Posted on 07/27/2007 12:34:22 AM PDT by NinoFan
You now have the opportunity to print and carry your very own "'SiCKO' Health Care Card." Playing the 'SiCKO' card has worked for a family in DeBary, Florida, whose daughter suffered profound hearing loss and was denied a cochlear implant. Her father sent a letter to Cigna asking, "has your CEO ever been in a film before?" Before he knew it, his daughter's denial was overturned. It also worked for a family in Flint, Michigan who was stuck with a $66,000 medical bill until they posted their healthcare horror story on YouTube. Click here to see what happened next.
Download the PDF of the card below and follow these simple guidelines:
Carry the card in your wallet with your insurance card.
If denied treatment, show your SiCKO card to your doctor/insurer.
Ask your insurer if they'd like to be in Michael Moore's next movie, DVD, or appear on MichaelMoore.com.
Tell them that, if denied, you will seek coverage from your local media. E-mail your story to michael@michaelmoore.com.
I agree. Disagree with the guy all you want but this could very well be a novel idea.
Why not print up your own M.D. or D.O. from the Internet and treat your own illness? http://www.nd-center.com
LOL!
Sounds like extortion to threaten them with slander in a film. Lengthy lawsuit and negative press campaign or comped services.
The only part of this I don’t like is the possibility of getting used in a Michael Moore book/film. Other than that I’m all about publicity.
Capitalism only works in a transparent medium. The media is supposed to give us fair information we can use to make our free-market choices. TOo bad most of them are just leftie hacks.
The people of the USA are being denied health care, while paying for care of people from other countries. The people of the USA are being abused, and they must cry out. Congress has health care, and the people do not.
Grand idea!
In return they can get charged with extortion (maybe even with their hero Michael Moore as a co-conspirator), similar to those who show copy of Constitution and IRS Form 4340 in court after failing to pay taxes on the advice of “certified” accountant advisers like Irwin Sshiff, who is now spending time in jail... They might even make into “film at 11” which will fulfill their desire to be “on film” or “in the movies”.
Also, they can be given a similarly printed card with a referral to “free” Medical CubaCare in Havana, all paid for courtesy of multimillion medical account set up by aforementioned Michael Moore specifically for this purpose.
No it is not a good idea. Who in the hell do you think ends of up paying for that? The employees who have insurance with these company will see their costs continue to spiral upwards due to increased claims paid out. I agree that the system needs fixing but extortion is not the way to go.
I bet there is a lot more to this story. Perhaps this family did not appeal the original denial and instead jumped on the Michael Moore bandwagon threatening bad press. Once the CEO got involved, it was probably reviewed properly then approved. Not sure. And I am not about to go to his website to check it out.
Nobody is denied health care, it just isn’t free.
The issue is and always has been health insurance.
I believe instead of trying to find ridiculous ways to somehow have expensive health care become magically “free”, or get everyone covered by so-called “universal coverage” that will cost many of us in huge taxes, that the cost of health care itself be affordable.
The sad fact is there is plenty of money and with tort reform and other issues addressed, there could be a system of reasonably priced effective private insurance with free clinics and emergency care for the very poor.
But as long as we are all taxed to death with huge chunks coming out of our paychecks- money that could be paying off personal debt, paying for health care, etc, instead the government wastes billions and billions of dollars every year. If I had the money I’d run a full page ad in every paper and rip congress a new one over what they are doing with our money. Maybe it would wake up enough people to make something happen.
I am also bothered by an insurance industry that seems at odds with a person’s best interests- perhaps it should be more like an employee-owned business where groups can pool money for effective coverage, rather than a company whose best interest as a company is to not pay claims in order to be more profitable.
Then again, it's entirely possible that the original appeal was received by a health information technician who has been told repeatedly that his/her next pay raise is dependent on how many appeals they receive and deny, and rather than applying the criteria correctly, they simply rubber-stamped it and returned it. Not that it ever happens.
This is going to make life...interesting. We deal with denials every day. Real life situation - grandpa (not mine) is eighty-four years old, and has been taking Aricept for the past three years. On his last MMSE, he lost points, and no longer meets criteria for the medication, so prior authorization is denied. The medication is no longer doing him any good. When the family appeals what is obviously a losing situation - does the plan give in and continue to pay for the medication or stand firm on the denial?
Or the one I got to deal with. Seventy-five year old patient with cancer. MD wants him to try a new oral chemotherapy medication. Plan denies it, and advises that in order to authorize the medication, the patient needs to try and fail two types of platinum based chemotherapy. The denial is not based upon any kind of criteria coming from the medications manufacturer, but is based upon criteria made up by the Prior Authorization medical team. They don't look at the facts of the case - if those two treatments fail (which they will, based upon the oncologists evaluation), then the patient will not have time to respond to the denied medication, the patient has had twelve mini-strokes and the required chemo is likely to induce more, or the fact that the patient has had multiple surgeries to treat the cancer and it's simply getting more aggressive. They just look at prior medication history and say "no."
Sorry about the mini-rant - I'm going to have to write more about this.
My personal health care plan is:
Suck it up, don’t be a big crying baby. Try to eat right, live healthy, and when things get bad enough, go to the E.R. Try and throw them some money when you can.
I currently have about $35,000 in medical bills. The hospital, the heart care people, the radiology people, they get what I can afford to give them.
I would be happy if universal coverage was combined with tort reform. the legal system is our only recourse in a free market economy. i don’t want the government to deal with the problem of doctor incompetence.
remember, the AMA is a big leftie union worse than many.
You know, I do not like Michael Moore, but sending him horror stories about our medical insurance problems might just get the bureaucrats to take another look at the “denials” of medical care reimbursements.
I have numerous horror stories about the DOD run Tricare system, (especially as it pertains to retirees living overseas) and have been fighting constantly with their contractor, Wisconsin Physician Services, whose responsibility is to process all overseas tricare claims. Claims are “lost”, reimbursements are denied or only 50% is allowed (unfairly, or because the claims processors use the wrong CPT codes and refuse to admit they made a mistake) and the wait for reimbursement is 6-8 months.
This situation is a travesty and needs a congressional investigation, but none of the Senators or Congressmen have been willing to look into it even though numerous retirees have written to their Congressmen/Senators.
So true.
I had major medical issues and was caught without health insurance. I was never denied any treatment, emergency or otherwise. They realize that few can afford to pay tens of thousands out of pocket, so they’ll let you pay so much a month based on your income. In addition, almost all of the specialists had major self-pay discounts if you paid for each visit on the day you went. Some of the testing facilities were the same way. I think I actually got better (and more complete) care from some of the docs because I was self-pay.
Point is, there’s always the ER for those who have emergencies, and very few regular docs or specialists are going to refuse to see you for day-to-day stuff as long as you pay your bills.
yikes! Freepers getting on the socialized medicine bandwagon. Congress “waking up” to our healthcare situation is a large part of why there is a “problem” now. EVERY system will have holes. EVERY system will have needs unmet. Lots of them. There are a lot of Americans who are more comfortable with some government bureaucrat being the one to blame, rather than an employee of some CORPORATION. Resources are limited, wants and desires are unlimited. We could legislate “compassion” and redistribute resources from now to eternity, and there would still be children who wouldn’t get the most modern whatever. TANSTAAFL.
Yeah, I was surprised by the first few replies, too.
Here is Moore’s “proposal”: http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/health-care-proposal/
Scary, isn’t it?
If you consider "extortion" novel, then I suppose it is.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.