
I ask you, Representative Burgess, as a medical doctor, with the knowledge of the healing this child needs, and as a Congressman, a colleague who has the ear of Madison's representative, the Honorable Blaine Luetkemeye of Missouri, please put aside the issue of health care for a moment and provide care for this child's health.
Please let me know how I may assist in this matter.
Sincerely,
--------------------------------------
If anyone can write, please do so; I'll sleep a mite better tonight.
I went through the same thing with my deaf daughter. The insurance company refused to pay for a cochlear implant.
And my daughter had a similar situation. There is a window of opportunity to learn speech. Because of the denial of coverage she was in danger of missing the window and having her speech impaired for life.
We eventually won and my daughters doing beautifully. But it still really sucked.
"What will it take to get these insurance companies to see the inherent immorality of focusing on the bottom line to the exclusion of all else?"
We certainly need much stronger regulation of this renegade industry, but they couldn't get away with this nonsense if investors didn't condone it. Insurance companies will never develop a conscience - they are not people. "How can we influence their investors?" is the question.
But thanks to no healthcare, I can't afford one. So I'm happily looking forward to going slowly deaf. I'm pretty much having to have people repeat themselves, and turning speakers way up to hear any electronicly produced sounds, as well as having to use only my left ear for the phone. America, what a country.
I'm tryin' to find an old tin horn.
Mebbe I'll be retro chique.
Just got my statement from the hospital emergency room in Irving from nearly two weeks ago.
It was clearly labeled not a bill.
And I thought $100.00 was a lot for me to pay.
But that 6 hour visit cost around $2,000.00.
I'm not sure whose paying the rest, my insurance company or the City of Irving?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
on ER visits.....I had one from an accident where I had ONE, count it, ONE stitch...and it cost $1000.
After several horrible experiences...next time I need ER care, I'll just die, thank you.
You know last time i went to the ER, I broke my vow of going in by 'not an ambulance or helicopter.' Luckily for me, my regular doctor was around and ran a couple of tests, WANTED me to stay for ER treatment and I told him No Way. He arranged for my records to be accessible at another less busy ER, in case I got worse, and I went home. I was probably asleep about 2 hours before they would have gotten started on me-about 10 hours after I walked in with possible internal bleeding.
Really I swear. Not w/o an ambulance or a helicopter.
me-oww!
Well I was wired up the whole six hours to all this heart monitoring equipment.
I didn't hear the outcome, but after the VA was dragged kicking and screaming into sending my records, I think the emergency room realized that WAS my normal heartbeat, pumping a rare type of blood, and that my pulse, pressure and body temperature tend to be lower and cooler than average.
That's why I hate seeing doctors I've never visited before, because they start panicking too early.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I've suffered from a pretty bad case of tinnitus for the last five years or so. I can't even remember what silence sounds like. I'm also losing my vision slowly but surely. And my heart's not doing too well either. But since I'm uninsured, I'm up the creek.
Such is life in a capitalist society. Those without the money to pay will simply die in the street.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
I forgot to mention that I've got retinal atrophy too. Now, I had insurance at one time, and the best thing they could do was to say "just live with it". The tinnitus, I've had since 1992, and same thing...live with it. Now the other ear is starting to go. America is truly becoming a 3rd world country when it comes to health care for its lower end citizens.
Just the trip to the first emergency room was over $13,000.00. The first emergency room was over $13,000.00. Then there was 5 weeks on the breathing machine. Just drug costs for that 5 weeks was over $87,000.00. There was cat scans, xrays, mri's, labs, doctors, nurses, I forget now it was nearly $300,000.00 for the NT,ICU. We are still dealing with the bills, she is still unable to return to work. So no income there.
Man America sucks!
Actually I have tinnitus too since the early 90's.
But I managed to cut down the severity of it by cutting back on caffeine.
I went to an ENT in the past week, and the doctor told me have virtually no hearing in the higher ranges, but am conversational. The only problem is, I need people talk to me facing me, not mumbling and no background noise.
And we have this stupid skank where I work running back and forth constantly, laughing too hard and too loud, making my hearing someone in person, or on the phone harder. She's one of those air-heads constantly yelling, "Oh I'm bad...I'm bad...You're bad...You're...bad, Everything is wonderful...everything is wonderful."
