Some Personal Stories - Why Health Care Matters

Here are some personal stories about health care and why it matters that we have universal health care for all Americans.

Joe, this is why we need, single-payer, universal health care

(From Crooksandliars.com) Many people have followed the horrifying story of Nataline Sarkisyan. She was denied a liver transplant by health care giant CIGNA because they called it “experimental.”

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CIGNA has ignored this medical decision and calls the transplant “experimental” as justification for denying the treatment. CIGNA’s refusal of Nataline’s liver transplant—overruling the urgent appeals of an array of doctors and nurses—is indicative of the failures of the new healthcare plan sponsored by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Fabian Nunez. That plan, which is actively supported by CIGNA, requires every single Californian to purchase insurance products from companies like CIGNA, but does not address the problem of denial of care evident in this situation.

After a protest led by the California Nurses Association along with family and friends turned the heat up on CIGNA, they finally approved the life saving procedure, but…

In a stunning turn around, insurance giant CIGNA has capitulated to community demands, and protests that the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee helped to generate, and agreed to a critically needed liver transplant for Nataline Sarkisyan, a 17-year-old girl in the intensive care unit at UCLA Medical Center…

…they acted too late and she died.

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee today blasted insurance giant CIGNA for failing to approve a liver transplant one week earlier for listen to 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan, who tragically died last night just hours after CIGNA relented and agreed to the procedure following a massive national outcry.

An editorial by the Houston Chronical called CIGNA’s decision to deny the teen a liver transplant until it was too late “Heartless.”

As California and the nation debate how to institute universal health insurance coverage for citizens, the Sarkisyan case indicates that more must be done than simply covering everyone with a policy. All too frequently, insurance company bureaucrats are making medical judgments that should be left in the hands of a patient’s physician…

If the staff at the UCLA transplant unit approved Nataline’s procedure, that should have been the end of the discussion. For universal health coverage to be meaningful, such decisions must be taken out of the hands of insurance adjustors and placed with an impartial arbiter whose interest is the welfare of the patient rather than a corporation’s balance sheet.

Will the tragedy that struck Nataline Sarkisyan and her family because health care giant CIGNA initially refused a life saving medical treatment become an important story for the voters in Iowa as they begin the process that will determine which candidate will represent each party in the upcoming Presidential election?

Republican voters may face the same situation as the Sarkisyan’s. The CIGNA’s of the world could care less if a family filled out a GOP loyalty oath or did the Pledge of allegiance to President Bush...

Joe, this is why we need universal, single-payer health care

I opened up my Oakland Press electronic edition today, and there on the front page is the story below, about a man that worked hard all his life, has purchased health insurance that he pays for himself who gets sick. He assumes that his treatment will be covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield. He trusts that the premiums he's paid all these years will take care of him. But unfortunately he was wrong. He needs an expensive, life-saving procedure that isn't covered by his insurance.

If you haven't read about Joe Knollenberg's health care plan, Joe says that it would be great if employers received a $200 tax credit for offering their employees a wellness program. Ain't that great? But what about the 47 million without health care coverage, 9 million of whom are children? Joe's excuse for for voting against the Children's Health Insurance Program - it's paid for by raising the taxes on the 22 million people who smoke cigarettes by 61 cents per pack.

What about people like Fred Holling who have bought and paid for private insurance, but when the time comes, they turn down their customer for the treatment they need? Oh, and Joe doesn't believe Fred should be able to sue his insurance carrier either. So people like Fred Holling have no recourse against their insurer, who has taken his money all these years, and yet when the time comes to take care of their customer, they tell him, sorry, you're on your own. So, what does Fred have to do, hold fundraisers, to help raise the money needed to pay for his treatment. It shouldn't be this way in America, the only industrialized country in the world that doesn't offer its citizens universal health coverage. Oh, Republicans and Joe Knollenberg get on their soap box and preach that universal health coverage is leading us down the path to "socialized" medicine, as if using that word scares us into submission. Joe would rather spend America's financial resources, and use our national credit card, borrowing money from China to pay for the disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan. How's that for having your priorities straight?

The time has come for Democrats and Republicans to get busy in Congress to pass John Conyers' universal, single-payer health care legislation, so people like Fred can get the treatments they need, without having to beg relatives, friends and strangers for the money to pay for the care they need. What do you say, Joe? Will you help John Conyers pass H.R. 676 now?

