Ablogination

There's no telling. The operation may or may not have saved her life. The problem is, someone held money in higher regard than the life of 17 year old Nataline. This is what we, as a nation, have devolved into.

The greed, self-centered arrogance, and total lack of humanity that the corporate powers-that-be have displayed violates ever single principal Americans ever held dear.
From Enron thieves to Blackwater murderers to Halliburton rapists, to Cigna HMO. All have done tremendous harm to both individual and to nation, for to harm one is to harm us all.

If anyone (anyone with a soul that is) doesn't see the dire need for National Health Care by now, they either make their living ripping off those in need, or they are simply soulless, carbon-based life forms that exist only to take up space.

CIGNA HMO (Health Maintenance Organization)
They are the oldest HMO in the nation.
You'd think by now that they would know what they're doing.
Oh, they know what they're doing when it comes to trading people's lives for money, but when it comes to being part of the solution, they are more clueless now than ever.
Recently, CIGNA was criticized by hundreds of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals after the company refused to pay for a liver transplant for a California teenage girl, Nataline Sarkisyan, justifying their refusal to pay by claiming that the procedure was "too risky." In response to much protest and public scrutiny, CIGNA finally reversed its decision, but only too late to save Ms. Sarkisyan who died awaiting the transplant.

CIGNA defended their actions by stating that the procedure was "experimental," and that there was no medically accepted evidence that the procedure would work.

Martyr

From the Scotsman....

By CHRIS STEPHEN
THE family of a Californian teenager who died in hospital waiting for a liver transplant is to sue her insurance company after it initially refused to pay for the operation and only relented hours before her death.
In a case highlighting the controversies surrounding the insurance-based healthcare system in the US, the parents of 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan were at first told there was no cover for the operation despite doctors at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) medical centre deciding that she needed the transplant.

A letter had been sent to insurer Cigna on 11 December but the firm said the treatment was "experimental" and was thus not covered by the family's policy.

The decision triggered a week of protests outside the company office in Glendale, California, with nurses joining friends and family. Hundreds of callers jammed the company's switchboard demanding it take action.

On Thursday, Cigna changed its mind, saying it would pay for the operation after all. But hours later Nataline, who was in a coma, was pronounced dead.

"She passed away and the insurance (company) is responsible for this," said her mother, Hilda. "Only God can tell me what's going to happen to my daughter, not Cigna."

Lawyers for the family are pursuing a case of Negligent homicide against CIGNA and rightfully so. It's time that one of these fat-cat, 4 million dollar per year CEO's goes to prison. The Enron trial didn't seem to tighten their ass up enough so maybe it's time for another Ken Lay.

These HMO types are not physicians. They are not trained, qualified medical personnel. They are poorly educated wind-bags that answer the phone, ask you what's wrong, type some shit into their computer and tell you what the computer says. If computer says "you're fucked", then you're fucked.
How may of you called TennCare in the past only to be routed to some schmuck in Arizona that tells you that "you're condition isn't that bad"? How do they know? Easy, they don't. That's what computer told them. How do you know they didn't type in the wrong words? That's all it takes to kill someone in HMO Land.

Cigna is by no means the only such HMO. There are plenty of others, all competing to out price each other and your health becomes secondary to the price wars they constantly wage.
* Aetna Inc. (AET)
* Humana Inc. (HUM)
* UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH)
* WellPoint, Inc. (WLP)
* Anyone who competes for money and will kill human beings to get it. (FUC)

This has gone on long enough. Far too long. Insurance companies have far too much power and they must be cut off at the knees. From laws requiring auto insurance to rabid Drug Testing of American workers to incompetent HMOs. The insurance industry must be beaten into submission. America needs National Health Care because the Corporate version has failed.

Presidential hopeful, John Edwards had this this say...

"Are you telling me that we're gonna sit at a table and negotiate with those people?" asked a visibly angered Edwards, challenging the health care companies. "We're gonna take their power away and we're not gonna have this kind of problem again."

Edwards also told the audience of about a hundred people at the Score Pavillion in Nevada, Iowa, that it will take a fighter (i.e. him) - and not a negotiator (ii.e. Obama) - to take on large insurance companies like CIGNA.

"Anybody who thinks that we don't have a fight in front of us is living in Never-Never Land," he said.

CIGNA-"A Business of Caring"?
Yeah, about money.