[progchat_action] Six year old girl on verge of never hearing again - thanks to insurance company
Steven Robinson
Company Denial
By Zaid Jilani Think Progress November 20, 2009
One of the worst abuses of the private health insurance industry
is its practice of denying claims to pay for necessary care for
patients. This practice has become so rampant in the industry that
a recent study by the California Nurses Association found that a
whopping 21 percent of all insurance claims filed in the first half
of 2009 in the state of California were denied by insurers.
As the story of six-year-old Madison Leuchtmann of Franklin County,
MO, demonstrates, even children are victims of this insurance company
abuse.
Madison was born with bilateral atresia, which means she lacks ear
canals in both ears. In order to hear, she wears a special device
on a headband that allows her to make out sounds. Despite her
disability, Madison is at the top of her kindergarten class and is
slowly learning to read.
Yet Madison, due to her growth, will soon require a new hearing
implant to be able to recognize sounds. Her hearing and speech
therapist warns that "if she doesnt get her implants by age seven,
shes not going to be able to blend her words. She wont be able to
hear herself [talk]." Madisons pediatrician, Dr. Randall Clary,
also insists that without the implant, the girl may never be able
to hear again.
Unfortunately, the Leuchtmanns family insurer, Cigna, has issued
"one denial after another," flatly refusing to cover the $20,000
bill for the implant. In a written statement to the local news
station Fox 2, Cigna explained, "It is not unusual for commercial
benefit plans to exclude hearing assisted devices,"
prompting Dr. Clary to angrily respond, "This is obviously medically
necessary. You have a child that has no ear canals!" Dr. Clary also
told Fox 2 that he sees these sort of denials "on a weekly basis.".
*********
The United States is the only developed country without a universal,
cradle-to-the-grave health care system. In no other developed country
would a girl be on "the verge of never hearing again" because a
for-profit insurance company decided that its bottom line was more
important than keeping a child from going deaf.
Full at: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/19/insurance-denies-little-girl/
This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from
http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm
__._,_.___
Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional Change settings
via the
Web<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/progchat_action/join;_ylc=X3oDMTJmMWRvNmJpB
F9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzk5MjY1NDAEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDYwMzc1BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3
N0bmdzBHN0aW1lAzEyNTg3ODUxMTg-> (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings
via email: Switch delivery to Daily
Digest<mailto:progchat_ac...@yahoogroups.com?subject=Email%20Delivery
:%20Digest> | Switch to Fully
Featured<mailto:progchat_actio...@yahoogroups.com?subject=Change%2
0Delivery%20Format:%20Fully%20Featured> Visit Your Group
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/progchat_action;_ylc=X3oDMTJkYnBybDhzBF9TAzk3N
Dc2NTkwBGdycElkAzk5MjY1NDAEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDYwMzc1BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2hwZgRzdG
ltZQMxMjU4Nzg1MTE4> | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use
<http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> | Unsubscribe
<mailto:progchat_acti...@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe>
__,_._,___