Coventry Health Care the Focus of Social Media Campaign

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. 

~ Hebrews 12:1 NLT

Editor’s Note:

Since May 2005 Coventry Health Care, Inc, of Bethesda MD has robbed me of my sanity and quality life. And while Corporate attempted to silence me, they failed. They underestimated my Christian foundation. For me, every action I have taken thus far has been rooted in a compassion for a world that hungers for justice, human dignity and respect.


Most significantly, I believe in a “Big” God who moves mountains through ordinary, weak men and women. Men and women, who tremble, but are willing to say “yes” to desiring to make thier world a better place for generations to come.


I never intended to enter this fray. I was not a candidate for bold confrontation, but I am a woman of principles. I had no choice.


What I began to learn as I sought my rightful benefits with my former HMO, Carelink Health Plans Inc of West Virginia, beginning June 2005, is that there is a vast network of powerful and greedy for-profit insurance companies that continue to build profits on the backs of the suffering poor. God’s word instructs that one person in Faith can fight against such evil and win.


And so, always praying for the graces to be bold, to not be afraid of evil, and to trust that God is with me, I, a very weak and sick ordinary soul, did not remain silent. Today new light is shed on the health care industry by many, like me, who are choosing not to remain silent.


My bizarre this story will break. It will be soon.


One would have believed that the American court system would provide swift justice. One would think that others would understand how evil are the operations of health insurance companies who choose profits over people. One would think that our government and regulatory agencies would curb abuses. We think wrongly.


Today, I listen to wise voices in America who report that there is a deepening divide between the rich and the poor.


Common sense tells those of us who are willing to listen that anger is simmering across America.


Anger that will eventually break out into protests on a national scale.

Will these protests be peaceful, as many of us desire, or will there be violence with the realization that our financial markets, the oil and coal industry, our investment bankers and home lenders continue to make choices that harm?


What new story to be yet told will be that tipping point? With advent of social media, whatever it is, it will be broadcast by ordinary people across this country forcing unprecedented change in lightening time.


We poor, ordinary, good-hearted people, the majority of Americans, will soon recognize the power of our voices for change. Nothing else makes any sense. It is what fuels my passion.

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF OHIO COUNTY, WV

CHRISTINE STENGER, Plaintiff, v. CARELINK HEALTH PLANS, INC. and PATRICK W. DOWD, Defendants.RE: Civil Action NO 07-C-466, (Judge Martin J. Gaughan)


PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO “DEFENDANTS’ MOTION IN LIMINE TO PRECLUDE PLAINTIFF FROM OFFERING ANECDOTAL TESTIMONY REGARDING THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY”


The prefatory and concluding paragraphs of defendants’ motion offer suffer from overbreadth and ambiguity. However, from the body of the motion it appears defendants believe the general public has turned against them and the rest of the health insurance industry due to misbehavior. While plaintiff does not deny this, it is not her intention to attack the industry generally for its unconscionable behavior – just Carelink.


This is not to say the power of the insurance industry and its critical importance respecting the lives and deaths of our citizenry, and the need that the industry not discriminate or intimidate, are off-limit topics. In this vein, punitive damages are prescribed to deter others similarly situated, and to the extent defendants believe plaintiff should be foreclosed from arguing the impact of the jury’s punitive damage across this country, they are wrong. See, Games v. Fleming Landfill, 186 W.Va. 656, 413 S.E.2d 897 (1991).

Moreover, should defendants continue in their counter-attack upon plaintiff, which portrays her as a narcissistic, would-be heroine, or should defendants in any variety of ways themselves open the door to Ms. Stenger’s views against the industry, then with Court leave, plaintiff intends to respond by presenting any and all of this type of evidence in meeting the defense.


WHEREFORE, plaintiff prays that the Court enter an order addressing this motion in accordance with the arguments set forth above.


Anthony Werner
Counsel for Plaintiff


PAUL T. TUCKER, ESQ.
W. Va. State Bar No. 5203
ANTHONY I. WERNER, ESQ.
BACHMANN, HESS, BACHMANN & GARDEN, P.L.L.C.
1226 Chapline Street
P O Box 351
Wheeling WV 26003
(304) 233-3511
(304) 233-3199 (fax)


FOR ACCESS TO ALL PUBLIC COURT DOCUMENTS SUBMITTEN IN THIS CASE, CONTACT:

Ohio County Courthouse
Brenda L. Miller, Circuit Clerk
1500 Chapline Street
City/County Building
Wheeling, WV 26003
Ph. 304-264-3611