On Thursday I went to the rally at Aetna's headquarters in Hartford. It was great to see a large gathering there to show Aetna that it cannot continue to get away with huge profits while cost sky-rocket. Anyways, I got a good response to the video I posted of the McCain rally on February 3rd, so I figured I would post a video of this event. Luis Cotto, elected in November to Hartford's City Council under the Working Families Party, was in attendance and gave a short speech.
How can Aetna, which claims to be on the side of reform, continue to make larger profits every year will costs keep going up? If the leadership at Aetna truly believes in reforming our broken system, they can put a hold on the denials. They have the ability to provide quality, affordable healthcare for almost everyone. They also have the ability to reap profits from a system that kills 18,000 Americans every year. So far, their choice is making us sick.
(Normally I am loathe to front-page not directly related Connecticut stories but allow me in this instance to make an exception.--Scarce)
In today's Hartford Courant there was a rather nondescript story filed ironically in the Business section. It began like this:
As a protest was being staged against CIGNA HealthCare on Thursday, the company reversed its denial and agreed to pay for a liver transplant for a California girl who is critically ill.
CIGNA had initially refused to cover the transplant for Nataline Sarkisyan, calling it experimental in her case. The 17-year-old, who has recurring leukemia, has been on a waiting list for a new liver because she developed complications after a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy.
Late last night Nataline died.
GLENDALE, Calif.(CBS) ― A 17-year-old girl from Northridge died Thursday night, just hours after insurance giant CIGNA reversed itself and agreed to approve a liver transplant for the cancer survivor.
CIGNA declined to pay for the transplant for Nataline Sarkisyan because her plan does not cover "experimental, investigational and unproven services," her doctors said.
The reversal was announced at the rally attended by a crowd estimated by organizers at 150. Hundreds of telephone callers also clogged lines at CIGNA offices around the nation Thursday on Nataline's behalf.
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