From this morning's LA Times:
"I am completely opposed to any more involvement of government in our healthcare, and I want to make sure Nancy Pelosi knows this." said Ms. Sarkisyan. "For me the issue is more than an academic debate. My daughter is very sick, and may need a liver transplant soon, and I can't imagine fighting with an uncaring government run bureaucracy while my daughter fights for her life. I just want to speak with someone to tell them, please stay out of our healthcare."
What she got was something quite different.
Staff members of Pelosi, looking down into the atrium lobby from a balcony above, began heckling her, she said, with one of them giving her "the finger."
Sarkisyan walked out, stunned and hurt.
"They showed me their true colors," she said. "Shame on them."
About a month after the incident, the Sarkisyans received a letter of apology from Pelosi.
"I was very disappointed to learn of the behavior of one of our staff members when you were at my District Office," wrote Ms. Pelosi. "I sincerely regret this individual's offensive and inappropriate action," she continued. "Please know that he did not represent my views or the views of other members of Congress."
Great. That's just fucking great. Can you imagine what the right-wing fucktards like Glenn Beck are gonna do with this? Crap, maybe they're right. If this is how they're gonna treat a mother worried about the health of her critically ill child, maybe these cold hearted government bureaucrats have no business being involved in health care.
Actually, they're definitely right. If you're going to heckle and flip off mothers of seriously ill children, you have no business in the healthcare system. I think most of us can agree on that. Right?
Right?
I just tricked you. Kind of. Substitute "Cigna" for "Nancy Pelosi" and you'll have the real story about what happened.
Oh. And I changed one detail as well. The mother wasn't worried about her seriously ill daughter. She was grieving for her daughter. Who died after Cigna denied coverage for a liver transplant, then changed their minds after intense public pressure a few hours before she passed away.
Just in case you're not quite following me here I'll repeat myself.
Employees of Cigna heckled and flipped off the mother of a dead child who came to talk to them about why she was jacked around when she supposedly had insurance.
If you're going to heckle and flip off mothers of dead children, you have no business in the healthcare system. I think most of us can agree on that. Right?
Right?
The olive in the martini was the last line in the "apology" letter Sarkisyan received from Cigna after the incident:
We deeply empathize with you and wish you peace and comfort in your loss.
"Because empathy and wishes of peace and comfort don't cost us anything" the letter didn't add, but easily could have.
