Health Care For America Now

See New TV Ad and New Web Video (Featuring Chris Shiflett of Foo Fighters) Corresponding with Tuesday’s Action; Protesters Plan to “Arrest” Executives for Crimes against the Public; On Wednesday, Insurance Abuse Survivors to Meet Members of Congress - Say Finish Reform Now

*** March 9th Action Website: www.CitizensPosse.com ***

New TV Ad and Web Video: www.HealthCareforAmericaNow.org/ListenToUs.

Washington, DC –Fed up with skyrocketing premiums, denials of care and claims, and insurance companies spending tens of millions of dollars to kill or manipulate reform, Health Care for America Now (HCAN) – the nation’s largest health care campaign – and its partner organizations will descend upon the Ritz-Carlton hotel at 22nd and M Street NW in Washington, DC on Tuesday March 9th and stage a massive protest. America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) - the health insurance lobbying group – will be holding its annual policy conference inside the hotel.

Thousands of people are traveling to DC from across the country to tell Congress, “Listen to Us- Not The Insurance Companies” and hold the greedy and abusive health insurance industry accountable for its actions. Led by more than 50 major labor, organizational, and religious leaders and 25 survivors of health insurance industry abuse, the crowd will participate in direct action, including a mass “citizens’ arrest” of the insurance executives inside the conference – the men and women who are profiting by denying people’s health care needs.

Supporters unable to travel to DC in person will be able to get deputized online at www.CitizensPosse.com by Foo Fighters’ lead guitarist Chris Shiflett and then take action via virtual protest.

At 10:30am Tuesday, protesters will start gathering at Dupont Circle. At 11:00am, they will hear a short speakers’ program featuring Governor Howard Dean. The crowd then will leave the circle and march down New Hampshire Ave NW to the Ritz-Carlton hotel at 22nd and M Street NW. There they will join a second smaller feeder march which will have originated from AFSCME.

The crowd is expected to reach the Ritz at 11:45am, and by 12:15pm, the protest action will begin. It will be an escalating direct action designed to show the insurance industry that the public will no longer tolerate its deception and abuse and to tell Congress to finish reform now.

SPEAKING AT AND LEADING THE PROGRAM:

SEIU Secretary-Treasurer ANNA BURGER, AFSCME President GERALD MCENTEE, AFL-CIO President RICHARD TRUMKA, American Federation of Teachers President RANDI WEINGARTEN, USAction President WILLIAM MCNARY, CONGRESSWOMAN DONNA F. EDWARDS, HCAN National Campaign Manager RICHARD KIRSCH, and Insurance Abuse Survivor Marcus Grimes from Woodbridge, VA.

ALSO PARTICIPATING: (See survivor stories below.)

