From The Road
December 21, 2007 8:30 PM

Edwards Says He'll Take On Big Insurance Companies

By
Aaron Lewis
Topics
John Edwards
(CBS)
From CBS News' Aaron Lewis:

NEVADA, IOWA -- John Edwards tonight cited the case of a 17-year-old California girl who died after her insurance company refused coverage on a liver transplant to save her life as a call to action to change the current system of healthcare in America.

Nataline Sarkysian died last night at UCLA Medical Center after complications arose from a bone marrow transplant to treat her leukemia. Her insurance provider, CIGNA Healthcare, first denied the potentially lifesaving transplant, but relented after a loud public protest and outrage. By that time, though, Sarkysian passed away before the procedure could be performed.

"Are you telling me that we're gonna sit at a table and negotiate with those people?" asked a visibly angered Edwards, challenging the health care companies. "We're gonna take their power away and we're not gonna have this kind of problem again."

Edwards also told the audience of about a hundred people at the Score Pavillion in Nevada, Iowa, that it will take a fighter (i.e. him) - and not a negotiator (ii.e. Obama) - to take on large insurance companies like CIGNA.

"Anybody who thinks that we don't have a fight in front of us is living in Never-Never Land," he said.

Add a Comment See all 12 Comments
by truktoo December 24, 2007 3:15 AM EST
Maybe health care doesn''t have to cost an arm and a leg. Maybe we can use the the technological advantage we have to keep the cost of health care inline making universal health care excellent and cheap. Physicians, by the very fact that they are highly trained and finite in quantity, drive up the health care costs. Physician''s Assistants, a much less expensive and more abundant health care provider, utilizing a medical diagnosis database can be the first step in triage. Simple cases are taken care quickly without the need for the expensive time of a physician. This would also enable a much higher through flow of patients. More complicated and challenging cases would be flagged and redirected to specialist that would either confirm the diagnosis identified by the computer or override it. All this of course ignores the cost our country incurs when we get involved in nation-building or policing the rest of the world. Maybe we should visit that policy as well.

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by fsweetiec December 23, 2007 7:00 PM EST
(This is for amykin)

Did you stop to think maybe the doctors at ucla wanted to do the surgery but could not due to the fact they might lose there license Insurance companys not only have a hold on us but the also have a hold on the doctors!!!!
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by dw4je December 23, 2007 2:58 PM EST
John Edwards has been fighting for "regular people" for many years. Now is our chance to elect a president that will fight for what is right and good in the American people. We have only 2 choices, 1)support that 1% of us that runs this corrupt system to benefit the monied special interest power, 2) or support John Edwards and take back some of that power that "We The People" deserve. As for the BS, its only connection to John Edwards is that which is slung at him by the uninformed. Stand up for yourself by supporting John Edwards.
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by billstclair December 23, 2007 10:33 AM EST
"If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it''s free." -- P.J. O''Rourke
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by rrecroc December 23, 2007 2:59 AM EST
As a pharmacist, I can say that drug companies and insurance companies are evil.

The takeover of large numbers of hospitals by large corporations has resulted in poorer service and more expensive care.

Where the hospitals, when they were owned by local governments, put the interests of its citizens first, corporations place profits first.

The FTC and the FDA, two agencies that are supposed to represent the interests of the public, have been hijacked by corporations.

The result, direct advertising of drugs to the public and drugs released by the FDA that have proved deadly and have to be recalled.

Between deaths due to prescription drugs, unnecessary procedures, poor sanitation in hospitals and understaffing, the number one cause of death in the country now is medical care.

Our healthcare system has become as big a joke as our lifestyles and dietary habits.
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by cheneygotgun December 23, 2007 12:52 AM EST
Gateway1; It gets worse; I lived near the Navajo reservation in Gallup, New Mexico in the early 60''s when the gov''t built a 55 million dollar (which would be about 350-400 million in today''s dollars) Public Health Service hospital which was used ONLY for native Americans. If you were white and were bleeding to death on the front steps of the PHS hospital, they would throw you in an ambulance and cart you don''t the road to the other hospital(where you would have to pay, of course). No white people were (or ARE to this day, as far as I know) allowed in the PHS hospital, which is a clear violation of the government''s own policy that NO discrimination shall be practiced when using government funding and/ or facilities. This is not a condemnation of the native Americans, but it IS a condemnation of the U.S. government''s flawed policies on public healthcare!
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by danfromcanad December 22, 2007 11:02 PM EST
In Canada, hospitals and doctors are essentially private businesses. the only difference is that they bill the province (state) for services. The province determines the rates it will pay for procedures and what it will fund. It means that if I need my bones fixed, they are done, the billing is done by the clinic and the province and I pay for it through my taxes. And when all my taxes are added up, they are not that much higher then those of americans.. but I have peace of mind and can vote out the government that tampers with our health care system..
cheers
dan
Reply to this comment
by danfromcanad December 22, 2007 10:34 PM EST
In Canada, hospitals and doctors are essentially private businesses. the only difference is that they bill the province (state) for services. The province determines the rates it will pay for procedures and what it will fund. It means that if I need my bones fixed, they are done, the billing is done by the clinic and the province and I pay for it through my taxes. And when all my taxes are added up, they are not that much higher then those of americans.. but I have peace of mind and can vote out the government that tampers with our health care system..
cheers
dan
Reply to this comment
by amykin-2009 December 22, 2007 9:57 PM EST
Dennis Kucinich is the only Democratic candidate who is for national health care that does not involve private for profit health insurance companies. If we had that now, maybe Nataline would have had a chance to live. It is a sad day in America.
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by cbs_news_1 December 22, 2007 4:47 PM EST
Edwards, the man who made his many millions suing doctors and insurance companies (and increased health care costs along the way) is going to ''solve'' the health care crisis?

Edwards is not the finest candidate; he is the candidate who will tell us what we want to hear, even if it is complete BS.
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