(I am a blogger fellow with Brave New Films on their Sick For Profit campaign. Visit us on Facebook.)
Today Brave New Films released their second installment in the Sick For Profit series, taking a look at the corrupt practices of CIGNA, denying care to their customers while their lead executives rake in millions and lead lavish lifestyles.
Meet Jo Joshua Godfrey. She had cancer without knowing for over a year.
“I would go to CIGNA and they would tell me I had bronchitis and give me medicine and send me home. No matter what medicine they gave me I wouldn’t get better. Then the CIGNA Director called me up and she told me that there was nothing wrong with me at all. I called the doctor, and I came with my film and my CAT scan and he just put it in, it took exactly thirty seconds. He told me, ‘You have cancer,’ and he said the reason CIGNA did not want to give you your records is they’ve known right way back for years that you have cancer and they’re not going to treat you.”
CIGNA took in $19.1 billion dollars in revenue last year, with a $292 million dollar income. That doesn’t include the salaries given to people like CEO Ed Hanway. He made a cool $12 million last year, and over the past five years he took in $120 million. Hanway has $28 million in unexcercised stock options. The company corporate jets, also not seen in profit statements, cost $68 million. This money is gained, as former communications director Wendell Potter says in this video, through denying claims and dumping the sick, enhancing the value of the company for Wall Street investors. The effect on people’s lives, meanwhile, is tragic. Nataline Sarkysian, featured in the Americans United For Change advertisement, lost her life after CIGNA repeated denied her a liver transplant, despite the family having full coverage.
Meet Stephen Coddington, the wife of Marian, a stroke victim:
The case manager at the nursing home called me in and was really upset, and she said, “CIGNA is wanting to discontinue therapy with her. The doctors called and appeals were denied.” It has been a day-in and day-out fight. Every talk that I’ve had with them, it’s been, how can we wiggle off this hook.
This is the human cost for an insurance company’s existence, for the record profits and supreme lifestyle of their executives. Welcome to the American health insurance industry. Instead of helping policyholders attain the health security they need for their families, big insurance companies get rich by denying coverage to patients. Now they’re sending lobbyists to Washington, DC to twist the arms of lawmakers to oppose reform of the status quo. Why? Because the status quo pays.
CIGNA is not a special case in the insurance industry. It’s perfectly normal and expected for a corporation to maximize profits. The difference with insurance is that the profit comes at the expense of your health care, and frankly, all the regulations in the world won’t substantively change that. The best way to fight back is through exposure, a juxtaposition of the human luxury paid for by human misery.
So help us shine this spotlight. CIGNA’s advertising tagline is ‘A Business of Caring.’ We think they ought to come up with something more appropriate for their actual practices. If you come up with one, post it on our Facebook page. Here are some examples. We’ll send the best over to CIGNA. In addition, Jo Joshua Godfrey will join SEIU Healthcare 775NW outside the CIGNA corporate offices in Seattle, Washington today as they demand quality and affordable health care for every American as a fundamental right and not a privilege. If you’re near 600 4th Ave in Seattle around 12:30 PT today, head down and show your support.
And send this video to your friends. Everyone needs to know what’s at stake in health care reform. This kind of denial of coverage can happen to anyone under the current system.
My case is a little different than most, Over 10 years ago, They bent over backwards to insist I accept a half million $ round of Chemo ( a combo of drugs, 3 times weekly for 18 months, with minimal chance of response) for treatment of HepC without even checking genotype. The form I have is least likely to respond to ANY treatment. They, and their specialist, brought in to scare the bejeebers out of me failed. (If you don't go on chemo IMMEDIATELY you're going to die). I said “NOT”. As this post testifies, I'm still here, still functioning normally, no need to drain the healthcare system unnecessarily. In Wyoming They are more than happy to contribute to the bankrupting of Medicare and Medicaid. With the aid of EPA and DEQ our local refinery just succeeded in shifting all healthcare costs of a negligent accident to the taxpayer, as well as all costs of governmental investigations involved. This is only one of many accidents and infractions over the years the taxpayer has paid, and will continue to pay for in perpetuity, thanks to our corrupt legal system. Statistics get skewed by sending suspected health problems to Rapid City Regional System and elsewhere for diagnosis. You see, we're the healthiest place in the nation. They can keep my treatment, I'm doing fine without it.
The best reason to have government backed health care insurance is, IMO, expressed by the fire department analogy.
If the fire department was a profit oriented endeavor then if you weren't covered under a fire agreement the firefighters would simply let your house burn. No matter that your neighbors homes would also be in danger. The similarities are remarkably the same with health care. Health care is a social endeavor necessary for all and should not be a profit based stock market endeavor with life and death decisions to be made by Wall Street.
http://www.sangambayard-c-m.com
Cigna is yet again trying to screw my husband out of disability. We have been fighting Cigna for over 2 years. In December he moved onto long term. In March they did a review, they infromed us first. In May they did a review with out letting us know. They were about to send out the denial letter when we called. The Dr.'s narrative we faxed over bought 1 week. Mikes diagnosis-Crohn's disease, Recurring Pyoderma Gangrenosum, Vascular Disease, Fistula, and Osteoporosis. Labs support all of this, Prognosis upon return to work, amputation of his right leg. 5 experts now agree on this. The last one on 5/7/2010. Cigna has his narrative, and choose to ignore. I have themm on video out right lying, and ignoring the ERISA law.
It's obvious the Health Care lobbyists have bought several in congress. So, let's buy them back! Someone set up a website and accept donations and distribute the money to the reps and senators who have taken donations from health care groups. Promise them more money, than they currently receive, if they stop taking from them and take from us.
http://commodityconsultant.com