tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-694967215978644381.post3801493067816546720..comments2023-10-28T02:14:23.579-07:00Comments on The Problem is ERISA: ERISA to Insurance Companies: It’s OK to kill someone’s daughter, just don’t flip them offRichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12169789652349221427noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-694967215978644381.post-43054653468503522302009-10-11T09:32:49.624-07:002009-10-11T09:32:49.624-07:00"Well, that's one theory. Another theory ..."Well, that's one theory. Another theory is that it was experimental, as independent medical experts said, and in any case, there was no liver available for her transplant."<br /><br />Thank you David for your comment.<br /><br />Yours is a theory too, admittedly. The problem ERISA presents is that when we have a case, as here, of two competing theories, the theory advanced by the insurance company, which coincidentally boosts its own bottom line, is impervious from judicial scrutiny. Why is it that when there are two competing theories the claimant's is the one that always loses because they can't even get in the courthouse door in the first place?<br /><br />As I plan on discussing in a future post, just how "independent" outside medical consultants are is open to some serious question. <br /><br />In any case, it may well be that, had they been able to pursue their case, Nataline's parents would have lost, for the reasons you posit. We'll never know, of course, since the claim could not even be heard thanks to ERISA.Richhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12169789652349221427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-694967215978644381.post-29673177143023332762009-10-10T15:50:47.565-07:002009-10-10T15:50:47.565-07:00Cigna Corporation, an ERISA health insurer, killed...<i>Cigna Corporation, an ERISA health insurer, killed Nataline Sarkisyan in December 2007, denying a liver transplant on the pretext it was “experimental” (which is insurance company code for “expensive”; after all paying for the transplant would reduce its profits). </i><br /><br />Well, that's one theory. Another theory is that it was experimental, as independent medical experts said, and in any case, there was no liver available for her transplant.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01643617340390143345noreply@blogger.com