USAction Executive Director and HCAN Co-Chair JEFF BLUM, Best-Selling Author of Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch BARBARA EHRENREICH, Center for Community Change Executive Director DEEPAK BHARGAVA, Reverend CLIFF FRASIER of the SEIU Healthcare Reform Campaign, GrainPro Inc. CEO and Families USA Foundation President* PHILIPPE VILLERS, CREDO Mobile CEO MICHAEL KIESCHNICK, Common Cause President and CEO and Former Member of Congress REVEREND BOB EDGAR, America Votes President* and former Colorado State Senate President JOAN FITZ-GERALD, Americans for Democratic Action National Director MICHAEL J. WILSON, Alliance for Justice President NAN ARON, Campaign for America's Future Co-Director ROGER HICKEY, Coalition on Human Needs Executive Director DEBORAH WEINSTEIN, Democracy for America Chair JIM DEAN, JEFFREY DEKRO of The Shalom Center, JIM DICKSON of Capital Area ADAPT, Brave New Films Executive Director JIM MILLER, United States Students Association Vice President LINDSAY MCCLUSKEY, Metropolitan Washington Council AFL-CIO President JOSLYN WILLIAMS, MoveOn.org Executive Director JUSTIN RUBEN, Progressive Maryland Executive Director SEAN DOBSON, Public Campaign President and CEO* NICK NYHART, SEIU Executive Vice President MARY KAY HENRY, SEIU Healthcare Committee on Interns and Residents President DR. TONI LEWIS, The Shalom Center Director RABBI ARTHUR WASKOW, United Church of Christ REVEREND RON STIEF, KEN GROSSINGER, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund Executive Director REA CAREY, Temple Sinai RABBI JESSICA OLEON, Community Catalyst, Inc. President KATHERINE S. VILLERS, RABBI DAVID SHNEYER of the OHALAH Rabbinic Association, St. James United Church of Christ REVEREND DON PRANGE, Croton United Methodist Church REVEREND DR. RONALD WANLESS, owner of Melanie's Child Care in Falmouth, Maine and Main Street Alliance board member MELANIE COLLINS, pediatrician and owner of Son Light Pediatrics in Willingboro, New Jersey and Main Street Alliance board member ODETTE COHEN, owner of an engraving business in Waukegan, Illinois and Main Street Alliance board member DAN SHERRY, Institute for Policy Studies Director JOHN CAVANAGH, Coalition of Labor Union Women President KAREN SEE, CO-PASTOR OF WESTMINISTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN WASHINGON, DC REVERAND RUTH HAMILTON, and People for the American Way President MICHAEL KEEGAN.

* Indicates for identification purposes only

On Wednesday, 25 insurance abuse survivors will convene a forum with members of Congress on Capitol Hill and recount their personal experiences with our broken health care system. They will remind their members to listen to them and not the insurance companies and urge them to pass reform now. The forum will take place in 2237 Rayburn from 10am until 11:30am and will be moderated by Wendell Potter, the former CIGNA executive now speaking out against the insurance industry.

There will be additional events on Thursday and Friday, both in Washington, DC and across the country. For instance, on October 5, 2009, six Minnesotans were arrested when they sat down at the front doors of the United Health Group headquarters in Minnetonka, MN.  On Wednesday, March 10th, the six will enter a guilty plea as part of a negotiated settlement with the City of Minnetonka and pay $300 per person in fines, plus court costs. The next day - Thursday, March 11th at 11:30am – there will be a rally at the Hennepin County Court House in Minneapolis, MN, contrasting the action of the arrestees with the actions of health insurers to let the press and public know that the real crime is denying health care.

For more general protest information:  www.CitizensPosse.com.

Insurance Abuse Survivors
March 9th and 10th 2010

Kelly Arellanes, 50, Little Rock, Arkansas, an AT&T worker, was in a 2004 horseback riding accident, needed emergency surgery, and was in a coma for three weeks. Her husband David had to pay more than $200,000 in medical bills when Kelly’s emergency surgery was not covered by United Healthcare. UHC first claimed David hadn’t reported the incident though he called them from the hospital waiting room. UHC later denied coverage because hospital was out of network. They kept their house but went through or sold everything else (savings, their daughter’s college fund, motor home, her jewelry, AT&T stock) and had to declare bankruptcy in 2005. Kelly’s brain damage was too severe to go back to her job in computerized drafting so she retired 2008 on disability. They pay $1,645/mo. to bankruptcy court and hope to be out of debt in 15 months.

Kami Bodily, 45, Seattle, Washington, is a veterinary technician who has been too sick with lupus to work. Her father initially paid for her health care coverage with Premera Blue Cross, but he could no longer afford insurance for her when the premiums climbed to about $1,000 a month. No other insurance company would cover her. She is filing for bankruptcy and was recently accepted for Social Security disability.
Leslie Boyd, 57, Asheville, North Carolina, is a former reporter. Her uninsured son, Mike, died in April, 2008 at age 33 after a delayed diagnosis for colon cancer because he could not afford colonoscopies. Surgery for a birth defect left him at high risk for colon cancer as an adult. He managed a convenience store in New York where he had health insurance to pay for regular colonoscopies, but he lost his health insurance when he and his wife moved to Savannah, GA in 2003 to attend state college. Leslie says her son never told her he was no longer getting these vital screenings. He was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005 and separated from his wife so he could qualify for Medicaid. He moved in with his mother, and was cared for by her, his ex-wife, and his best friend. Leslie’s husband recently suffered a heart attack after his insurance company delayed approving his doctor’s request for a stress test.

