The US Healthcare System in its Current Form is the Greatest Violator of Human Rights of the 21st Century

The Insurance Industry has been successful in defining those that struggle with disease as the drain on society instead of a Healthcare System that is design to exploit our loss.  Our Healthcare System is destroying families medically and financially.  My family and the millions of other families who struggle with disease greatest losses have NOT been from disease but, from a Healthcare System driven by GREED – a system that treats human life as nothing more than a commodity to be bought and sold on our US Healthcare free market. 

While our family’s stories are tragic they should be criminal in the US - the wealthiest most educated country in the world where human life is valued for only those that can write the biggest check.  As a mother I have a story to share of the tremendous losses caused by our US Healthcare System but, I will not be heard on my own.  The Wilmington Yes We Can Healthcare Reform Team and the Obama Transition Team are giving us our voice back. 

While Healthcare is not a Democrat or Republican issue it is a Human Race issue – President Obama’s personal family story and his mother’s battle with cancer and insurance companies gives us HOPE that his life experience will give our families a voice in healthcare reform. I am so inspired by President elect Obama’s and Sen. Ted Kennedy’s commitment to Healthcare Reform – I feel confident that a Non-Discriminate Healthcare System Powered by Science with Equal Access for All is a real possibility. 

Please join our team in appealing to our government to demand a Healthcare based on the probability of disease and the possibilities of science.  We will be an unyielding force to demand a healthcare system that is driven by need NOT greed.  Health and wellbeing are at the core of our individual & collective wealth; health affects our ability to perform in the workforce as well as our children’s performance in school.  Our reality is that disease can and does cross all boundaries of society and our non-discriminate solution is science. 

Families with high medical liabilities like mine lose our jobs, our savings, we are forced onto government programs where access to care is so controlled that their only destiny is premature death.Fact:  Healthcare is our Right & Responsibility!  Disease/Disability crosses all boundaries of society therefore, our solution is a healthcare system designed to prevent and defeat disease with access for all. 

The question that was ask during presidential debates: “Is Healthcare a Right or a Responsibility?”  My life experience as well as my read on the constitution is that it is both – It starts with Our Right but requires Our Responsibility at all levels in order to create our Win-Win of a Healthy Productive Society with the ability to defeat disease while controlling and reducing healthcare cost.

A Story of Betrayal by Our Government & Our US Healthcare System:My family’s healthcare and economic crisis which is similar to millions of American Families have left me with this sense of betrayal and hopelessness.  I feel so betrayed by my government because our reality is that instead of serving and protecting the people they are serving and protecting the predators exploiting our vulnerabilities. 

Our economic and healthcare crisis can be linked back to legislation driven by greed that deprives us all of our constitutional rights of life, liberty, sovereignty and prosperity. Discriminate job and healthcare loss – Professionally I was in the top 4% of performers for years but, because of my family’s high medical liabilities of my husband is a Stage IV Kidney Cancer Survivor & my son has Terminal Genetic Disorder called Wolfram Syndrome caused me to miss a higher % of days than my colleagues.  High medical liability employees drive up the cost of Healthcare Insurance for companies so when a national a lay-off was announced I knew I was at risk even though my performance throughout my 18 years was consistently high – I was laid-off in Jan 2008. 

The US Public Programs of Medicare & Medicaid are programs designed to legally control access care to the human beings who are considered to be the least contributors and the drain on society.  The beauracy is so extreme and the reimbursement rates so low that it limits their access to medical care, medical devices, specialty care and medicines that they need to survive disease. The documentation below is an attempt to describe my family’s challenges with Medicare in trying to gain approval for of insulin pump supplies the device that is my son’s lifeline. 