I accidentally made the women laugh the other day in the office. They had a Quick, a lousy weekly newspaper, with some singer I never heard of named Lil Sister on the cover in what looked like a maillot. They were saying, "Look at all that garbage on her hands." I looked expecting to see glitter or something and said. "What garbage? I don't see anything" They said, "What are you talking about? All those rings and bracelets." And I said, "Oh...it wasn't her fingers I was looking at."
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
First read this in a blog comment a year or so ago.
I remember it every time I read one of these stories. Cigna is run by a particularly egregious bunch of greedy assholes.
Stupid into the bargain, because every time they pull something like this, it just raises their visibility that much higher. They'd be better advised to let this sort of thing slide until such time as the issue has disappeared down the infamous American Memory Hole.
But NooooOOooooo.
They want every last god-damned fraction of a cent they can squeeze out of their victims, even if it gets the fucking lot of them stood up against tall walls five or ten years hence.
Erm, I don't mean to nitpick but I'm pretty sure there's no ranking in kindergarten.
I take it you don't have kids.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Dude, there's rankings in KINDERGARTEN now.
Thanks, NCLB!!!
Thanks to idiocy like No Child will Succeed - that way rich republicans can stop paying taxes; America's children and schools are being micromanaged to the point of insanity.
Can't regulate the criminal incompetents on Wall Street, but they sure can terrorize the kids!
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
What will it take to get these insurance companies to see the inherent immorality of focusing on the bottom line to the exclusion of all else?
You can't. It's not a matter of getting the execs to change their ways. The entire industry by definition is immoral. The only way out of this is a single-payer system that will take the profit motive completely OUT of health care. It's the only way to ensure that the public will get sound, reasonable health care for all our needs, with no danger of being turned away.
That's it, plain and simple.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Anyone who does not believe we should have health care reform, so that everyone can be covered, should be called 'pro-death.'
How interesting that those who use the term 'pro-life' drop the facade when the fetus excavates the womb.
the question, dear friends, is what are we going to do about it?
your name's Lebowski, Lebowski... and your wife is Bunny
I wonder who paid for El Puerco's implant. You know, the one he needed after years of abusing prescription drugs had burned out his own hearing center. I also wonder where he weighs in on this question.
Well, like Joe Lieberman says: "What's the big hurry?....hell, I got mine!"
of Cigna for human indifference. Find him/her guilty and fine him/her $20,000 to pay for the implant.
He'll/she'll whip it out of their pocket change...
I received a sleep apena machine with a mask approved by beancounters that hurt when I put it on. My therapist said I needed a mask with a gel cushion that was "too expensive" for the beancounter to approve. My therapist really got pissed off at them, so he gave me the mask for no charge. He had some nice words for the beancounter, something about that rectum should go intercourse itself...
this was coming long ago.
capitalism is about profits not people
any country that believes it is moral to make profits off the sick and needy deserves its outcome.
this is a moral issue but politicans know better than make it one.
too much lobbyist money at stake for their reelections.
americans wake up you are no longer represented by your politicans.
second thought keep doing what you have always been doing and put one saviour in office and hope he changes things for you.
until americans protest in the streets and clean out wash dc and elect new politicans nothing much will change in america.
capitalism has made this country an immoral country. profits over people.
reagan was a genius he is getting his wish an america where one per cent has most of the wealth.
he sold it to the middle class now they whine about it.
palin and cheney are only refections of the mentality of america and more to come as the nation declines in wealth it will become more selfish and hostile.
stick a fork in us as we are done. well done.
the bully has been brought to its knees.
the terrorists hit us where it hurts. ie wealth center the twin towers.
you want to see the future come to scottsdale az and see the gated communities for the wealthy have mores to protect themselves from the have nots.
or go to mexico city and see how the wealthy there protect themselves and their children from the have nots.
Another example of the benevolence of the free market system.
I worked in Australian EDs (what you call ERs) and the bill from any of the above situations listed would be (to any Australian citizen or permanent resident), $0, $0, $0, $0 and so on respectively. I am appalled this situation even exists in the US and hope one day it goes the way of the dinosaur (and the GOP).
denied teenager Natalie Sarkisyan (California) a vitally needed liver transplant claiming that the transplant in her medical case was "experimental" and CIGNA doesn't cover "experimental" treatments.
A public outcry led CIGNA to reverse its decision and grant permission for the transplant, but that permission was granted two hours after Natalie died from being denied treatment.
You gotta love CIGNA! CIGNA, Wellpoint and United Health Care are three of our top death panels. I mean, you gotta be proud. America. What a country!
"By words the mind is winged." - Aristophanes
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