Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Covenyty Health Care Warning - Patients First Not Profits

A red and white placard hangs in my home office: it reads "Patients First - Not Profits." A personal victory as my husband and I have officially entered the health care battle. Our voices are unified and passionate.

Tom and I represent 20% of the population who have been harmed by a health care company. We had been naive like many people who do not realize that they are one step away from a health care crisis. Today we are statistics. We earned the right to travel to Washington D.C. to advocate Single Payer Health Care on July 30, 2009.

Tom and I are at that golden age when we thought we would have some respite, Having raised a son and a daughter who entered the fields of law and medicine, we thought life would be a little easier on us. Now we are committed to educate ourselves about the realities of the various health care options. While injured, we search for truth amidst a lot of noise.

Today the president of the largest health insurance trade association condemned people for "demonizing" health insurance companies. Our response: you reap what you sow.

On November 1, 2005, Patrick Dowd, former CEO of Carelink, a Coventry Health Care company in West Virginia, falsely accused me of fraud. I suspect that I had learned too much about Carelink's questionable business practices and, therefore, had become a real threat.

In 2006, Mr. Dowd moved on, but we will meet next year in the courtroom. While a federal law prohibits a consumer from suing an HMO for damages (any surprise here?), West Virginia enacted a state law that protects people with a disability from discrimination. And therein lays my pain and my glory.

Carelink records evidence knowledge that Carfelink was aware that I lived with what some say is a major mental illness, bipolar illness. Dowd's letter was not only discriminating, it was intimidating and ruthless. While I shut down for some months, this egregious deed fueled my passion for justice. Under great duress I proceeded. Bipolar illness did not limit me as Carelink may have thought.

I have investigated Coventry Health Care, Inc of Bethesda MD, former darling of Wall Street, for over four years. Coventry unwittingly offered me access to places few consumers go. You will want to read the many true stories I will now continue to write.

Shocking realities that give credence to the existence of demons within the health insurance industry.

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