Cigna and Doctor Reviewers

I wish I could say something - anything - nice about Cigna or their disability benefit denial and review process, but I cannot think of anything. I have been told that if you have nothing nice to say, it's better to not say anything at all... however...

I do not understand how a person can go through medical or graduate school to learn a "helping" profession - but seem to act without ethics or care toward people - at least in an insurance-related situation. The three doctors that Cigna contracted with (Shipko, DeFilippis or Unsell), to provide reviews of my case and hence their “opinions” of my "ability" to work showed no compassion for me at all. I know it is a business situation and not personal care, but they did not even do what should be a minimum of honest investigation into my case.

For example, all three doctors state that I am able to return to work; that I could be malingering; that I might not really have DID/MPD; and that I lied in my submittals of information to Cigna. But no one from Cigna or their contracted doctors ever tried to talk with either me, or my highly trained and qualified physician. It seems there are professional insurance case reviewers in the medical community, who get paid to give Cigna (or other insurance company) what it obviously prefers - a statement that the disabled appellant is fine - ok - healthy - robust. Their tactics include raising questions against said appellant, but never actually proving anything. If you read our appeal letter, below, you will see the different methods these doctors used to give Cigna their desired outcome.

The Cigna-contracted doctors, Shipko, DeFilippis and Unsell, have caused me a huge amount of stress, enabled Cigna to rule against my appeal, and hurt me by raising questions about my integrity. Do they imagine theirs is a victimless crime? It is not!

I am fortunate that I have the love and support of a husband who works and can provide for me; otherwise, I could easily be one of the many homeless mentally ill. But there are disabled people who have lost their homes because the insurance companies are unfairly terminating their disability benefits, and they have nothing or no one to fall back on.

What happened to ethics? Is the doctor's need or lust for the dollar so powerful he is willing to toss his morals out the window?

We (the people of the USA) have a corrupt health insurance system utilized by corrupt insurance companies who utilize corrupt doctor reviewers. We are hearing more and more stories about insurance company shenanigans - when are we going to see some positive change?

Each doctor reviewer should take a hard look inside... perhaps they might realize that I am more than just another case file - a mental “gimp” that they never bothered to talk to. I guess that makes it easier for them – the "case" has no face and no voice, so they never had to deal with a human – after all; I was just another case and just another check in the bank.