[Sheila]

Shannon

I don't believe you were on the board yet when I took on my hospital in Chicago for overcharging on Herceptin....with the help of many on this board...i was able to gather info on what people are paying or being charged for Herceptin all over the country....I even went to a different clinic and oncologist for 1 treatment to prove my point....the insurance company (BCBS of IL) would not argue the charges, the hospital would not budge, so I filed a complaint with the IL Attorney General....the hospital reduced their price for everyone on Herceptin and even retoactive reimbursement to the insurance companies....they are still charging way more than other hospitals, so I think its time to tune them up again with another complaint. BTY, the chemo nurses and my Oncologist were behind be on taking the hospital to the cleaners so to speak for making a profit at breast cancer patients expense.

I also had the experience of receiving long term disability from the company I worked for for 11 years...I paid while I was working for this benefit....once I qualified, they insisted I apply for SSD to help defray their costs. I did and was granted Social Security Disability without any questions....after that, the disability insurance decided I was no longer "disabled" and stopped payment of long term disability payments. I still recieve disability through Social Security, but lost about 2000.00 a month in income from this. After that, my employer terminated me because I wasn't released to go back to work.....nothing like adding to the stress for cancer patients. By the way, my employer was the largest construction company in the world with over 10000 permanent employees....I guess I was truly a number in the pool!