Oliver Willis flagged a pretty strong quote from John Edwards on the subject of the 17 year old girl who was first denied a life saving liver transplant before her insurer, Cygna, changed its mind and approved the transplant. The delay may well have cost the girl her life.
John Edwards tonight cited the case of a 17-year-old California girl who died after her insurance company refused coverage on a liver transplant to save her life as a call to action to change the current system of healthcare in America.
Nataline Sarkysian died last night at UCLA Medical Center after complications arose from a bone marrow transplant to treat her leukemia. Her insurance provider, CIGNA Healthcare, first denied the potentially lifesaving transplant, but relented after a loud public protest and outrage. By that time, though, Sarkysian passed away before the procedure could be performed.
“Are you telling me that we’re gonna sit at a table and negotiate with those people?” asked a visibly angered Edwards, challenging the health care companies. “We’re gonna take their power away and we’re not gonna have this kind of problem again.”
His approach to dealing with the insurers differs from that of Clinton and Obama who would probably prefer a more collaborative approach.
Hi Doug,
It’s a terrible story.
We need to figure out a way to solve the health care problems facing many in the United States.
Whatever we do — I’m betting that we will end up with nationalized health care because the auto industry and other businesses want to shift the costs to the government/taxpayers — we need to make sure that people aren’t stuck in endless loops of having to fight to obtain health care.
If the stories about the VA health care system and people having to hire attorneys to get approval for social security after they are denied their disability claims, we will have to develop a system that cuts through the red tape and automatic denials that so many users of private and government health care systems routinely face these days.
Unfortunately, I assume things will remain the same no matter who is in charge because it is easier for an administrator (government or private) to reject a claim and push it to another desk than it is to approve it as we have seen in so many cases.