A price on your head

Margaret Datiles
Sunday, November 2, 2008

In May 2008, Barbara Wagner received a chilling rejection letter from her health-care insurance company. Employing a dollar-saving tactic, Mrs. Wagner's Oregon Health Plan denied coverage for medication that would treat her cancer and extend her life, but agreed to pay for less expensive medications to end her life.

Mrs. Wagner's lung cancer, which had been in remission for two years, had returned. Her doctor prescribed medication which would cost $4,000 per month, but the 64-year-old retired bus driver could not afford to pay. Mrs. Wagner's Oregon Health Plan administrators instead coldly offered to pay $50 for an assisted suicide. To them, that was all she was worth.

Mrs. Wagner and her family were devastated. "It was horrible," she said, tears flooding her eyes. "I got a letter in the mail that basically said if you want to take the pills, we will help you get that from the doctor, and we will stand there and watch you die. But we won't give you the medication to live."

Oregon soon may not be the only state saving money by denying coverage for lifesaving medications and encouraging suicide. The State of Washington is considering a ballot initiative that would allow the same dollar-saving opportunities for health-care insurance companies. Washington Initiative 1000 (I-1000) would legalize physician-assisted suicide and allow Washington health-care plans to financially pressure vulnerable patients into "choosing" assisted suicide. the rest