Susan Braig, 60, Altadena, California, is a self-employed artist and grant writer. She had comprehensive coverage until her skyrocketing premiums became so unaffordable that she switched to an Anthem BlueCross/BlueShield Basic PPO policy for catastrophic coverage. Five years later, in 2004, she was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer, and a BCBS agent told her they considered breast cancer "chronic" not “catastrophic.” Her hospitalization-only policy wouldn’t pay for her specialist exams, MRI, ultrasounds, lab tests, prescriptions, or chemotherapy unless she drove an hour from home. Susan had to go on a 2-year Medi-Cal breast cancer program, but even with those benefits, she’s paid more than $40,000 out of pocket and $12,500 in premiums. Her premiums have increased 30%, including two rate hikes in six months. She can’t afford a more comprehensive policy because of limited income.

Katie Brennan, 42, Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, is the mother of 5 and a teacher in a rural community.  Her family pays more than $9,400 a year in health insurance premiums. The deductibles -- $5,000 for her policy and $5,900 for the kids and her husband – are so high that most of their medical costs are out of pocket. They are trapped paying their insurers, Medica and Health Partners, for coverage they can’t use, not even when their  son recently broke his arm. Even minor medical issues result in costly bills, which they have less money to pay because they are paying so much in premiums to keep their high deductible health insurance.
Desni Crock, 36, Marietta, Ohio, has been fighting for her daughter, Bridget, 3, to get treatment for her rare form of lung cancer. The family lives near a children’s hospital in West Virginia, which has one of the few oncologist in the country to successfully treat children with this type of cancer. But the hospital was “out-of-network,” and United Healthcare would only pay 60% of bills that exceeded $35,000 in the first two months. Desni quit her job as a realtor to care for Bridget, and her husband worked nights and weekends to make up for the lost income and to pay medical bills. Ironically, the West Virginia hospital was finally re-classified as in-network--just in time for Bridget’s last chemo treatment in July.

Kelly Cuvar, 30, Brooklyn, New York, a health care activist who is currently unemployed, was diagnosed at age 19 with cancer in her right leg and has never been in remission. She is now getting chemo for her knee. She has managed to keep continuing coverage through various employers, but her medical bills have been a burden. She’s been on Oxford and CIGNA and battled to get them to pay for her meds. Her COBRA recently expired, and she’s now on Medicaid, which is not accepted at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where she has been getting treatment. It has been months since she has been able to see an oncologist there.
Bob Finkelstein, 42, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a freelance writer and political communications consultant diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2003. He started taking Copaxone to help manage his condition in April 2005. The price of the drug went from $1,200 a month at that time to its current cost of $2,900 a month, a more than a 140% increase. He is self-insured by BlueCross/BlueShield and has had to change policies at least three times over the years due to hitting coverage limits, and changes BCBS made to its policies. For most of that time, the insurance company was covering just 50 percent of the cost of the drug, while Bob was paying a premium of more than $500 a month.  

Arnold Gee, 52, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, is a part-time warehouse worker who was recently diagnosed with chronic renal disease. He lost his full-time job in 2008, and he and his wife, Cynthia, are on a long waiting list for a state program that offers inexpensive insurance. The cost of an “Adult Basic” policy has risen 249% to $1,200 a month for the two of them. They make $1,800 a month, too much to qualify for Medicaid. Arnold’s kidney doctor always asks how he plans to pay the bill, and his continued treatment is in doubt.  Cynthia is considering going on a hunger strike to get health insurance and health care for her husband.

