L.A. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, State Sen. Sheila Kuehl and California Nurses Association Join the Courage Campaign to Highlight Health Insurers' Practice of Dropping, Denying or Delaying Coverage
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 18, 2008
CONTACT:
Aidan Crawford:
Phone: 323-969-0160 (o)
L.A. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, State Sen. Sheila Kuehl and California Nurses Association Join the Courage Campaign to Highlight Health Insurers’ Practice of Dropping, Denying or Delaying Coverage
New TV Ad Encourages Consumers to Report Wrongful Actions to City Attorney
LOS ANGELES, June 18, 2008—The Courage Campaign, the California-based online organizing network approaching 100,000 members and supporters, unveiled a new TV ad today that targets health insurers’ practices of canceling or denying benefits to patients even during treatment. The ad, released at the peak of the health insurance industry’s three-day convention in San Francisco, directs viewers to ProtectingTheInsured.org, a website for health insurance consumers created by Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.
The premise for the ad is based on the true story of breast cancer patient Pasty Bates, who had to stop her chemotherapy treatments after her insurer, Health Net, cancelled her policy. The Los Angeles Times reported Ms. Bates’ experience earlier this year when an arbitration judge ordered Health Net, one of California’s largest for-profit insurers, to pay her $9 million in punitive and other damages.
The ad encourages health insurance consumers who have been “dropped, denied or delayed” to file a complaint at ProtectingTheInsured.org, as part of City Attorney Delgadillo’s investigation into health insurers’ business practices. The City Attorney is asking consumers to assist in the investigation by reporting any wrongfully denied or delayed claims or policy cancellations.
State Senator Sheila Kuehl, chair of the Senate Health Committee and a leading advocate for a single-payer health care system that would provide universal coverage in California, joined with the California Nurses Association (CNA) to put up funds for a challenge to Courage Campaign members and others to contribute money to get the ad on the air.
“These unlawful policy cancellations and benefits denials are only the most recent evidence that health insurers put their profits before patients,” said Kuehl. “The time is long past for insurance companies to stop killing and hurting people by refusing to pay for coverage. Until we get a single-payer system, we need Rocky Delgadillo and other leaders to stand up to the insurance industry with the full force of the law.”
The ad, titled “Insurance Jive”, features a nurse (actor Beth Broderick of “Lost”) who — reminiscent of the Barbara Billingsley character in the 1980 movie “Airplane” — translates a health insurance company representative’s jargon-laden denial-of-coverage decision to a hospital patient and her husband.
“The nurse-hero of this ad can speak insurance, which in this case and all too often means death when insurance companies put money before life,” said Rick Jacobs, chair of the Courage Campaign. “We applaud Rocky Delgadillo for talking to the insurance companies in the only language they seem to understand: lawsuit.”
The ad was distributed to nearly 100,000 Courage Campaign members and supporters in California today. Based on contributions received, the ad is slated to air Thursday and Friday nights in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Here is the ad :
For more information on the Patsy Bates case, please read the following Los Angeles Times articles:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insure9nov09,0,4409342.story
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insure23feb23,1,5039339.story
SCRIPT: “INSURANCE JIVE”
SCENE: Hospital room. Insurance executive seated. Wife in hospital bed. Husband sitting beside her. Nurse behind checking equipment.
INSURANCE EXECUTIVE: As your insurance representative, it is my contractually…
WIFE [speaking to husband]: Do you understand what he is saying?
INSURANCE EXECUTIVE [continuing in background]: obligation…
HUSBAND [speaking to insurance executive]: What does this have to do with my wife’s breast cancer treatment?
NURSE [turns and places hand on bed]: Wait, I speak “insurance.”
[speaking to insurance executive] Request to re-actualize verbalization.
SUBTITLES: What did you say?
INSURANCE EXECUTIVE: Request received and approved.
SUBTITLE: Sure.
INSURANCE EXECUTIVE: The termination provision stipulates…
SUBTITLE: Based on a technicality…
INSURANCE EXECUTIVE: a retroactive and perpetual rescission of all benefits.
SUBTITLE: We’re canceling your insurance.
NURSE: What he is trying to say is: “You’re dead.”
VOICEOVER END CARD: It doesn’t have to be this way.
END CARD: INSURANCE DROPPED, DENIED OR DELAYED
FILE A COMPLAINT AT: ProtectingTheInsured.org
Paid for by California Nurses Association Political Action Committee and Courage Campaign Issues
###
Courage Campaign Issues and its affiliate, Courage Campaign, are part of an online organizing network empowering nearly 100,000 grassroots and netroots activists to make this a new era for progressive politics in California.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee is the nation’s largest RN union, representing 80,000 RN in every state. Read more at www.CalNurses.org.
Rick Jacobs is the founder and chair of the Courage Campaign. He chaired Howard Dean’s presidential campaign in California. He is also the co-founder of Brave New Films and a featured contributor to Arianna Huffington’s Huffingtonpost.com. Rick has an extensive background as an investor and senior executive. Rick Jacobs is available for interviews by calling 323-969-0160.