Death Panel
- Thread starter hedgehog
- Start date
- Jun 11, 2007
- 4,564
- 3
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now stop and think for a moment. IF 8 yrs of it wasnt enough for most to recognize it, why in the hell would they do it in one FB post.
sponge
sponge
I get so mad about this .... mad enough to , well you can imagine... now nothing will ever change in this toilet bowl of politics until a few million people get together and flush the shit, big giant turds, they'll be hard to flush.
sponge
I get so mad about this .... mad enough to , well you can imagine... now nothing will ever change in this toilet bowl of politics until a few million people get together and flush the shit, big giant turds, they'll be hard to flush.
Rusty, you are correct that we don't know what we'll get if it becomes reality. Doesn't mean it will be better, or worse, because we don't know.
What we do know is that the costs for everyone (that pays) is going up. Those that aren't paying are getting it free now, so that won't really change. I have a problem with that, but this isn't about that. You say you are happy with your coverage the way it is. I'm guessing you get most of it paid by your employer, but that's a guess. If that's true, your employer is getting hammered in providing some or all of what he's providing to you, and it's hurting his business - badly, in most cases. Small business owners pay 20+ percent more than big business owners to cover or partially cover their employees, and the costs for them are going through the roof. Does this help you in the long run?
Costs have doubled over the past 8-10 years. Insurance companies have doubled their profits in that same time. And estimates show costs doing the same or more if things don't change. Is this good for you in the long run?
You're scared of how the government will take care of this. You're happier that the people with real control over it are mainly concerned with making big profits and declining whatever they can get away with to continue that business model? The government doesn't have that interest, so why would that be worse?
Fear of the unknown, and belief in lobbying and lies from people who have a vested interest in making people feel this way. I think that's what it is.
And I can assure you, that if things should happen to change for you, like a job loss and loss of your current situation, you might not feel the same way. I know for a fact, that can change your opinion.
- Sep 27, 2005
- 1,171
- 14
- 0
California's Real Death Panels: Insurers Deny 21% of Claims
PacifiCare's Denials 40%, Cigna?s 33% in First Half of 2009
More than one of every five requests for medical claims for insured patients, even when recommended by a patient's physician, are rejected by California's largest private insurers, amounting to very real death panels in practice daily in the nation's biggest state, according to data released Wednesday by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.
CNA/NNOC researchers analyzed data reported by the insurers to the California Department of Managed Care. From 2002 through June 30, 2009, six of the largest insurers operating in California rejected 47.7 million claims for care -- 22 percent of all claims.
The data will be presented by Don DeMoro, director of CNA/NNOC's research arm, the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy, at CNA/NNOC's biennial convention next Tuesday, Sept. 8 in San Francisco. The convention will also feature a panel presentation from nurse leaders in Canada, Great Britain, and Australia exploding the myths about their national healthcare systems.
"With all the dishonest claims made by some politicians about alleged 'death panels' in proposed national legislation, the reality for patients today is a daily, cold-hearted rejection of desperately needed medical care by the nation's biggest and wealthiest insurance companies simply because they don't want to pay for it," said Deborah Burger, RN, CNA/NNOC co-president.
For the first half of 2009, as the national debate over healthcare reform was escalating, the rejection rates are even more striking.
Claims denial rates by leading California insurers, first six months of 2009:
PacifiCare -- 39.6 percent
Cigna -- 32.7 percent
HealthNet -- 30 percent
Kaiser Permanente -- 28.3 percent
Blue Cross -- 27.9 percent
Aetna -- 6.4 percent
"Every claim that is denied represents a real patient enduring pain and suffering. Every denial has real, sometimes fatal consequences," said Burger.
PacifiCare, for example, denied a special procedure for treatment of bone cancer for Nick Colombo, a 17-year-old teen from Placentia, Calif. Again, after protests organized by Nick's family and friends, CNA/NNOC, and netroots activists, PacifiCare reversed its decision. But like Nataline Sarkisyan, the delay resulted in critical time lost, and Nick ultimately died. "This was his last effort and the procedure had worked before with people in Nick's situation," said his older brother Ricky.
Cigna gained notoriety two years ago for denying a liver transplant to 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan of Northridge, Calif. and then reversing itself, tragically too late to save her life.
In 2008, six days before RN Kim Kutcher of Dana Point, Calif., was scheduled to have special back surgery, Blue Cross denied authorization for the procedure as "investigational" even though the lumbar artificial disc she was to receive had FDA approval. At the time of denial, which she calls "insurance hell," Kutcher had "already gone through pre-op testing, donated a unit of blood, had appointments with four physicians." Kutcher paid $60,000 out of pocket for the operation and is still fighting Blue Cross.
http://www.calnurses.org/media-cent...-death-panels-insurers-deny-21-of-claims.html
PacifiCare's Denials 40%, Cigna?s 33% in First Half of 2009
More than one of every five requests for medical claims for insured patients, even when recommended by a patient's physician, are rejected by California's largest private insurers, amounting to very real death panels in practice daily in the nation's biggest state, according to data released Wednesday by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.
CNA/NNOC researchers analyzed data reported by the insurers to the California Department of Managed Care. From 2002 through June 30, 2009, six of the largest insurers operating in California rejected 47.7 million claims for care -- 22 percent of all claims.
The data will be presented by Don DeMoro, director of CNA/NNOC's research arm, the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy, at CNA/NNOC's biennial convention next Tuesday, Sept. 8 in San Francisco. The convention will also feature a panel presentation from nurse leaders in Canada, Great Britain, and Australia exploding the myths about their national healthcare systems.
"With all the dishonest claims made by some politicians about alleged 'death panels' in proposed national legislation, the reality for patients today is a daily, cold-hearted rejection of desperately needed medical care by the nation's biggest and wealthiest insurance companies simply because they don't want to pay for it," said Deborah Burger, RN, CNA/NNOC co-president.
For the first half of 2009, as the national debate over healthcare reform was escalating, the rejection rates are even more striking.
Claims denial rates by leading California insurers, first six months of 2009:
PacifiCare -- 39.6 percent
Cigna -- 32.7 percent
HealthNet -- 30 percent
Kaiser Permanente -- 28.3 percent
Blue Cross -- 27.9 percent
Aetna -- 6.4 percent
"Every claim that is denied represents a real patient enduring pain and suffering. Every denial has real, sometimes fatal consequences," said Burger.
PacifiCare, for example, denied a special procedure for treatment of bone cancer for Nick Colombo, a 17-year-old teen from Placentia, Calif. Again, after protests organized by Nick's family and friends, CNA/NNOC, and netroots activists, PacifiCare reversed its decision. But like Nataline Sarkisyan, the delay resulted in critical time lost, and Nick ultimately died. "This was his last effort and the procedure had worked before with people in Nick's situation," said his older brother Ricky.
Cigna gained notoriety two years ago for denying a liver transplant to 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan of Northridge, Calif. and then reversing itself, tragically too late to save her life.
In 2008, six days before RN Kim Kutcher of Dana Point, Calif., was scheduled to have special back surgery, Blue Cross denied authorization for the procedure as "investigational" even though the lumbar artificial disc she was to receive had FDA approval. At the time of denial, which she calls "insurance hell," Kutcher had "already gone through pre-op testing, donated a unit of blood, had appointments with four physicians." Kutcher paid $60,000 out of pocket for the operation and is still fighting Blue Cross.
http://www.calnurses.org/media-cent...-death-panels-insurers-deny-21-of-claims.html
