By Adam Kramer
Schumer and Lancman held a news conference Sunday on the lawn of Dr. Samir Dutta's Floral Park office calling for an HMO Patient's Bill of Rights and an end to insurance companies' ability to deny patients important medical care.
“I am here for a few reasons – first is to endorse Rory for the state Senate,” Schumer said. “He is one classy guy. It is about time we had some classy guys in the state Senate, and I believe on Nov. 7 he will be senator-elect.”
He told the diverse crowd of more than 50 people to look at each other and see that they were a group who came from all walks of life. He said Lancman is the best candidate for the neighborhood made up of doctors, dentists, cops, old and young, who do not ask for much, except to be treated fairly.
The 11th Senate District meanders from College Point to Bayside, and from Little Neck to Glen Oaks as well as covering Bellerose, Floral Park and parts of Queens Village.
Democrats are pumping money and time into three state senate races in the five boroughs in an attempt to wrest control of the Albany Senate, where the Republicans now have a six-seat majority. The races targeted in the city are Padavan vs. Lancman, state Sen. Guy Vellea (R-Bronx) vs. Lorraine Koppell and state Sen. Roy Goodman (R-Manhattan) vs. Liz Krueger.
Control of the Senate is extremely important to both parties because the state Legislature and the governor will decide how the new congressional districts will be redrawn using the census 2000 figures if New York loses population.
Schumer recounted a story about a woman who had contacted him for help in her fight with the HMO Vitra. He said the 26-year-old nurse developed a tumor on her femur and after an examination it was determined to be malignant, which meant it had to be removed. Schumer said she asked her HMO to pay for a orthopedist oncologist, but Vitra would only pay for a regular orthopedist.
Then after she recovered from the surgery the tumor grew back, Schumer said. The woman again asked that the HMO pay for a orthopedist oncologist, but was denied a second time.
She and her family raised the $75,000 to pay for the surgery and now she is fine. Five days after the surgery the insurance company approved the operation, he said.
“Because of stories like this, we need state senators like Rory,” said Schumer to cheers from the crowd.
Lancman said he brought the crowd together because HMOs need to be reformed. There are horror stories about people being denied coverage, HMOs canceling coverage and HMOs taking retaliation against a doctor who fights for the rights of patients.
“The HMO crises can be summed up as follows: HMOs have too much power with too little accountability,” Lancman said. “They decide what doctors you can see, what treatment you can get and when they make a mistake, it's not their problem.”
Lancman said the solution is to allow doctors to make the treatment decisions for patients with no interference from the insurance companies.
He outlined four changes to the health care/insurance system that he thinks need to be implemented. He said patients and doctors must have the power to make treatment decisions, existing doctor patient relationships must be honored, HMOs must be legally accountable for their mistakes and HMO patients must be given the support they need to fight HMO abuses.
Lancman said many times the problems between the patient, doctor and HMO are solvable, but most people do not have the time or resources to wage a battle for their rights. He said if elected he will provide that help to his constituents out of the district office.
“There is a need to fight for this at the state and federal levels,” Lancman said. “While Schumer fights it on the federal level, we can pass it in the state Senate.”
