The few remaining private health care insurance companies have been able to remain very profitable while denying the contractual health care that they are supposed to provide. The treatment of Lyme Disease is just one example of insurance companies even intervening to change recommended health care. Based on Connecticut Attorney General's Richard Blumenthal report, there are severe conflicts of interest on the panel the prescribes guidelines on how to treat diseases like Lyme Disease.
As Mr. PALLONE knows, we did not get an honest look from the Infectious Disease Society of America. And I find that appalling. Conflict of interest with insurance companies has no place in modern medicine. And regrettably, and it has been-again, the full weight of the Attorney General's report clearly suggests, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, that there were significant conflicts of interest on the part of the panel members.
Our legislation says let's go where the science takes us. If the science says chronic Lyme exists, then all those patients and the insurance companies which need to be providing the coverage, to get the medicines and the like, like antibiotics-because what has happened, as my friend knows, because of this exclusion of chronic Lyme due to a problem in definition, the insurance companies say we don't have to pay. So when a patient presents with a bill of $100,000 or some excessive amount of money, the insurance companies say, not us, tough luck, we're not going to pay for it. And they go right back to what I believe to be a false definition that precludes chronic Lyme as a condition.
(US House website)
Substantial evidence exists that Lyme disease is not being well recognized, nor well treated at Lyme Disease Association website. Lyme disease is a severe problem in Minnesota, particular north in the Brainerd area. From Minnesota John Ward's press release:
"It's been proven time and again that access to more aggressive, long-term treatment for Lyme disease can dramatically improve the condition of a patient and significantly enhance their quality of life," Ward said. "But doctors today are not encouraged to provide that treatment; they're even threatened with medical board sanctions if they do."
Only three states have legislation protecting physicians who treat Lyme disease from medical board sanctions - Minnesota is not one of them. For that reason, many Minnesotans with Lyme disease are forced to travel to other states to receive the treatment they need to recover and lead a normal life.
That will change if a bill authored by Rep. Ward and Sen. John Marty (DFL - Roseville) becomes law. The bill, SF1631, would provide Minnesota physicians protection from medical board sanctions if they prescribe long-term treatment for diagnosed, chronic Lyme disease patients.
The bottom line is that right wing claim of rationing is already here in our current private health insurance system!
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