Ok, I want to know…who gets to decide how much a life is worth in an insurance agency? I read about a woman in Oregon who has lung cancer. It was treated in the past and she was in remission; and then, it came back. Her doctor recommended a course of drug treatment that would cost around $4,000.00 a month to treat it. Her insurance refused to pay. However, they had an alternative suggestion.
There was another drug that they WERE willing to pay for…it was medicine that cost a mere $50.00…it was for a physician assisted suicide.
The first medicine would have extended her life for approximately another 4 to 6 months…therefore costing a maximum of $24,000.00; compare that to a $50.00 death sentence; and, you will see that a life is worth somewhere in the middle; if it were up to that particular insurance company. If the medication would have helped her to survive for 5 years or more they would have probably covered it; according to their 5 year, 5% survival rate after the five years. It may be helpful to remind yourself that insurance is a booming business…you have to have it; and yet, basically you are gambling with the money that you pay in for premiums…they may or may not choose to cover you.
So now you know how much a life is worth in case you need to know. This woman was blessed to have a caring doctor who was somehow able to get the medication from the pharmaceutical company for her. Hopefully, the medication will give her additional time with her friends and family.
However, she is not alone in this experience…it happens every day. You may want to check your insurance coverage to see where you stand and how much value your insurance company places on your life! Isn’t it outrageous that you are only valuable to your insurance company when you are healthy and paying your premiums…not when you need them to cover you, like they are supposed to do?
Write where you are 
The “insurance company” in question here is the state medicaid plan that had already paid thousands for the care of a life-long smoker at taxpayer expense. State-run taxpayer funded health plans often have to make hard decisions about what procedures to cover.
It was stupid and insensitive to list Death with Dignity in the same letter as coverage denial, but it’s just a bad letter, and Death with Dignity is still a good law.
Death with dignity is about letting the terminally ill patient themselves – not the government and not insurance companies – decide if and when to end their intolerable suffering. In this case, the patient chose not to and nobody forced her.
The Oregonian newspaper has a good editorial on it, “Fix this medical ethics glitch,” here:
http://www.oregonlive.com/editorials/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1217289319150190.xml&coll=7
Well Gloria,
I would say it is more than “just a bad letter” to this patient…it is her life they are so carelessly offering to end for a mere $50.
I hate seeing anyone suffer…in fact…it is downright painful. But this woman wasn’t looking to have a choice about suicide…she was looking for coverage to help her fight to live. It is about priorities…money over the value of someone’s life.
If it were an isolated incident…there wouldn’t be so many people in the same boat…we hear about people being denied coverage all of the time…and yet, insurance companies have always managed to stay in business and make profits. Insurance is something we all need, yet more and more of us are having to go without it. Still, others who have coverage are often at the mercy of a company which decides what treatments their customers can receive.
All i can say is, when money is the deciding factor regarding how long someone is allowed to live…we are all at risk.