National Nurses United

NewsBriefs:4-8 11/20/08 11:02 PM Page 6 Casualty of the Day Campaign Keeps Focus on True Problem: the Industry NATIONAL ealth insurance is not healthcare. And Americans will not receive the healthcare they deserve until insurance companies, whose main motive is making profits, are removed from the picture. That's the point CNA/NNOC wanted to underscore among voters and the public with its "Health Insurance Casualty of the Day" campaign this year. Starting on Labor Day, the unofficial kickoff of the November election season, and running through Nov. 4, CNA/NNOC profiled 45 American patients from 25 states who had their healthcare denied or delayed at the hands of insurance corporations, and the obstacles and hurdles they overcame to get the care they needed. The campaign put a human face on the dire consequences caused by our failed system—the countless homes and jobs lost, and families forced into medical bankruptcy. Stories poured in from every region of the country, featuring patients from every walk of life, and were published on the CNA/NNOC Guaranteed Healthcare website, which has already received more than 1,000 stories since it launched last summer. "It was our goal to urge the media to devote more attention to this vital issue that affects every American family, and join the discussion of the candidates' views on healthcare reform, and how we can achieve results that provide real solutions, not just more of the same dismal failures and indifference at present," said CNA/NNOC copresident Malinda Markowitz, RN. The campaign was modeled after a similar series which debuted in 1995 called "HMO Casualty of the Day," which eventual- H 6 REGISTERED NURSE ly became the Patient Watch Program. Many of the patients' stories were picked up by media outlets across the county, from local daily newspapers such as the Dallas Morning News and the Orange County Register, to major national publications such as U.S. News and World Report, Business Week, and broadcast programs such as ABC's Good Morning America and National Public Radio. The British Medical Journal even weighed in with a story on the series. A number of stories in particular caught major attention. One was the situation of Barbara Calder, a woman from Colorado Spring, Colo., who suffers from a disabling genetic disease called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. As a result of the disease, Calder wrote: "Every joint in my body is failing save my left hip. I have to tape my toes together at night when even the pressure of a blanket can cause them to dislocate. I live in constant pain, and get only partial relief with ibuprofen, the only medication I can afford without health insurance." Calder said that she and her husband Bruce have never been able to find insurance, whether through his work or on their own, that would cover her condition. The situation had become so untenable that the couple is in the process of selling their house and all their possessions to move to Belgium, a country which, like most other Western industrialized nations, offers national health insurance to all residents. Calder described how, on scouting trips they've taken to Europe in anticipation of their move, Europeans spoke proudly of their single-payer systems because they felt it made the country healthier overall. It's exactly the opposite in the United States. "I want health insurance companies to be W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G abolished, because they aren't in the business to care for the sick," said Calder. "Their main function is to make profits, and the sick just get in their way." Another troubling story was that of Deborah Krinsky and her family. The Krinskys live in Magalia, Calif. and are insured, but simply overburdened by medical bills to the point that they are in danger of lapsing on their mortgage payments and losing their home. "We have refinances our home six times in order to pay our medical costs amounting to more than $80,000 over the last few years," explained Krinsky. "We have had seven different paltry health plans in eight years through my husband's job. Between my husband, my daughter, and myself, we must buy 15 different medications." Like a growing number of American families, the insurance that her husband Keith receives through work is a high-deductible Blue Cross plan linked to a health savings account. The Krinskys' annual deductible is $7,500 before the insurance kicks in, and it costs then $1,700 per month to fill all their prescriptions. "With all these expenses, we have put off having other life-saving tests," said Krinsky. In March, she turned 46 and had a mammogram for the first time, paying $1,200 out of pocket. "They found lumps that need to be monitored every six months. I found a clinic to do this service, but it only pays for a mammogram to be done once a year." Recently, the Krinskys missed a mortgage payment for the first time. "We don't want to lose our home on top of the other stresses our family has to deal with," she said. "We want to stay in our home. It was built with our own two hands." —liz jacobs, rn NOVEMBER 2008

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