Guaranteed Healthcare

Julie Pierce

Young Husband, Father Dies After Denial of Cancer Treatments

"Tracy Dion Pierce, 37, of Mission, Kan., died on January 18, 2006, at home after a courageous battle with renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer)," writes Tracy's widow, Julie Pierce. "Tracy was a journeyman carpenter with Local #61 Carpenter's District Council in Kansas City. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2004, but his cancer eventually spread to his liver, lungs, lymph nodes, adrenal gland, renal cavity, and his brain."

The story of Tracy's illness and death was featured in Michael Moore's documentary film, SiCKO, but for Julie and her son, Tracy, Jr., the horror of losing Tracy, Sr., and the insurance denials go on.

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Chellie Pingree of North Haven, Maine, is the mother of three grown children, and she is a grandmother.  She is also a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from the 1^st Congressional District in Maine.  She is firmly in support of single payer healthcare reform through HR676, the National Health Insurance Act. 

“When my brother Bob was diagnosed with cancer at age 39, he had to fight two battles - the cancer and the insurance companies. He died 14 months later with the guilt that his illness brought financial ruin to his young family. Unfortunately, my family wasn't unique and this shouldn't happen to anyone,” Pingree shared.

Chellie is a Democrat and she supports H.R. 676, the National Healthy Insurance Act, sponsored by Representative John Conyers, D-MI. She explained, “H.R. 676 is a proposal for a single-payer health care system in America. By bringing all people under one roof of coverage, costs go down as we benefit from system efficiencies and economies of scale. When that one roof doesn't take a profit, costs are even lower.”

Single Payer Minute                       
                                                                                           October 9, 2008

In this week's episode: "For Profit Health Insurance: An Abusive Relationship" Vanessa Beck testifies about an abusive relationship with her health insurance companies that she has struggled with for most of her life.

Watch Single Payer Minute

News You Can Use

• The New York Times is reporting that pharma-predator Eli Lilly has agreed to pay $62 million to settle claims it improperly marketed Zyprexa, its top-selling drug, to patients who did not have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and did not need it. 

   

• The Associated Press reported that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have cracked down on health insurance companies that retroactively cancel policies of people who file claims.  The measure would have established an independent review process of each case and required that policies be rescinded only if insurers prove consumers willfully misrepresented their pre-existing conditions on a policy application.

   

• The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a case that would undermine consumer protections and determine whether "injured people can bring claims against allegedly defective drugs and other products to state courts. In an appeal to the Supreme Court, pharma-predator Wyeth argued that FDA approval of medication labels precludes lawsuits in state courts filed over alleged problems with the labels.

   

What is the solution to this type of chronic criminal behavior?  We need to get a restraining order filed against the abusive for profit health and pharmaceutical companies, and move to a Single Payer system.

Action You Can Take

If you want the health care system to change then join us. This week your assignment is to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and call into your local talk radio show and say "no more bailouts for corporations and wall street" It's time for single payer health insurance on main street!

Cancer Patient’s Treatment Determined by HMO, Not Doctors

“I am a 49 year old female and am currently being treated for colon cancer, stage 4. I was initially diagnosed last year, February 2007, and have been undergoing chemotherapy ever since,” said Andrea Bates of Indianapolis, Ind.  My initial prognosis was not good, but now is looking very good and I am thankful for that.  I currently have insurance through my husband's employer and have been receiving great care, which again, I'm grateful for.

Read more casualties

By Donna Smith

CHICAGO – If you think the companies that collect your health insurance premiums and pay your health care claims have been insulated from the economic crisis, think again.  And if you think the health insurance industry that is suffering right alongside the financial services industry isn’t going to need a bail-out too, think yet again.  Only the bail-out we will give the health insurance industry will be much more insidious and potentially far more dangerous to us all.

I wanted to inform myself about the stock performance of the big boys in the for-profit health insurance market, and here’s what I found this morning on Business Week’s website:

Stock performance, over the past month:

Aetna --  down 25.03%

CIGNA – down 23.15 %

Wellpoint – down 20.59%

In fact, I couldn’t find one health insurance company traded on the stock exchange that looked very healthy right now. 

RN Suffering from Incurable Disease Fails to Keep Up With Medical Expenses Even Though She's Insured

Pays $14,000 a year out of pocket

"After being an emergency room nurse for 17 years, I became too ill to work," said Jan Stephens, an RN from Anaheim, Calif.  "It all started out manageable enough.  In 1992, I enrolled in a Blue Cross policy with a monthly premium of $282, a $500 annual deductible, and a $250 prescription drug deductible.

"Then in 1995, I was diagnosed with an incurable bladder disease called interstitial cystitis and several other coexisting illnesses. I was disabled due to the excruciating pain and, like so many other people who become sick and can't work, I had to live on a fixed income. Problem was, my insurance costs kept going up. Now, my monthly insurance premiums are $639, with an annual deductible of $1,500, and I pay up to $500 per month out of pocket for prescription drugs.

