Thursday, October 22, 2009

Pearl Family Fights Back After Guardian Cancels Line of Coverage for Ian Pearl

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 - Susan Pearl will be in Washington this week to lobby Congress on behalf of her son, Ian Pearl, who was born with muscular dystrophy. Ian's insurance company, Guardian, ended his line of coverage that provided the skilled nursing benefit that has kept him alive since he suffered respiratory arrest and became ventilator-dependent in 1991.

Guardian did this through their "Moving Forward" campaign, which aimed to eliminate health benefit plans with a high loss ratio. One Guardian employee referred to the high cost patients such as Ian as "dogs" that the company could "get rid of."

As of now, Ian's coverage will end December 1. The Department of Health and Human Services is currently conducting an investigation to determine whether Guardian has violated HIPPA by terminating Ian's coverage.

No comments: