May 7, 2014

~ Posted by Naomi and Jeff Harm ~

Our grand day to get Jacob airlifted to St Paul, MN from Texas fell through yesterday- May 6th. Once again the huge setback was caused by TriCare United HealthCare insurance, miscommunication between UMC and an affiliation of the US Army.  Jacob has been approved for the facility of choice - Bethesda in St. Paul, MN, but TriCare United HealthCare came back and denied the airplane transport late yesterday afternoon. WTF! Minnesota facility approved - but denial of transport to get him to the approved facility. This "for-profit" health insurance company has found a way to create a "loop-hole" in the system to NOT get Jake back to MN. They would prefer to transport him to an LTAC facility in Texas that provides below standard care and let him sit and rot in a defective long term nursing care facility and not nurture his brain, his speech or body. 

This is bullsh_t! Our US Soldiers deserve to be treated better than this and they should have the highest quality of healthcare insurance in the nation. Instead, these for-profit health insurance companies such as Tricare- United Healthcare are calling the shots, making critical and life depending medical decisions without a doctor's input, while allowing for our US Soldiers to be mistreated, put on a waiting list for months or years to get the care they need and deserve. President Obama, please help us - please change this f_cked up system, please help our US Soldiers, our veterans and service men and women and provide them with the quality health care and respect they deserve!

Our next step is now working with the Commanding Colonel of the Medical sector of Ft. Bliss to apply a waiver to try to override the insurance company's denial of transport to MN. In the past, the Commanding Colonel could override the denial himself with just his signature, but as of May 1, 2014 (7 days ago) new rules are in place that require the insurance company to agree to a waiver and that could take 1-2 more weeks. We do not have this wait time - as Jake needs to be out of ICU and into rehab - and the insurance company wants to keep him local. The insurance company is trying everything - but we have a back up plan if the override is denied again.

We are working with Bethesda, the approved MN TBI facility,  to provide Jacob with a private medical plane transport as an option- this means we have to pay for this out of our pocket.  It can range from $20,000 - $30,000 for this four hour flight from El Paso, TX to St. Paul, MN. We will keep you posted - if this needs to happen - then we need to run a major donation benefit campaign to raise major dollars. Jeff and I in the meantime will dig into our savings, cash out IRA's and take out additional loans to make this happen.

Those of you that have not seen the recent video release of the CNN news announcement called "A Fatal Wait", of how VA Hospitals, doctors and insurance companies mistreating our active duty and veteran service men and women - look no further to see first hand what is happening nationally or in your own community. It is downright appalling and tragic of the mistreatment of allowing our service men and women to die as they are on a waiting list to be seen for medical treatment from a current or past injury - sometimes months or even years. 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/23/health/veterans-dying-health-care-delays/