Pastor Janet Goodman-Banks, 53, Lincoln, Nebraska, is a breast cancer survivor. She obtained her insurance from BlueCross/BlueShield in late 2007. Because of a pre-existing condition, she had to wait six months after purchasing her insurance before BCBS would cover her or pay for medications. Even then, there were high deductibles with her policy, and money was tight. In November of 2008, she was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer. While paying high premiums and deductibles throughout her coverage, only the mortgage programs initiated by President Obama helped her and her husband stay in their home. Her husband remains uninsured due to affordability.

Christine Grewell, 55, Silver Spring, Maryland, works with her self-employed building inspector husband. Their CAREFIRST Blue Cross/Blue Shield policy didn’t cover their daughter Melody’s multiple sclerosis medication. Before Melody got her own coverage at grad school, the cost of her interferon treatment was $20,000 a year, but the policy capped prescription drugs at $500 a year total for the family of five. They now pay nearly $19,000 a year for health insurance, more than $1,500 a month, plus $2,000 a year out of pocket for prescriptions. This is more than their $950/mo. mortgage. Also, Christine can’t get back surgery for a spinal problem because it’s deemed a pre-existing condition.  

Marcus Grimes, 38, Woodbridge, Virginia, is a former teacher who worked at a D.C. charter school that didn’t offer health insurance. He took GNC body building supplements that damaged his eyes. He could not get on Medicaid and did not have the $3,000 down payment for doctor-recommended surgeries that would have saved his sight. He lost sight in one eye, then the other, and became totally blind in 2006. He started vocational rehab this January and is trying to learn a new skill to support his family. He now has Medicare disability, and his new wife’s two kids have Medicaid.

Regina Holliday, 38, District of Columbia, lost her husband, Frederick, 39, last year because he didn’t get health insurance in time to diagnose his kidney cancer. By the time he found his dream job teaching at a major university – with good health insurance -- his cancer was Stage 4 and had spread to his lungs and bones.  Since her husband’s death, Regina now cares for her two children, 11 and 4, and spends all her free time painting murals on Connecticut Avenue to draw attention to the need for health care reform and patient rights.
Joanne Johnson, 61, Blythewood, South Carolina, lost her two brothers because of poor health care. Her oldest brother, who was uninsured despite having a fulltime job as a contractor, eventually died from complications related to prostate cancer. He thought the pain in his legs was arthritis. Another brother, a veteran, suffered from heart disease but did not have treatment on a regular basis. He died of a heart attack in 2005. 

Matt Masterson, 40, Virginia Beach, Virginia, and his family have lost everything because of various illnesses and insurance denials. He has suffered from rheumatoid arthritis since 2001. One of his three children was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 2. His wife nearly died several years ago when he didn’t have insurance and there was a delay in her gall bladder surgery. He took a lower-paying job to get health insurance. The insurer, United HealthCare, denied coverage for his son because diabetes was a pre-existing condition, and charged such high co-pays for Matt and his wife’s prescription drugs that the family was bankrupted and had to move in with his mother. He is now on Medicaid but continues to be denied coverage for doctor-recommended treatment.

Rev. Keith Mayes, 47, Columbia, Tennessee, is a husband and father of three children. His wife recently developed a muscular disorder and lost her job. The family has accrued nearly $175,000 in medical debt and the bills keep coming. The insurance company would cover only 14 days of intensive care, yet Mrs. Mayes spent 91 days in and out of intensive care. While the family earns about $60,000 a year, they just can’t afford the bills that are piling up.

Heather Mroz, 24, Coconut Creek,  Florida, and her husband, Greg, face $480,000 in medical bills after United Healthcare canceled Greg’s $1,260 a month policy he had through his construction job for “failure to negotiate” new premiums prior to the premature birth of their twins, Hannah & Wyatt, in June 2009. Greg‘s company went out of business in March, and the family arranged to pay UHC directly while COBRA was being worked out. UHC gave the hospital approval in writing, saying it would pay for everything connected with the pregnancy even if it was high risk because she was having twins. Heather was hospitalized at several points to stop premature labor, and the babies were born premature and needed extra care. Heather then learned during a doctor’s appointment that UHC had canceled the policy - though there was no notification, and UHC continued to accept their premiums. UHC demanded reimbursement, and then the family was “bombarded” with bills from the hospital and doctors. The family is facing bankruptcy and had to move in with Greg’s parents.  The strain of the situation has contributed to the couple’s recent separation and pending divorce.

