Chiropractic Healthiness » Chiropractor » CIGNA HMO SUED
CIGNA HMO SUED
Question:
I don’t have anything I can sue for unless aggravation is a cause for litigation. When my baby girl was born the doctor had to send lab tests for icterus down to a lab many miles away since none of the local labs deal with Cigna. She needed the results immediately not in the next several days. Then she sought to find out whether they paid for the light blanket to be used at home for treatment. Many calls later she never was able to get a return call with the answer even after finally getting through to someone. She now plans to drop the plan as it is too much trouble and expense for herself and her patients. Gerry Wolke http://www.community.net/~tachyon/index.html "The injustice of a government is proportional to the number of its laws." Tacitus
Response:
: > My lawfirm, which specializes in class actions on behalf of investors and : > consumers, recently sued CIGNA Healthcare on behalf of a purported class : > of all members of employee benefit plans which offer healthcare through : > CIGNA. : Dear Brian, (snip) : health and act primarily to increase corporate profits. I have always : known that there would be a backlash against the damaged care movement : and perhaps you and your firm are in the forefront of that wave. As a : psychologist I can attest to the lack of concern on the part of : damaged care companies for the insured’s welfare and the erosion of : patient confidentiality caused by their ridiculous and intrusive right : to know the most personal of details in patient’s lives. There is a : group called the California Coaltion of Ethical Mental Health Care : (CCEMHC) based in San Francisco that is active in my field in trying : to curb the damage done to unsuspecting patients by corporate greed : and ineptitude. Email me if you want more info on them. Good luck to : you and keep up the good fight! : Judith Parker, Ph.D. Just wanted to toss my nickels-worth in here and get some ‘bitchin’ in about CIGNA as well. I am a retiree of AT&T which just this year fell into the warm fuzzy lure of increased corp. profits offered by CIGNA. Not that it was going to be of any value to the poor employees. Just the contrary. Our per person yearly deductable went from $100 to $400. To add insult to injury CIGNA says they pay 100% of office visits (in small print after it says, "After patient pays a $10/visit surcharge".) What does everyone think we are, STUPID. We were paying 20% of charges; we’d have to be charged $50/visit for the $10 surcharge to equal 20%. I was paying more like $35/visit. Then we had to change to "THEIR" approved doctors and they had like two approved chiropractors in the entire Kansas City, MO Metro area. To make matters even WORSE, AT&T required that even employees who were currently on a local HMO, re-register and select that HMO and if they neglected to do so they would be ‘jerked’ into CIGNA by default. This caught a lot of people off guard and as a consequence they are not willing members of CIGNA. I have a friend who was in this situation. He didn’t read the material closely and was not going to take part in the selection process thinking he’d default to his HMO. I warned him and he sure thanked me for pointing that out. What many AT&T (and other large corporations) don’t understand about the Medical insurance benefit situation is that AT&T is "Self-Insured". which means AT&T pays the bills. CIGNA or whichever other insurance co is the current administrator of the Medical benefit is only a "FRONT" for the company. IF CIGNA manages to restrict the usage of medical benefits, AT&T saves money and CIGNA makes more money. Great for them, BAD for us. — ,o888b,`?~~~~~ ~~~~~P’,d888o, 8888888P’ ~~~ ~~~ ?8888888 888P’ ~~~ "When all the World recognizes ~~~ `?888 `88 O d~~~ good as good, This in itself ~~~b O 88′ `?._ _.o~~~~~ is Evil." Lao Tsu ~~~~~o._ _.P’
Response:
>I have been interested in a long time in the HMO situation. If you >check the March 11th issue of American Medican News next month, there >will be an article I wrote about the immorality of HMO medicine, but >when you sue them I think it is naive to believe you will bankrupt
them. I see nothing immoral about HMO medicine. You get what you pay for. I see something immoral about the idea that you should put a gun to the head of X to make him pay for medical care for Y, without any practical limits on what B spends. X has a family too, you see, and everybody is going broke. >Write me if you are interested in more information about a physician’s >interactions with HMO’s.
Just as unions are the scars of bad management, HMOs are the scars of people who want something for nothing in health care. When you have the answer to this problem, I’m sure we’d all like to listen. And no, before you ask, I don’t work for an HMO. Steve Harris, M.D.
