Campbell was in D.C. to reunite with other members of the Sicko ensemble, including a recent widower, for a candlelight vigil at the Lincoln Memorial for people who have died or lost loved ones from lack of health care. Two fellow participants were Donna and Larry Smith, featured in Sicko because they lost their home after medical expenses not covered by their insurance policy. The participants then showed up for a "Health Care Not Warfare" rally at the Capitol, where Campbell filled in further details in an interview.
Blue Cross-Blue Shield declined to cover Adrian's surgery on grounds that Adrian was just 23 when her cervical cancer was diagnosed, in November 2004: The company would pay for such operations only for patients 26 or over. Adrian's insurance policy did not state "age 26," and her medical diagnosis was provably cervical cancer. However, the company benefited from a Michigan law forbidding operations on a woman's reproductive system before age 26although the law permits exceptions for a life-threatening condition. As Adrian sums up the company's position, it was 'You can have the surgery. You won't get into trouble for it. We just won't pay for it'. By using Michigan law, "they saved $6,000."
Opting not to risk delay, Adrian traveled to Canada, where she had the surgery a few days after the diagnosis. In a nutshell the story illustrates Paul Krugman's op-ed comment that "In the United States," as opposed to Canada and Britain, medical delays are "often caused by insurance companies trying to save money." ("The Waiting Game," New York Times July 16, 2007) It also illustrates the time, money and productivity lost when people have to contend against their insurance companies.
As written previously, Adrian's story had a prequel that did not make it into the film. Back when Adrian was nineteen, her doctor noticed that some cervical cells were pre-cancerous. He wanted her to participate in a drug trial, three shots of the HPV vaccine Guardisil, at that time not approved by the FDA. But even a human guinea pig still has to pay for some drug trials; the shots were $500 each"I'm a college student. I don't have $1500"and the same insurance company, the Blues through GM, declined to cover the procedure, calling it experimental.
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