Marcelas Owens, 10, Seattle, Washington, lost his mother, Tiffany, in 2007. She was too sick to work and lost her job as manager of a fast food restaurant.  She also lost her health insurance. Tiffany died of pulmonary hypertension at the age of 27. Marcelas and his grandmother, Gina Owens, 52, have come to Washington to fight for health care reform. Their story of loss was cited by Sen. Patty Murray at President Obama’s health summit. Marcelas turns 11 on March 10, the day he will be on Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers to urge them to pass health care reform legislation.

Bob Parker, 54, St. Paul, Minnesota, is unemployed and uninsured and faces difficulty buying private insurance because of pre-existing conditions. But he has come to Washington to fight for health care reform in the name of his niece, Nora Longley, 27, who died last year from adrenal cancer after delayed diagnosis and limited access to treatment. Nora had health insurance when she first experienced mild symptoms, but her policy had a $500 deductible and she did not think she could afford the cost of a doctor visit. By the time she was really sick, she was preparing to go to graduate school and did not have health insurance. Her cancer was very advanced by the time it was diagnosed. Her doctors said that if it had been treated early, she would still be alive, and possibly cancer-free.

Stacie Ritter, 36, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is the mother of twin daughters, now 11, who were diagnosed with leukemia when they were 4. Both girls needed stem cell transplants and other cancer treatments. The twins survived, but the glands controlling their growth were damaged. Doctors recommended that they receive daily growth-hormone injections. But Stacie’s husband’s company had switched to CIGNA for health insurance, and CIGNA refused to cover the hormone shots. With $30,000 in medical debt, a mortgage, her husband’s brief unemployment and food costs, the family of six filed for bankruptcy in 2003. The twins now get their growth hormone drug free from Eli Lilly. But the family still pays about $4,012 a year in premiums to CIGNA, plus $650 co-pay for an annual cancer survivorship visit.

Dan Sherry, 52, Waukegan, Illinois, owns an engraving business.  His $12,000/yr. Fortis (Assurant) policy covered himself, his wife and their kids. There was a high deductible so they paid for visits to pediatricians out of pocket.  In the summer of 2003, they got really busy at work and he forgot to pay a premium. They were dropped and told they had to re-apply and be evaluated. The insurer put his wife and kids back on the policy, with a 30% hike in premiums. But Dan couldn’t get coverage because at a checkup a few months earlier he had been told he had high cholesterol, considered a pre-existing condition. He is now uninsurable.

Mary Wallace, 59, Gold Hill, Oregon, is an attorney who in 2005 was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive scarring of the lungs for which the exact cause is unknown. While working in Minnesota, the cost of her health issues and insurance amounted to one-third of her salary and led to foreclosure on her house and bankruptcy in 2008. She moved to Oregon to live with her sister. She is now unemployed and uninsured, and can’t afford the medical work-up required for a life-prolonging lung transplant.  
         
Hattie Wilkins, 59, Youngstown, Ohio, a machine operator, lost her health insurance in late 2008 after she was laid off from a big company where she had worked for 35 years. She enrolled in COBRA but lost her coverage when she was 15 days late on a payment. She is too young for Medicaid and is currently uninsured, with a pre-existing condition because of high blood pressure.

Alaya Wyndham-Price, 28, Portland, Oregon, was diagnosed last year with a benign tumor at the base of her skull. She has had several MRIs and seen lots of specialists, and costs have topped $35,000. She needs surgery, but her insurer, Western Benefits, capped her coverage at $20,000 a year. She was planning to get surgery this year but has since lost her job as a wine events coordinator. She also lost her   COBRA coverage after a dispute over late paperwork. She is now uninsured, too sick to work and can’t afford the surgery, which is estimated at as much as $140,000. She has “good days and bad days.”