February 4, 2002|
What happened? Who pushed the button? Who pulled the trigger?
I am not exactly sure what happened or how. All I know is that on Friday afternoon I was making phone calls and organizing the next round of work to be done when I received a call on my cell phone from my Benefits contact at Goldman Sachs. Excitedly all she could say was that independently Goldman Sachs had been doing their own research and based on medical trends, the future of medicine, current thought today, such a procedure as mine should be covered by Cigna. Therefore, they had persuaded Cigna to change their policy on such procedures for all employees of Goldman Sachs and I was the first to benefit from it.
The natural question then, is did we have anything to do with that. The answer is I donít know. I was told their final judgment was made independent of my case and they had been researching this for awhile. Maybe we pushed them over the top? I donít know.
My first reaction is to say I donít care how they did it, but that they did it. But after thinking about that, I disagree. What provoked the change is important, not to me, but to others who have to go through similar struggles. Who did push the button? Can they do it again for someone else in a similar situation? Maybe we’ll find out.
Celebration Weekend
When I heard the news, I was pretty darn happy. I jumped out of my chair and pounced on web master Patrick, who happened to be in for the weekend and was taking a nap to recharge his batteries after taking the red-eye in from San Francisco. If you see Patrick in the pictures I have posted on this site, you realize he’s a big boy. Not just that, but a former college defense lineman. You don’t ever want to pounce on a former defensive lineman. Needless to say, he was ready to body slam me until the words ‘WE’RE FUNDED!’ penetrated his brain through the grogginess of the nap. Then he just hugged me. really hard. 🙂
Hearing folks reactions that night were quite amusing as well. More than once I heard, “THIS IS THE HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE!” The funny things was these people were a.) married and b.) had kids. Hmmmm…
The rest of my weekend was spent with five of my boys from college, who had planned to come in this weekend to visit me in the hospital. Instead we celebrated the entire weekend goofing all around Manhattan. What a more fitting way to celebrate than with the homies in town. God’s plots are always cooler than our plots, huh?
What next?
From all indications, I will be admitted next Monday or Tuesday. As I get more information I will pass it along.
What you can do:
Help me in writing thank you notes to all of the players. Nothing will impress Goldman Sachs, Cigna, Intercorp, and Memorial Sloan Kettering more than getting 1000 thank you notes. I will have their names and addresses up shortly so that you can write them.
Help me in strategizing a long term commitment and plan for working on behalf of patients who are having issues with their insurance. Just because I got in, doesnít mean others are getting in. We need to help them too. Something to think about.
I hope you had a good celebratory weekend. Many thanks for all the hard work, dedication and prayers. Once again, I am amazed. Blessed and amazed.
Send thank you notes to the following people. Show appreciation and thanks for all of their hard work. Overwhelm them with love, baby. Overwhelm them with love.
Henry M. Paulson
Chairman and Chief Executive
Goldman Sachs & Co.
85 Broad Street, 30th floor
New York, NY 10004
Susan Carney
Benefits Vice President
Goldman Sachs & Co.
180 Maiden Lane, 24th floor
New York, NY 10038
Angela Gardiner
Goldman Sachs & Co.
180 Maiden Lane, 24th floor
New York, NY 10038
Nancy Adams-Kenny
Wellness Vice President
Goldman Sachs & Co.
180 Maiden Lane, 20th floor
New York, NY 10038
Patricia Walka
Bone Marrow Transplant Coordinator
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
1275 York Ave.
New York, NY 10021
Margaret White, RN, BSN
Cigna Healthcare
Transplant Unit
3200 Park Lane Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15275-1117
Fax: 412.747.7090
Thanks so much!