My Life is Worth It

My wife, my daughter, and I were exhibitors at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) last weekend. At the invitation of ASCO, insurance companies and doctors were trying to invent a framework for limiting patients' access to the newest and most expensive cancer treatments, thereby providing those treatments only for those patients whose lives are judged worthy of them. In the booth, I'm on the left Unfortunately, we patients have been left out of that discussion altogether, so we were in a booth, making the point that patients should most definitely have a voice in any such discussions, and also pointing out serious errors in the "facts" put forward by the insurance companies and others. For example, people favoring mandatory limitations allege that the cost of new, innovative treatments will soon bankrupt the health care system, while the truth is that the modern cancer treatments represent only one half of one percent (0.5%) of today's healthcare costs. At our booth we encouraged interested doctors and others to sign our petition, explaining that we want and deserve a seat at the table, to keep the facts straight and to tell our stories about the real value of our lives. Nearly everyone who heard our story signed the petition. Here is a copy: Petition If you would like to sign that petition, please follow this link: MyLifeIsWorthIt.org. For more information about this issue please visit: ValueOfInnovation.org. For more informatio...
Source: Myeloma Hope - Category: Cancer Source Type: blogs