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Guest Post: Trent Wisecup Posterboy for Universal Health Care

By Kathy at BloggingForMichigan


Joe Knollenberg's Chief of Staff, Trent Wisecup, has been getting lots of press following his tirade against anti-war activist Bruce Fealk. The story doesn't end there. Wisecup recently sent the following statement to a local paper:

"I haven't been sleeping well of late, as you all will know from all the late e-mails I have been sending over the past few months. Some of the e-mails have been really weird and flat-out kooky. I recently checked myself into Beaumont (Hospital)... to see what was up. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. This is a form of depression that fortunately is treatable with medication."

Wisecup's reports of sleeplessness, kooky behavior and his recent outburst toward Fealk are all symptoms of bipolar disorder. Other symptoms include impulsiveness, reckless behavior, poor judgement, anger, agitation, social withdrawal and thoughts of suicide. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness "the ramifications of bipolar disorder include a significant economic toll, as well as family disruption, caregiver stress, and an individual burden encompassing comorbid illnesses, substance abuse, poor functionality, and high suicide risk."

Wisecup is lucky to have health insurance and a more than generous salary of $160,000 to cover his deductibles and other expenses necessary to treat his illness. That's not the case for more than 40% of Americans. According to a recent Consumer's Report survey, there are three tiers of health care consumers in the United States: the adequately-insured, who account for 59% of all Americans in the population sampled; the underinsured, who represent 24% of all Americans sampled; and the uninsured, who comprise 16% of our sample.
Bipolar disorder is the 6th leading cause of disability worldwide according to NAMI and the most expensive mental health care diagnosis, both for patients with the illness and for their health insurance plans. The costs to society are significant too: "lost productivity of wage earners, totaling $17 billion; homemakers, $3 billion; and caregivers, $6 billion, as well as the cost of institutionalization, $3 billion, and the lost productivity costs for individuals lost to suicide, $8 billion."

Additionally, NAMI reports that patients with bipolar disorder and their families experience significant losses in functional status and quality of life, placing untoward stress on personal relationships; 56 percent of people with bipolar disorders abused or were dependent on illicit drugs, and 44 percent had comorbid alcohol abuse; many patients with bipolar disorder divorce or experience martial problems; caregivers also feel the effects of patients' illnesses on their work and leisure time; and the combination of missed work hours and lower productivity caused by stress adds a financial burden on the caregiver, as well as on society as a whole.

It's no wonder a majority of Americans favor some sort of universal health coverage. Mental and physical diseases touch all of us, not just the person afflicted by the condition.
Wisecup will get the medications and regular checkups he needs to keep his disease under control, but millions of others won't be so fortunate - including a number of the more than 800,000 children who are diagnosed with bipolar disorder each year and the 2.3 million adults currently living with the disorder.

It's time to put Trent Wisecup's face on a poster advocating health care for all Americans.

Press Release - Activist Calls for Equal Treatment for all Americans

All Americans Deserve Full Health Coverage and Mental Health Parity

Political activist Bruce Fealk hopes that the current situation of Rep. Joe Knollenberg's Chief of Staff, Trent Wisecup, taking leave from his position to address a bi-polar disorder "can be seen in a very sympathetic light by everyone in our community. Like any medical condition, your hope is for full recovery and that the financial burden of this sudden situation will be relieved."

"I offer my thoughts of support to Trent Wisecup and his family" said Fealk upon learning that Wisecup had recently been diagnosed and is being treated for bi-polar disorder. "I want to commend Congressman Knollenberg for keeping the door open for Wisecup to return to work in the Congressman's office."

Fealk is hoping the situation of Rep. Knollenberg having a health crisis strike so close to him will help him change his mind on health care coverage in this country.

"While Wisecup will receive full pay (almost $160,000 per year) and have his treatment paid for, many average, hard working Americans would not be so lucky if the same thing happened to them," says Fealk. "This situation for others could have left them with huge medical bills for their treatment, perhaps even sending them into bankruptcy. Even those lucky enough to have medical coverage, may not be covered for mental disorders, like bi-polar disease, and would then be denied the mental health care that should be sought along with the medication."

"The majority of voters in America want universal health care. We call on Rep. Joe Knollenberg to not only change his vote on SCHIP, but to join those in Congress calling for universal coverage for all Americans, and with mental health parity. Why should members of Congress and their staffs get Cadillac coverage while 47 million Americans have no health or mental health coverage at all?"

"Congressmen and women should not be seen as better than any other American." said Bruce Fealk, the videographer in the incident in downtown Rochester, in which Wisecup spewed venomous comments into Fealk's camera, calling him an un-American, Toyota lover.

"Name one person you know that doesn't deserve medical and mental health care when needed without the worry of asking how to pay for the treatment. Did you think of one yet?" "I wonder if Congressman Knollenberg thinks of Wisecup's health care coverage as socialized medicine, as he stated in a recent guest opinion in The Oakland Press?" Fealk commented

Joe's health care prescription deadly

In a recent edtion of The Oakland Press, Joe Knollenberg trots out the same old tired line about socialized medicine and "evil" trial lawyers. I issue a challenge to Joe Knollenberg, go with me to see Michael Moore's new documentary, Sicko, then say that universal, single-payer health care doesn't work and that private enterprise does it better. It is common knowledge that Medicare does work extremely efficiently and their administrative costs are 2-3%, compared to 25-30% for the private health insurance industry. Another problem with Joe's plan, there are 47 million uninsured people in the country and more joining the rolls every day. Over 50% of the bankruptcies in this country occur due to medical emergencies caused by medical bills of people who had insurance.

I recently interviewed Adrian Campbell on my community television show. Adrian is a 25-year old woman who contracted ovarian cancer and had to go to Canada to get treatment, because her health plan refused coverage, saying 22-year-olds (she was 22 when she was diagnosed) don't get ovarian cancer. Then, to make matters worse, because she was in the movie, she was fired by her employer.

If Joe Knollenberg thinks his plan to offer a tax credit to employers for offering a wellness program is the solution, I dare him to walk a mile in Adrian's shoes. Why don't you come on my show with Adrian, Joe, and tell her how well your plan for a tax credit for an employer wellness program will work for her? I dare you, Joe.

According to the web site National Priorities for the cost of what we have spent in the 9th Congressional District of Michigan in 2007 on the war in Iraq, we could have provided health care to 121,000 citizens.

According to the Institute of Medicine, "lack of health insurance causes roughly 18,000 unnecessary deaths every year in the United States. Although America leads the world in spending on health care, it is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not ensure that all citizens have coverage." Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations, Institute of Medicine, January 2004.
http://www.iom.edu/?id=19175

Quit blowing smoke up our butts, Joe. Universal, single-payer health care does work and it's time for America to take care of its citizens instead of fighting an ill-conceived war that President Bush lied us into for profits from the Iraqi oil fields.


Yet this is all Joe can say on health care.

Majority of Americans Support Universal Healthcare Even if it Means Higher Taxes

In another rebuke of the "Conservative Agenda" of the Radical Right, a majority of Americans believe that the federal government should assure that every American is covered by health care insurance.

Moreover, the poll reveals that Americans are willing to pay higher taxes for such a program.

In fact, 80% think assuring health care to all is more important than extending Bush's tax cuts.

According to the NYT,

The poll found Americans across party lines willing to make some sacrifice
to ensure that every American has access to health insurance. Sixty percent,
including 62 percent of independents and 46 percent of Republicans, said they would be willing to pay more in taxes. Half said they would be willing to pay as much as $500 a year more.

Nearly 8 in 10 said they thought it was more important to provide
universal access to health insurance than to extend the tax cuts of recent years; 18 percent said the tax cuts were more important.

One of the most important Conservative leaders in the Republican Party is Grover Norquist -- a good friend of shamed lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Norquist is President of Americans for Tax Reform. He is so powerful, even Karl Rove attends his weekly strategy sessions with other right wing lobbyists.

"My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years," he says, "to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."

The Radical Right been promoting that agenda since Reagan was first elected. After nearly 30 years of watching our infrastructure crumble because the Radical Right wanted to give tax cuts of up to a few dollar per week to average families rather than invest in the future of our country. (Of course wealthy people got millions in tax breaks -- and that is who they really represent anyway.)

Americans are waking up and seeing that the Radical Right Agenda has been protecting the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. The Radical Right has won many elections by being as divisive as possible in their politics. But on important issues like Iraq and Healthcare, Americans are remarkably unified in their positions -- and they are not lining up with the Radical Right anymore.

And where is Joe Knollenberg in all of this?

Once again, Joe is lined up with the Radical Right.

Joe opposes universal health care.

Instead, Joe Knollenberg's proposal for addressing the health care crisis is to give taxpayer money to companies who offer seminars to their workers on health issues.

Once again, Joe is lined up with the Radical Right and out of touch with the 9th District.