ERISA Goes To The Presses
The Providence Journal features a review by Mandy Twaddell, analyzing the new book by Peter Gosselin. The book’s title is High Wire: The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families. The book describes various pitfalls many American families experience today, and tells the tale of at least one encounter with ERISA.
Ms. Twaddell recounts the story of Debra Potter, an insurance carrier’s employee and covered member. She becomes ill and is denied benefits. The carrier is well protected by ERISA, and it takes nearly three years for the insured to obtain benefits.
In her review, Ms. Twaddell takes a clear anti-insurance tone, and criticizes the author, Mr. Gosselin, for “his measured, let’s consider all sides, voice. A scream would have been more fitting to the facts: Only the wealthy and powerful are secure, and government is to blame for the policy reversals that once promised protection.”
Once again, this public sentiment towards health plans seems nonsensical when, in general, these plans provide the populace with health coverage they would otherwise be unable to afford. While it is unfortunate that there are no books published describing cases where, thanks to plan benefits, the insured receives medicine and treatment that would have otherwise been unavailable, we as an industry need to accept that only the negative stories will come to light. That is why it is imperative that covered persons and policy holders be kept informed regarding their rights, plans be administered with uniformity and consistency - in strict accordance with the terms of the policy, and nothing be left to chance.
“When the system fails (Book Review),” Mandy Twaddell, Sunday, July 27, 2008, http://www.projo.com/books/content/BOOK-GOSSELIN_07-27-08_GIAQBLE_v7.12bfe4a.html