Response:
: to know the most personal of details in patient’s lives. There is a : group called the California Coaltion of Ethical Mental Health Care : (CCEMHC) based in San Francisco that is active in my field in trying : to curb the damage done to unsuspecting patients by corporate greed : and ineptitude. Email me if you want more info on them. Good luck to Smells like Scientology to me…
Response:
>: >: I would welcome any ideas concerning this litigation either as it relates >: to CIGNA or to other HMOs with similar problems. I would also like to >: hear from anyone who has had particularly bad experienes with CIGNA or >: other HMOs. >: >I don’t care if they are true or not. Once the jury sees a person crying >about how the big, bad HMO hurt them, I win! And I get at least 30% of >all the money. >Sure I may bankrupt a company that is the only source of employment >and/or health care for many people. But hey, if you cut your finger, do I >bleed? >J
Attitudes like this, outrageous settlements, ridiculous claims/suits, and the ever-greedy quest for the deep pocket has been a primary contributor to rising health care costs that led to HMOs… the next medico-legal gold mine. In the Warm Arizona-Sonora Desert Steven Gurgevich, PhD Behavioral Medicine, Ltd.
Response:
Mr. Silverman In regards to your olfactory hunch about California Coaliton on Ethical Mental Health Care (that it smells like Scientology to you).. You couldn’t be more off on this one. No cults, just professionals who are sick of seeing their patients exploited and sacrificed to profits of insurance companies. I wouldn’t be associated with it if Scientology was involved.
Response:
My lawfirm, which specializes in class actions on behalf of investors and consumers, recently sued CIGNA Healthcare on behalf of a purported class of all members of employee benefit plans which offer healthcare through CIGNA. In our complaint, which is brought under ERISA, we allege (1) that CIGNA has breached its contractual obligations under the benefit plans by requiring its primary care physicians to obtain approval from CIGNA personnel, whose primary goal is the reduction of medical costs not the proper treatment of patients, before they can provide essential medical treatment; (2) that CIGNA has misled its members concerning the extent to which it controls the medical treatment available from its doctors; and (3) that CIGNA has breached its fiduciary duties owed to its members by providing financial incentives to its doctors which, in effect, pay them to undertreat their patients. We are seeking equitable relief which will compel CIGNA to change its policies which we believe improperly interfere with the doctor-patient relationship. I would welcome any ideas concerning this litigation either as it relates to CIGNA or to other HMOs with similar problems. I would also like to hear from anyone who has had particularly bad experienes with CIGNA or other HMOs. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to obtain a copy of the complaint. Brian Hufford (212) 661-1100
Response:
: : I would welcome any ideas concerning this litigation either as it relates : to CIGNA or to other HMOs with similar problems. I would also like to : hear from anyone who has had particularly bad experienes with CIGNA or : other HMOs. : I don’t care if they are true or not. Once the jury sees a person crying about how the big, bad HMO hurt them, I win! And I get at least 30% of all the money. Sure I may bankrupt a company that is the only source of employment and/or health care for many people. But hey, if you cut your finger, do I bleed? J
Response:
I have been interested in a long time in the HMO situation. If you check the March 11th issue of American Medican News next month, there will be an article I wrote about the immorality of HMO medicine, but when you sue them I think it is naive to believe you will bankrupt them. You might bankrupt their insurance carriers and then cause the HMO to charge more to its members to cover the cost. Write me if you are interested in more information about a physician’s interactions with HMO’s.
Response:
> My lawfirm, which specializes in class actions on behalf of investors and > consumers, recently sued CIGNA Healthcare on behalf of a purported class > of all members of employee benefit plans which offer healthcare through > CIGNA. (section omitted) > Brian Hufford > (212) 661-1100
Dear Brian, Good for you! Managed care, or as I and my colleagues more accurately call it, "damaged care" and HMO’s show very little care for people’s health and act primarily to increase corporate profits. I have always known that there would be a backlash against the damaged care movement and perhaps you and your firm are in the forefront of that wave. As a psychologist I can attest to the lack of concern on the part of damaged care companies for the insured’s welfare and the erosion of patient confidentiality caused by their ridiculous and intrusive right to know the most personal of details in patient’s lives. There is a group called the California Coaltion of Ethical Mental Health Care (CCEMHC) based in San Francisco that is active in my field in trying to curb the damage done to unsuspecting patients by corporate greed and ineptitude. Email me if you want more info on them. Good luck to you and keep up the good fight! Judith Parker, Ph.D.