That's right, PacifiCare was shamed by you and the immense outpouring of citizen outrage and activism, into authorizing the medically necessary treatment for Nick Colombo.
Here's a brief clip from the demonstration yesterday at the headquarters of PacifiCare in Cypress, California.
As you read this, keep in mind the power of citizen outrage and citizen activism. I've been told in several emails that our power is being carefully scrutinized by the insurance industry, they're even getting rather nervous.
The sleeping giant American people are finally waking up.
We're facing an eerily similar situation. A phone call from you may help save another child's life from the depraved indifference of Pacificare. Who owns Pacificare? Who else? UnitedHealth.
Here's the background.
I've received several urgent emails from the heroes at California Nurses Association about this developing situation.
Today I'm going to tell you about Nick Columbo. Nick is only 17 years old and has Ewing’s Sarcoma (bone cancer). His insurer, Pacifi care death, is denying him a treatment which doctors think may save his life.
The family and the nurses are urgently appealing to the public to call PacifiCare at 714-828-1821 or Tyler Mason, the UnitedHealth/Pacificare spokesperson at 714-226-3530 and demand they provide the care Nick needs.
Last week in comments on a diary unrelated to this topic, DKos sherlyle wrote that her daughter in Illinois had been told by her insurer that immunizations for her children were considered "elective" and therefore the insurance company would no longer pay for them. It cited waivers in the Illinois state laws that allow parents to opt out of immunizations usually required for school entrance and attendance. http://www.dailykos.com/...
My daughter's insurance company no longer pays for regular child immunizations - says they're "elective", not required by schools anymore, since you can sign a waiver. Is that true for where you are, too? Sounds to me like a medical disaster waiting to happen. (this is in IL)
In several conversation I had with Rosen, he discussed institutionalized and organized corruption at the highest levels of U.S. health insurance companies. He described regulators who look the other way, politicians who listen to his documented litany of insurance industry crimes, say they will "look into it," and then do nothing. He called what is going on in the United States "nationwide insurance industry fraud."
Then in a second diary, I told you about his testimony before a committee of the New York State Assembly.
Today, I'm going to give you a brief update on several very significant legal actions which may focus a harsh national spotlight on the murderous and predatory U.S. health insurance industry.
Finally, we may be seeing action. A few politicians (thank you, Andrew Cuomo), are finally getting the message and doing their jobs.
DarkSyde has come up with a new name for America's largest health insurer, UnitedDeath. And nyceve just throught of a better title for the diary.
This is how the the chief lobbyist for AHIP, Karen Ignagni belittles the investigation into UnitedHealth and others by Andrew Cuomo the New York State Attorney General.
Let's do two things at this interesting juncture. Step back for a moment and understand the flagrant distortion contained in the statement. Then recognize that these are the unscrupulous people healthcare Swiftboaters we will be battling come January, 2009.
This morning, The New York Times is reporting that New York prosecutors under the leadership of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, are investigating whether Wall Street banks withheld crucial information about the risks posed by investments linked to subprime loans.
It's long, long overdue for state prosecutors to focus on the illegal and criminal activity of the health insurance industry.
I think I can speak for all of us in urging Mr. Cuomo to lead the nation, and swiftly turn his attention to the health insurance industry.
Does Cuomo have the courage to do this? Will Cuomo and his army of prosecutors ignore ongoing illegal criminal activity? Is Cuomo a leader, or part of the problem? It remains to be seen.
What follows is testimony before a committee of the New York State Assembly, of a courageous hospital CEO and his Director of Utilization Management. You'll glimpse the all-encompassing corruption and power of the health insurance industry in the United States. You'll be appalled and horrified to see how the political system is doing nothing to protect the American people from this predatory and merciless industry.
John Edwards talks about "corporate greed". He's being far too generous. I will tell you that corporate greed, is but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the health insurance industry in the United States. John Edwards needs to add, "corporate greed and criminality."
I just ended a three hour conference call with David Rosen, the CEO of Medisys Health. You're going to be hearing quite a bit from me about this man and his battle in the weeks ahead.
For now, I'll remind you that Rosen is the hospital executive who has come to be known as the father of the UnitedHealth RICO lawsuit.
Why are the American people being asked to re-board the Titanic?
Why are we being told we can reasonably incorporate a for-profit business model into a scheme which will guarantee all of us affordable healthcare? On its face, isn't this a ludicrous notion?
UnitedHealth is the largest health insurer in the United States.
Here's how UnitedHealth currently operates.
You can take it to the bank, that UnitedHealth will be invited to participate in the health reform party. Since UnitedHealth will be a huge player, it makes sense to see how this organization does business.
I want to know what my healthcare future looks like, don't you?
It's not pretty--at all.
Unless drastic changes are contemplated, this is how UnitedHealth will continue to oversee our healthcare when and if, healthcare reform legislation becomes law.
The truth is, you cannot put lipstick on this pig.
Sometimes, a news story slips through the cracks because of the sheer weight of other news. Nearly a million evacuated because of fires in California. Bush offers the Cubans the same choice his father gave the people of Basra, Iraq (overthrow your Government, we'll sit here and give you moral encouragement).
But this news could impact millions more. WellCare, one of only ten national providers of Part D Medicare Drug Plans, was raided in spectacular fashion by the FBI yesterday. Agents raided their Tampa, Florida offices. Carrying in empty boxes and leaving with full ones.
You dutifully pay your premiums, then the day comes when you actually need the insurance company to pay for something.
This is how it's supposed to work. But it doesn't.
What follows is a real lesson in Murder by Spreadsheet.
