Oklahomans rally for better insurance

EDMOND — OKLAHOMA CITY — People frustrated by the games they say are played by insurance companies rallied at the state Capitol Tuesday. They fight what they describe as abuses to Oklahomans by insurance companies denying health-care benefits. Their message is that state lawmakers care more about protecting the profits of insurance companies at the expense of the health of children, families and seniors.

Oklahomans for Healthcare Reform coalition members held signs stating “Breathing is not a pre-existing condition;” “Working families, not AIG;” “Bonuses for denying care is immoral;” “My child denied treatment by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma.”

“A lot of people up there like to say they’re for family values, but they don’t value our families,” said Rep. Eric Proctor, D-Tulsa.

Eric Holland of Edmond was holding a sign stating, “Talk is cheap. My insurance is not.”

He struggles to keep a benign brain tumor in check that he’s had since he was 18 months old. Now 22, Holland said his insurance company has repeatedly denied treatment necessary for his health.

He also was at the rally to raise awareness of the Oklahoma Brain Tumor Foundation, which was founded by Edmond resident Nancy Thomason.

“We’re just here fighting for the citizens of Oklahoma and their rights for health care,” Thomason said. “Right now everything that we have tried to accomplish in the Legislature that would improve the health care of Oklahomans has been stifled by legislators that aren’t concerned about the citizens of Oklahoma. They’re more concerned about the pocketbooks of the health insurance companies.”

State Sen. Andrew Rice, D-Oklahoma City, said he supports a bill to make sure the money Oklahomans pay for their health-care premiums actually goes for health-care coverage instead of marketing.

“Oklahoma has the lowest percentage of the medical loss ratio in the country,” Rice said. “We only require 60 percent of your premium to go to health care where a lot of states require 75 and 80 percent.”

Rice was interrupted by applause when he said “I’m a fan of free market but the free market does not work in this slice of our economy.” He noted that the late 18-year-old Stephanie Collings of Noble could not to go get another health insurance premium because she had cancer.

“It’s important for the insurance you’re stuck with to actually mean something,” he said.

He said there are lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who support extending health-care insurance mandates. The problem, he said, has been with leadership.

“The leadership of the Legislature are unwilling to budge, unwilling to move one degree from where they are,” Rice said.

Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid, said the Insure Oklahoma Employer Sponsored Insurance program is an example of how government and the private sector can work together to provide health care to Oklahomans.

Funded by the state tobacco tax, ESI is a public/private partnership that helps small businesses and employees afford health insurance. Anderson said he favors expanding the eligibility of the program.

State Sen. J. Paul. Gumm, D-Durant, said the only way the insurance industry can make a buck is for customers to pay premiums and for them to not pay claims. There is a special responsibility that comes with any industry that effects someone’s life, he said.

Health care is a right and not a privilege for a special group of people, said State Sen. Kenneth Corn, D-Howe. He recently was able to amend House Bill 1055, which would not allow health insurance companies to pay bonuses to employees based on denial of claims.

“Just like a flood starts from a few rain drops, so does this movement to make sure Oklahomans have access to care,” Corn said. “And we hold insurance companies accountable for the money that you give them to pay for your health-care needs.”

Reggie Cervantes of Yukon was one of the first rescue workers responding to victims of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center. The contaminated air she breathed that day caused the native New Yorker to contract lung disease.

Lung disease and post traumatic stress caused her to lose her job-related insurance coverage after moving to Oklahoma. A month later, she discovered a lump in her breast.

“When I became terminally ill — no one would treat me,” Cervantes said. “Without insurance there is no open door that provides specialist, testing and pain medication in Oklahoma.”

She and World Trade Center bombing survivor Bonnie Giebfried asked state lawmakers to provide fairness by mandating health-care insurance coverage. Giebfried was part of a delegation of New Yorkers coming to Oklahoma for the anniversary of the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Building.

Giebfried also lost her insurance coverage after being buried alive caused her a disability, she said. She has been treated as “a nothing” by insurance companies since then, she said.

“Nobody can give me back what I had on Sept. 10th in ’01,” Giebfried said. “But I have a right, so does everybody, to get health insurance and be treated as an individual.”

jcoburn@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 114

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