West Complains About Number Of District’s Uninsured Yet Wants To Deny 60,000 Residents Health Insurance

By Zaid Jilani

Earlier this month, GOP congressional candidate Allen West spoke at an outdoor rally to voters in Florida’s 22nd congresional district. He covered a number of issues, including his opposition to tax increases on the wealthiest Americans, his desire to reduce the federal deficit, and what he views as the progressive attack “on the values of this nation.”

At one point, West cited Census Bureau numbers that show that Florida’s 22nd congressional district has the second-highest number of uninsured residents in the country. West then asked the audience, “Are you going to send Ron Klein back to give you more of that?”:

WEST: The Census Bureau put out statistics this week that said congressional district 22 has the highest number, second highest number of uninsured Americans in the country. Are you going to send Ron Klein back to give you more of that? That’s the question you have to ask.

Watch it:

West is rightly outraged about the number of uninsured people in his district. The truth is, the United States lags significantly behind other industrialized countries in access to quality health care and serious reforms continue to be needed.

The problem with West’s statement is that he is actively advocating policies that would increase the number of uninsured people in the district he seeks to represent. On his campaign website the candidate proudly proclaims his desire to repeal the new health care reform law, complaining that it is a “government takeover of healthcare, complete with an exploding bureaucracy and massive tax increases.” In doing so, he offers no meaningful alternative, with health care not even listed as an issue on his campaign site. Congress’s health care bill will extend coverage to 60,000 of the district’s uninsured residents when it is fully implemented, meaning that West is effectively advocating for kicking tens of thousands of his district’s own residents off their health insurance while complaining about the high number of uninsured there.

Cantor: We need ‘to get more people uninsured’

By David Edwards and Gavin Dahl Republican House Whip Eric Cantor(R-weaselly looking douchebag) may have made a Freudian slip Sunday when he told NBC's David Gregory that the GOP wants to "get more people uninsured."

Gregory asked a panel to comment on what he called the fundamental tension of the health reform debate.

"The tension seems to be that individual elements are popular. You can talk to people who want better health care, better access to health care, reform. But there's a lot of distrust that government can deliver this kind of care and handle it well."

"The reality is Republicans do care about health care," Cantor replied. "We want to address the first and most foundational element which is cost. Because if we can bring down cost, more people can access care. But we also know that there is something we can do to get people more uninsured."

"The problem is," he continued, "with the president's bill it's about expanding Medicaid. No one wants to go onto Medicaid. That's why physicians in Florida and other states are leaving Medicaid in droves because of the imperfect reimbursement structure. That's what this bill is about, is expanding the government programs that don't work. We need real reform to bring down costs

Democratic Chief Deputy Whip Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz jumped in to counter his assertion that Democrats wouldn't address costs.

"There's 47 million people in America that don't have insurance. We are all paying for them because they show up at the emergency room as their primary access point for health care," she said.

"In order to reduce costs we can cut a tax of $1000 on American families just by covering those people," she insisted. "We can also make sure that we bring down costs by broadening the pool, adding the healthiest people who are choosing right now to not carry health insurance. Then when they get hit out of the clear blue sky by an unexpected illness, they don't have insurance, and we're all paying for it."

This video is from NBC's Meet the Press, broadcast Feb. 28, 2010.

Six-Year-Old Girl ‘On Verge Of Never Hearing Again’ Due To Insurance Company Denial

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 doesn’t get her implants by age seven, she’s not going to be able to blend her words. … She won’t be able to hear herself [talk].” Madison’s pediatrician, Dr. Randall Clary, also insists that without the implant, the girl may never be able to hear again.

Unfortunately, the Leuchtmann’s 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.” Watch Fox 2’s report:

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.

Denied Health Insurance For Being Underweight

By Eric Sorensen

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The parents of a two-year-old girl in Colorado are unable to obtain health insurance for their daughter because the insurer, United Healthcare Golden Rule, claims she is too small. In a letter sent to the family we are unable to provide coverage for Aislin because her height and weight do not meet our company standards." According to a Colorado news station, Aislin weighed six pounds, six ounces at birth, and now weighs 22 pounds.

When Robert Bates, the girl's father, left his former job to start his own business, he was forced to seek out his own health insurance, and enrolled his family in an insurance plan with United Healthcare Golden Rule. "It took me by surprise," Bates told ABC 7 in Denver. "I didn't think that her size was that abnormal and that it was something that you'd consider to be unhealthy." As ABC 7 reports:

A spokeswoman for United Healthcare Golden Rule said 89 percent of the people who apply for insurance get it. Ellen Laden, the company's public relations director, told the station that most insurers have their own propriety height and weight guidelines.

"Ours are based on several medical sources, including the Centers for Disease Control, and are well within industry standards," she said.

Laden said she couldn't talk about specific cases like the Bates'.

Robert Bates, however, isn't satisfied. "What we want to see is that insurance companies have legitimate reasons for denying coverage," he said.

Recently, another child in Colorado, Alex Lange, was also denied coverage, but for "preexisting obesity" instead of being underweight. In that instance, the insurer, Rocky Mountain Health Plans, reversed their policy after the parents of the 17-pound infant gained media exposure. After the reversal, Rocky Mountain Health Plans attributed the boy's rejection for health coverage to a "flaw in our underwriting system."

The Bates family is hoping for a similar change in policy. In the meantime, Aislin Bates remains uninsured.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/20/aislin-bates-colorado-tod_n_327309.html