Eyes On This: Carole Taylor's Life

Editor’s Note: Carole is going to speak for herself

Yesterday I was called in to the hospital as they found a donor match for my double lung transplant. While the team was prepping the OR, I was informed that I was being sent home because my insurance company, Cigna Healthcare, has now denied my claim which they had previously approved. Cigna says cancer is not an approved condition for lung transplant and they will not pay for the procedure. (I understand insurance companies deny claims regularly. But my doctor said she has never seen them withdraw approval moments before a procedure as they did yesterday.)

My doctors are currently working to appeal this decision. Meanwhile, I have been made inactive on the waitlist.

While I am the first lung cancer patient at Vanderbilt to receive approval for transplant, the procedure itself is not unprecedented. My doctors have been in close contact with the team at Northwestern who have transplanted two lung cancer patients in recent years and did so with insurance approval.

The Vanderbilt team has been incredible and I am confident they are doing everything they can to advocate for me. Meanwhile, there is a real concern about my cancer spreading. If this happens and there’s any evidence the cancer has spread outside of my lungs, a transplant will no longer be an option even with insurance approval.

At this time, I would ask that you continue to pray for healing, for the transplant to be approved, and for the cancer to remain contained to my lungs. Please pray for my children and family who are walking through this dark valley with me.

Our healthcare system is not simply broken, it is corrupt and anti-life. When a company has the power to step in moments before a lifesaving surgery and refuse coverage despite the medical experts insisting it is crucial, time-sensitive, and all other options have been carefully weighed, there is no logical explanation other than greed. It is evil, and *people* are making these decisions at the expense of others’ lives. We cannot forget that companies are run by people who benefit from these policies and decisions. A country does not support life as long as it continues to allow companies this much power. It is unconscionable to claim otherwise.

Editor’s note: Please consider sharing and amplifying the fact of the terror to which Carole Taylor’s being subjected in your context. She’s a prophet scholar-activist, a contemplative, and a good friend. Eyes on this. Make some noise. Cigna Healthcare’s CEO, David Cordani, can be reached at david.cordani@cigna.com