‘It’s just the way it is’ isn’t good enough
Me and Dawn Smith, a young woman with two brain tumors who is fightinf her insurance company to get treatment.
I spent the morning with 33-year-old Dawn Smith, who is fighting her insurance company, CIGNA, to get appropriate treatment for two brain tumors.
Her condition is rare, usually found in children, and the tumors are inoperable because of where they are in the brain.
Dawn used to be a member of CIGNA’s PPO, which would allow her to seek treatment anywhere. But CIGNA switched her to an HMO when she got sick, and she can only get treatment in Atlanta, where nobody specializes in her kind of brain cancer.
When Dawn went public with her fight, CIGNA increased the copayment on her medication from $10 to $1,150 a month, which she can’t afford.
“How can Ed Hanway justify his policies,” she asked. “How can he justify this when they’re supposed to be in the business of caring? That’s their motto. How can they justify that? … This is not something that is isolated to me.”
In fact, insurance companies in this country deny one in every five claims.
For two years, Dawn has been told, “That’s just the way it is.”
“That’s just not something I’m willing to accept,” she said.
Others were there to tell their stories too. I told Mike’s story.
Rosiland Whitely talked about having to pay double what she used to because she’s overweight. She can’t afford $650 a month, so she goes without.
“I’ve never been sick,” she said. “I’ve never made a big claim of any kind.”
But she owns a small business and she just can’t afford what the insurance company demands for coverage.
Sharon Zellman had uterine cancer when she lived in Florida. She keeps her insurance there even though she lives in North Carolina now because she won’t be able to get insurance here because of her pre-existing condition. So, whenever she needs a checkup, she travels to Florida.
That’s just the way it is.
Dwan Smith got really tired of hearing that, but after two years, she began to bhelieve it.
Then she decided to fight.
“We can change the way it is,” she said, “because the way it is, is just not right.”
Dawn will make several more stops on her way to Philadelphia to confront the CEO of CIGNA, including in Washington to drop off the stories she collects along the way.
Good for you, Dawn.
Let’s change the way it is to the way it should be.
You can follow Dawn’s journey and see a photo of my handwritten note at http://www.itcouldhappentoanyone.com/
Have a beer in May
Stop into Altamont Brewing, 1042 Haywood Road, West Asheville, any time in May and ask for their "charity" beer of the day. Buy one and Life o' Mike gets $1. In fact, we get a buck for each one sold. So go in every day and have one to support Life o' Mike.
Thanks, Altamont!
Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
Start From Seed
Life o' Mike has a new program- Start from Seed (SFS).
SFS is a volunteer doula program aimed at providing non-medical, comprehensive support to low income, high-risk women and families of Buncombe County focusing on three areas:
1. We help new doulas with certification and training in return for their participation as a volunteer doula for SFS
2. We mentor volunteer doulas with their first few clients
3. Our volunteer doulas provide birth and postpartum doula services to low income, high risk moms, providing support and tools to empower them as a new parent.
A birth doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; a postpartum doula provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Start from Seed clients are referred to us from the Buncombe County Department of Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership Program, Western North Carolina Community Health Services, and Mission Hospital. The Program is intended and designed for growing clients’ inner strength and helping them gain empowerment to help them cope with the emotional, physical and mental challenges of childbirth, labor, and motherhood.
Our new moms and their infants have many needs. If you would like to help them get off to a good start, please visit our Start from Seed web site: Start from Seed, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.
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