Hundreds Rally as Families Denied Care Try To Confront AHIP at Industry Conference
Families Tell Personal Stories Proving Need for True Affordability and Choice of Public Health Insurance Option; AHIP CEO Ignores Invitation To Listen
***New anti-AHIP TV and print ads released today: HealthCareForAmericaNow.org/antiAHIP***
Washington, DC – Seven families from around the country appeared at the same hotel as the health insurance lobby’s annual State Issues conference in downtown D.C. today to recount the mistreatment they and their loved ones have endured at the hands of the private health insurance industry. Outside the Capital Hilton, 600 hundred supporters gathered in solidarity, holding large signs with messages like “IT’S A CRIME TO DENY CARE” and “BIG INSURANCE: SICK OF IT.”
Prior to their arrival in Washington, the seven families sent a letter (pdf) to Karen Ignagni – the President and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) – requesting she meet with them to hear their stories in person. The letter was delivered Tuesday morning and was used in a print advertisement that appeared in several Hill papers Thursday, including Congress Daily AM, Congressional Quarterly, The Hill, Politico, and Roll Call. Even though Ms. Ignagni was in attendance the AHIP conference just down the hall from the very people harmed by the companies she represents, she ignored the families’ request.
“It’s easy for health insurers to go about their business of delaying and denying care in order to protect their exorbitant profits when they don’t have to face the people personally affected by their bad practices.” said Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager, Health Care for America Now. “Karen Ignagni should have met the families behind the paperwork and should have to acknowledge these are people and not just claims to be tossed aside. Maybe then, as she and her colleagues continue to lobby against good, affordable health care and the choice of a public health insurance option, she will have to confront who she’s truly fighting against.”
Just this morning, one top AHIP lobbyist told fellow conference goers, "There is absolutely no interest, no reason Republicans should ever vote for this thing. They have gone from a party that got killed 11 months ago to a party that is rising today. And they are rising up on the turmoil of health care," said [Steve] Champlin. "So when they vote for a health care reform bill, whatever it is, they are giving comfort to the enemy who is down."
AHIP has paid millions of dollars trying to kill health care reform, including releasing a discredited report this month that Time called a “selective, dishonest analysis” and the Associated Press said “uses facts selectively” and is littered with “misleading spin.” Even the financial analysis firm the insurance industry commissioned to write the report backed away from it, admitting that it ignored provisions aimed at making health care more affordable.
Had Ms. Ignagni shown up, she would have heard the following:
Georgeanne Koehler of Pennsylvania spoke for her brother, Billy, who died of a heart attack in March after CIGNA and others refused to insure him because he had heart arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat). Georgeanne explained that her brother was a lifelong Republican who voted for President Obama because he believed health care reform could be his miracle. Congressman Mike Doyle (D-PA) joined Georgeanne on the podium and spoke passionately about Billy’s struggle and how the health care legislation he expects the House to pass will guarantee tragedies like Billy’s don’t happen anymore.
Kelly Arellanes, an AT&T worker from Arkansas, was in a coma for three weeks after a 2004 horseback riding accident. Kelly and her husband David had to pay more than $200,000 in medical bills when Kelly’s emergency surgery was not covered by UnitedHealthcare.
Sharon Lantz, a realtor from Delaware, has a UnitedHealthcare plan that forces her to pay for her cancer care “out of pocket,” and she has turned to getting her chemotherapy medication from India in order to afford it. Sharon cannot afford breast reconstruction either.
Courtney Jenkins-Atnip, a mother of a toddler from Tennessee, was denied medication for Crohn’s disease by UnitedHealthcare. UnitedHealthcare had approved the same medication 12 months earlier. By the time coverage was reinstated, Courtney’s condition had deteriorated, and she was forced to undergo serious surgery and miss 2 months of work.
Kevin Scott, a former marine officer, has a brain tumor. Kevin’s MRIs, lab work, and treatment for side effects (like skin problems) are not covered through his BCBS Anthem plan which he retains through COBRA. When Kevin got sick, he left a good job in Virginia and moved in with his retired parents William & Elretha Scott in California who are trying to help pay bills that are now in the thousands and going up.
Stephanie Beck Borden is from Ohio, and her parents were in an accident that left her mother dead and her father in intensive care for 5 weeks. Stephanie had to battle insurance companies constantly to get her father vital treatments for his injuries so that he could walk again.
Susan Pearl traveled from Florida to share the story of her son Ian who was born with muscular dystrophy and suffered respiratory arrest in 1991. Ian went on a ventilator and saw his premiums rise to $3,736/month. In 2006, Guardian began an effort to get rid of unprofitable plans, calling the claimants “dogs” and dropping all policies like Ian’s. Ian will lose coverage for the 24-hour care that keeps him alive on Dec. 1, 2009, and his family faces $700,000/yr. in out-of-pocket costs. Ian told his story in his own words online here.
To coincide with today’s press conference and rally, Health Care for America Now also released an anti-AHIP television ad, amplifying the insurance industry’s commitment to putting Wall Street investors’ profit expectations before people’s health care needs.
“AHIP Bogus Report” Script:
VIDEO:
Skyscraper background
SUPER: Health insurance companies profit $25 billion a year
Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 2008
SUPER: CEOs make $690 million
Source: Compensation 2000 - 2008, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Bring on report with AHIP logo stamped on it.
TIME magazine logo with SUPER: “selective, dishonest analysis”
SUPER: If the insurance companies win, you lose.
White screen with logo and SUPER: We need good health care we can afford. With the choice of a public health insurance option.
AUDIO:
Health insurance companies made $25 billion dollars in profits last year. (SFX: cash register sound)
Sources: Company 10-K filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. Also, America's Health Insurance Plans, "AHIP Statement on
Status of Health Care Reform," August 4, 2009. Accessed at http://www.ahip.org/content/pressrelease.aspx?docid=27953.
Also, Projected National Health Expenditures in 2009, $2.5 trillion.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, “National Health
Expenditure Projections 2008-2018.” Accessed at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/proj2008.pdf.
Their CEOs made $690 million. (SFX: cash register sound)
Source: Securities and Exchange Commission data compiled by Health
Care for America Now, “Total Compensation for CEOs of Major Health
Insurers, 2000 – 2008 (in millions).” Accessed at http://healthcareforamericanow.org/page/-/documents%20for%20download/CEO%20Compensation%20Top%20Health%20Insurers%202000-2008%20(1).pdf
Now the insurance lobby has paid for a report full of lies, trying to
influence Congress to kill health care reform …a report Time Magazine
called a “selective, dishonest analysis.”
Source: Time magazine, “A New and Better (But Still Flawed) Insurance Industry Report,” October 14, 2009. Accessed at http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/10/14/a-new-and-better-but-still-flawed-insurance-industry-report/
If the insurance companies win, you lose.
Tell Congress. We need good health care we can afford. With the choice of a public health insurance option.
See the ad: HealthCareForAmericaNow.org/antiAHIP