Read more casualties

Young, Insured Cancer Patient's Parents Risk Bankruptcy for Treatment

"I was 20 and knew I needed to pay a visit to my gynecologist because it is something very important for women to do, of course. I did go and I was given a routine pap smear," said Crystal Wagner of Grayson, Ga. "I received a follow-up call that pertained to this visit telling me I had level 1B2 of cervical cancer and needed surgery as soon as possible. I had the cancer cells for quite some time and had no idea as cervical cancer has no real symptoms."   Read more casualties

RN Cares For Physician Husband But Cannot Believe Costs

“My husband is a physician – who, by the way, has never missed a day of work – and is also on dialysis for a failed kidney transplant.  I'm a nurse, and have been doing his home hemodialysis for the past year,” said Daniella Pigott of Birmingham, Alabama.  “Each month our insurance company sends us a copy of the billing statement.  Remember, I am the one who does his treatments at home for three hours a day, five days a week. I also draw all of his labs, spin them in a centrifuge, and then take them to the lab. I also give my husband his medications IV.”  Read more casualties

There's an interesting article in Politico which makes the case for a possible 60 seat filibuster proof Democratic Senate.  An unthinkable dream only a few short weeks ago, is now being discussed as the electoral landscape looks increasingly dire for the thoroughly discredited Republican Party. Should this happen, such a miraculous turn of events, would be further fallout of the economic catastrophe Mr. Bush created and now bequeathes to his successor.

Certainly, a sixty seat Democratic Senate, would also be the ultimate referendum on the last eight years of the worst and most corrupt administration in the history of our nation. Finally, a neutered and defanged Republican Party. 

If this happens, will we see great progressive legislation? Will we see at the top of the list, universal, affordable and guaranteed healthcare reform? Will such historic legislation move with lightening speed through the House and the Senate and be signed into law by President Obama? 

Many analysts believe the financial crisis will worsen dramatically (despite the bailout of Wall Street) between now and January 20th. The collapse of the U.S. healthcare system seems poised to be the next shoe to drop in the pyramid scheme legacy of the Bush Administration.

As Rose Ann DeMoro states in The Nation, "If only the federal government could be mobilized so quickly to solve the nation's healthcare crisis."  Perhaps the repercussions from the bailout, and a 60 seat Senate will give us an unprecedented historic opportunity to enact sweeping healthcare reform.

What must single-payer activists do between now and then, to prepare for a possible 60 seat Democratic Senate? 

The meltdown of the U.S. economy has Americans deciding between milk and medicine. We won't get a second chance to make healthcare the top domestic priority of the Obama Administration.

President Obama will of necessity, hit the ground running. His economic team has some mess to deal with. 

Will we too be ready? 

The Perils of Pre-Existing Conditions and the Struggle of 29-Year-Old Critical Care Nurse

"Due to the high stress I have experienced as a registered nurse in a critical-care environment, and sometimes the requirement to work odd shifts, I developed a condition called irritable bowel syndrome with abdominal pain and constipation," said Tina Marino from Phoenix, Arizona. "As a result of my diagnosis, I am unable to secure individual health insurance coverage."

"Overall, I am pretty healthy; I don't smoke, and have never been hospitalized. I was declined healthcare coverage because of my history of irritable bowel syndrome. In order to pay down my debts, I am working through a nurse staffing agency for the higher wages, but health benefits don't come with the job."  Read more casualties

Retiree Hires Attorney to Keep Her Coverage

“I was promised lifetime insurance by my employer (USA Today).  In May, my employer farmed out billing to Aetna and refused to take my check,” said Coline George of Camarillo, California. “Aetna had no record of me. The only informed person I talked to said that Aetna only did my employer's COBRA account.”

Many Americans must navigate COBRA benefit rules and regulations following job losses or retirement.  COBRA benefits allow former employer-based group health insurance coverage to be retained for several months following job separation.  But the benefits are expensive as the employer no longer pays any portion of the premium, and it can also be very difficult to keep coverage in force, as Coline soon found out.  Read more casualties

There is no time to waste.  Join the action.  Take just a moment every week to work for single payer, guaranteed healthcare for all. 

No bail-outs needed.  Just publicly financed, privately delivered healthcare for everyone in America.

Freedom to choose, freedom to live a healthy life, freedom to leave this nation in better shape for our kids and grandkids.  It is up to us.

Leslie Elder with Rep. John Conyers (HR676)

Breast Cancer Patient Can No Longer Afford To Save Her Own Life

"We had major medical health insurance when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987," recalls Leslie Elder of West Palm Beach, Fla. "After a radical mastectomy, I was again diagnosed with breast cancer and had another radical mastectomy in 1992. Left with huge unpaid balances and tripling premiums, we were forced to drop the insurance in 2003."

"In 2005 I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, resulting in the removal of one and part of the other kidney. With the help of a family member, I paid almost $70,000 for the two surgeries." Read more casualties

Postal Worker with Stage 4 Breast Cancer Fought Insurance Company for Life-Saving Treatment for Eight Months While Cancer Spread

"I am a 57-year-old woman with stage 4 breast cancer which has metastasized to my bone in the hip area," said Margaret Murphy of Millersville, Penn. "I had 15 radiation treatments and afterward suffered a very painful fracture in the same area. In testing for the source of the pain, the doctor found more lesions of cancer below the bone."

"I spent a precious eight months of my life fighting my insurance company to approve me getting into a vaccine study for metastasized breast cancer at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, where I am being treated. I appealed and was turned down three times, before finally being approved. They stated that they didn’t cover ‘experimental’ studies or treatments. Although there are a few women who beat the odds, my doctor states I most likely have two to five years to live." Read more casualties

Single Mom with Cancer, Can’t Afford Employer’s Health Insurance, Lives in State of Fear

Adrian Campbell of Howell, Mich., whose story was featured in Michael Moore’s documentary SiCKO, is a cancer survivor and a single mom to Aurora, age 5. 

“I go to bed frightened every night that the next flare-up of my MS or the next injury Aurora may suffer will finally spell the end of any hope I have to build a decent life for my child,” Adrian explains. Read more casualties