This is our first experience with Medicare my private insurance expired in September  my COBRA cost was $1850/month my unemployment was $1100/month – I will start with we are thankful to have coverage for Adam through Medicare the reality is he is uninsurable therefore, without it he would not have access to any care. The Initial Medicare Denial Process has taken 3 months many hours & conversations with Medicare operators at all levels, Medtronic Medical Supplier, healthcare professionals, 4 trips to hospital and clinic labs; only to get a denial for a device that is Adam’s life line.  Wolfram Syndrome is a neuro degenerative diabetes not autoimmune – low blood sugars put him at risk of long lasting seizures. Wolfram Syndrome is a neuro degenerative disease causing neuropathy of all the tissues therefore all systems are involved.  The acronym for Wolfram Syndrome is DIDMOAD (Diabetes Insipidus, Diabetes Mellitus, Optical Atrophy & Deafness).  The progression of Diabetes Insipidus of the Kidneys has left Adam with only 20% kidney function therefore, he is unable to tolerate long lasting insulin or large amounts of short acting insulin because it cannot be excreted and builds up putting him at increased risk of seizures.

I have spoken with no less that 12 Medicare operators 3 or 4 have read congressional legislations that stated that ALL Type I Diabetics were to have access to Insulin Pumps or if a Diabetic was using the insulin pump prior to becoming a Medicare participant – if that were the case my son has been a Type I Diabetic since the age of 7 he has been utilizing insulin pump since the age of 10 (he is now 21) because of seizures and his inability to handle long lasting insulin.  The reality is that because we have a medical system that is designed to control access to care not disease congress passes legislation and then leave it up to private and public insurers to interpret how they will administer to maintain control of access. 

Medicare just like all administrators of policy start with following the law then applies their interpretation and manipulation of the laws.  “All Type 1 Diabetics should have access to insulin pump” ONLY if they meet these specific lab requirements 1)C-Peptide along with concurrent Fasting Glucose 2)ICA (Islet Cell Autoantibody) 3)GAD (Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase) 4)IAA (Insulin Auto Antibody) 5)IA-2(RIA).  Now all the lab ranges and requirements that Medicare have come up with will NOT change the fact that my son has been a Type 1 Diabetic since the age of 7, he has been on the insulin pump for 11 years due to seizures and lack of kidney function therefore, the pump is critical to control levels of insulin dispensed.  The longer they jockey around denying the device that is Adam’s lifeline they put his life at risk. Why? What is their Goal in Denial of Care? 

My family has been humbled by disease but not defeated we feel the same way about our healthcare system.  Adam is one of the most compliant patients he inspires all that come to know him by his spirit and courage to rise above whatever challenge or loss he is faced with.  I am sure that we will gain approval for his pump supplies eventually. Our experience and challenges with private & public healthcare system just reinforce my commitment to bring about change for all patients.  Our private & public healthcare system is fundamentally flawed in design it is designed to control access to care not disease. Within the public healthcare system denial of access to care is further compounded by the bureaucracy and low reimbursement. I have turned to the Patient Advocate Foundation – to assist us in 7 STEP Medicare Appeal Process we have reached out to friends and family to get supplies to hold us over until we get through this bureaucratic denial of care.  

The Wilmington Yes We Can Healthcare Reform Team is a network of about 140 members while they are not all on the Yes We Can Wilmington Portal – www.yeswecanwilmington.ning.com/  we will reach out to encourage full participation to keep our grassroots movement going.  The Wilmington Yes We Can Team will unite as an unyielding force to demand the creation and implementation of a Non-Discriminate Healthcare System Powered by Science that provides Affordable and Equal Access to Quality care for ALL.  When we have completed our full proposal to submit to Obama Transition Team Jan 23, 2009 we will hand deliver it to Tom Daschle Transition Office, Sen. Ted Kennedy, Sen. Kay Hagan, Sen. Burr, and Rep. Michael McIntyre.  Our goal is to be very strategic and focused on how we can gain support for our Healthcare Reform.  

Our public servants were unapproachable - When I went to Washington last Sept to deliver 537 letters of my plea for Healthcare Reform and my family’s story I was disappointed by difficulty in gaining access to our public servants – I learned a lot about the process and I will do things differently this time in order to gain support I will be strategic and focused on my approach.

If you or your coalition have any experience in advocating for Patient’s Rights or Healthcare Reform would you be willing to advise and support our cause of demanding a Non-Discriminate Healthcare System Powered by Science with Equal Access for All. A healthcare system that protects The Human Race's Right to Life, Liberty, Sovereignty and Prosperity. 

With warm regard,
Kay Zwan 
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt