Clips from all over about this action. There's supposed to be one in LA on the 15th, but I haven't heard a peep about it. What's going on?
CHICAGO - October 8 - Seven citizens and health care providers who are fed up with the state of our health care and the health care debate were arrest at the downtown offices of Cigna today. The sit-in is part of a national mobilization to end insurance abuse and build support for real reform - Medicare for All, a single-payer plan. The mobilization involves civil disobedience at insurance company offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and other cities. Almost 700 people have already signed up to risk arrest at a health insurance company office, joining one of the largest campaigns of nonviolent civil disobedience since the civil rights movement. Many of these event are occurring next week on Thursday, October 15 in a dozen cities across the country.
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An older article says:
Natalin Sarkisyan wasn't at the Cigna protest but her spirit hovered over the event -- and her ghost is surely one of Hanway's nightmares. Sarkisyan was a 17-year-old from Glendale, Calif., who had leukemia and needed a liver transplant. Cigna said the procedure was "too risky", despite the fact that a liver was available and she had a 65 percent chance of survival after six months. As a result of public pressure and publicity, Cigna relented and agreed to pay for the procedure. But it was too late. In December 2007, Ms. Sarkisyan died for lack of the transplant hours after Cigna reversed its decision.
At the time, Mark Geragos, an attorney for Ms. Sarkisyan's family, charged that Cigna "literally, maliciously killed" Sarkisyan. "Cigna decided that they were going to take profits over this little, beautiful princess' life," Geragos said. "We believe that they single- handedly decided that they wanted to have her die and wait so they would not have to take the after-care coverage." Geri Jenkins, a registered nurse and member of the California Nurses Association, criticized Cigna's decision to deny the transplant: "Why didn't they just listen to the medical professionals at the bedside in the first place?" Jenkins said.
Other victims of Cigna's profits-before-people attitude have spoken out against the company at rallies and in media stories.
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