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Patients:5 2/8/08 3:26 PM Page 12 Cheryl Scott, RN testifies before the California Senate Health Committee about how insurers refused to treat her late husband for a brain tumor. Stephens owes everyone: the pharmacy, the credit card companies, the bank for drawing on her home equity line of credit. She is worried about whether she will be able to keep living in the house that she's owned for 30 years. incurable bladder disease called interstitial cystitis and several other coexisting illnesses. Stephens, an OR and ER nurse for 17 years, became disabled due to the excruciating pain and, like so many other people who become sick and can't work, had to live on a fixed income. Problem was, her insurance costs kept going up, up, up. Now, her monthly insurance premiums are $589, her annual deductible is $1500, and her annual drug copays run thousands of dollars. As just one example, the copay for Elmiron, the only oral medical specifically for treating interstitial cystitis, zoomed from $25 a month in 1999 for 200 capsules to $250 a month now for 180 capsules. Blue Cross will not cover the syringes, needles, urinary catheter, Lidocaine, and sodium bicarbonate that Stephens needs to administer into her bladder the cocktail of medicines she uses. Stephens owes everyone: the pharmacy, the credit card companies, the bank for drawing on her home equity line of credit. She is worried about whether she will be able to keep living in the house that she's owned for 30 years. "I chose nursing because I enjoy helping people and enjoy studying life sciences. I knew I wouldn't be rich from my chosen profession, but I expected that I could take care of all my financial needs if I was careful," said Stephens. Unfortunately for Stephens and millions of other Americans, careful isn't good enough in our healthcare system. 12 REGISTERED NURSE Cheryl Scott, RNi Sacramento, California in the medical world, you'd think treating a life-threatening brain tumor would be a high priority, right? Not if insurance companies decide that you're not worth the investment of resources. That's what happened to Cheryl Scott's husband, Bob. Scott, a longtime registered nurse working in Sacramento, Calif. married Bob four years ago. Sadly, they learned in their first year of marriage that Bob, 57, had an aggressive brain tumor. Fortunately, or so they thought, the Scotts were double insured, through Bob's retirement plan and through her work. Having double insurance, they learned, meant nothing. "Both insurance companies denied my husband the opportunity of receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy," said Scott. "They told Bob that they would only provide palliative care. They said that if he were 40, they would do conventional treatment of surgery, radiation, chemo." Oddly enough, Bob's ex-wife had been diagnosed with the same type of brain tumor just two years before but gotten the standard therapies. Without treatment, Bob died within six months. Scott is now on a mission to make sure insurers don't make medical decisions for patients based on what's best for their bottom line. "My late husband's example emphasizes that unreasonable rationing is being done by HMOs now," said Scott. "If my insurer could ration and deny care when I have been a nurse for 28 years and I was more than able than most family members to advocate for my husband, I know this can and does happen to too many people." W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2008