In California, Blue Cross will "pre-authorize" a particular procedure, then when the time comes to pay, Blue Cross feels entitled to say,
"Blue Cross' pre-authorization for healthcare services is an advance determination of the medical necessity of a proposed procedure only; it is not a guarantee of payment," she said, adding that the caveat is "stated expressly" when the pre-authorization request is made.
"Our authorizations for care, based on medical necessity, include express statements that they are not guarantees of payment," she [Blue Cross spokesperson] said.
Health insurers see big bucks in the Consumer Directed High Deductible business and the Health Savings Accounts (HSA) often attached to this junk insurance.
G. Scott Romney, the brother of Mitt Romney is on the Board of the newly chartered Blue Cross Bank. What in the world is Blue Cross doing chartering banks? Making money from selling junk insurance to desperate Americans.
Keep in mind healthcare in the United States is about one thing only, moving money. As I've explained in previous diaries, the goal is to take money out of our pockets and put it into the swelling coffers of the for-profit insurance industry. Indeed the banking industry sees the collapse of our healthcare system as a vehicle to huge profits in the form of fees, heart-stopping late payment and interest charges and other financial sleigh-of hand.
And everything you'll read here is legal. It's legal in the United States to have 48 million uninsured citizens. It's legal to spend more on healthcare than any other industrialized nation and have inferior healthcare outcomes. It's legal to sell desperate people junk insurance.
Now it's even legal to require American citizens to buy junk insurance!
This morning, much to my delight, Paul Krugman has devoted his column in the New York Times to the UnitedHealth racketeering lawsuit I wrote about yesterday.
In a column entitled The Health Care Racket , Krugman exposes the corruption and criminal activity at UnitedHealth which led to this lawsuit.
Is the health insurance business a racket? Yes, literally — or so say two New York hospitals, which have filed a racketeering lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group and several of its affiliates.
I don’t know how the case will turn out. But whatever happens in court, the lawsuit illustrates perfectly the dysfunctional nature of our health insurance system, a system in which resources that could have been used to pay for medical care are instead wasted in a zero-sum struggle over who ends up with the bill.
If you have insurance from UnitedHealth, you are sadly encumbered by a very corrupt organization. I should probably add that what you'll read here about UnitedHealth, is in truth, the toxic template used by all for-profit insurers. Today UnitedHealth, tomorrow Anthem. They have all concocted shameless and illegal methods of operation. It amounts to one big lethal stew which is killing Americans. This is Murder by Spreadsheet.
Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center, two hospitals in New York, have had enough of the "business" practices of this vicious company and are suing it under the racketeering laws in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Like hospitals across the nation, these hospitals are struggling to survive. They face ongoing Medicare and Medicaid cutbacks and of course, continual battles with the for-profit insurance industry for payment.
It was announced today that UnitedHealth has cancelled its contract with Quest Diagnostics, the number one provider of medical diagnostic testing in the United States.
Quest Diagnostics Inc., the top U.S. provider of diagnostic testing services, said Tuesday it has lost its contract with UnitedHealthcare, which accounts for about 7 percent of Quest revenues.
Why did Quest Diagnostics lose this valuable contract from its largest customer?
The mind reels.
Of course, the financial press is playing this as a straight business news story. Shares of Quest are taking a beating. The UnitedHealth business represents 7% of Quest's profits.
At this moment, I have on my desk a bill from Quest. Quest is a pretty familiar name within the Medical-Industrial establishment. I'm wondering why did UnitedHealth pull the plug?
It appears that Quest refused to cave to outrageous demands from UnitedHealth, that might have meant compromising the quality and safety of laboratory testing.
UnitedHealth Europe, the European arm of our own UnitedHealth was dealt a serious blow in its bid to provide privatized services within the National Health Service(NHS).
A pensioner has scuppered plans by America's biggest healthcare company to run a GP surgery in Derbyshire by winning a case against them in the court of appeal.
Yesterday Pam Smith succeeded in forcing United Health Europe (UHE), the British arm of the US firm, to reapply for the tender to provide family doctors for the people of Langwith, on the Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire border.
Mr. Blair was attempting to inflict the depraved American model on the U.K. But the Brits don't want any part of the crap we accept as normal in the United States.
Tony Blair's health reforms face a rising tide of opposition from doctors, nurses, and patients, which threatens to become a torrent. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/...
If you have a little spare change lying around, I'd go and buy some UnitedHealth stock.
UnitedHealth has institutionalized health care denials. This is good for Wall Street and good for the bottom line.
UnitedHealth Group Inc., the nation's second-largest health insurer, said Wednesday its quarterly profits grew 26.5 percent, as the company benefited from the acquisition of PacifiCare Health Systems and growth across its other businesses.
Yesterday was a bad day for you and me--for the American people.
A bad day for holding insurance companies acountable for the American health care catastrophe.
Give a big round of applause to the insurance industry.
Give another win to the corporate special interests that have taken over this country and are growing like a metastatic cancer.
Give another win to the power of judicial appointments to greivously impact our lives.
I'll tell you something you won't read in any news accounts. The judge who threw out this case which pitted doctors and patients against UnitedHealth was appointed by Bush One. Draw you own conclusions.
It seems to me if there is one take-home message it is: we are fighting a take-no-prisoners battle and things won't get any better until the American people demand change.
I didn't have to look far today to find the outrage du jour.
It was in the New York Times.
Some of you might remember the diary I wrote last week: CEO stock options, chemotherapy & your 5 minute doctor appointment. You can read it here, if you'd like:
It was about the huge pay package of the CEO of UnitedHealth.
United Health Group, whose chief executive has racked up $1.6 billion in stock options, said yesterday it may have to slice as much as $286 million from its past three years of earnings because of the way it ac counted for options.
The nation's second-largest health insurer also acknowledged it is the subject of an "informal inquiry" by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and it could lose tax de ductions for options grants it previ ously thought were deductible.
