Weight Loss Surgery Petition?

I've just recently found this on the net.. check it out. Does anyone know of anyother sites for this sort of petition? (http://www)petitiononline.com/07221976/petition.html karen

Online petitions are not very effective. Congress won't see this or care. Instead, CALL your congressman and senators. Phone calls speak louder than e-mails and internet listings anyday. snopes.com/inboxer/petition/internet.htm

,,,,And it has to be the STATE congressmen. If you research it, the only places initiatives like this have been tackled successfully are in individual states. I know I'm getting on my soapbox again, but the ONLY way to effectively tackle this problem is to lobby Phoenix legislators long and hard enough that they get an idea of the magnitude of the problem of all the people being denied and pass legislation equivalent to what's in that petition. The first step is to find a Republican legislator (simply because Republicans are in control), who is sympathetic and will sponsor the bill. Then we would just encourage people to call and visit their legislators as often as possible to endorse the bills passage. Unfortunately, what I percieve is something of an "I got mine but I don't have the time to stand up for those who have been denied" kind of attitude out of most of the wls people I know. I know it's a harsh assessment, but it's very real. People just don't want to be drug into anything political. The other component to this is that the people who are being turned down often turn in on themselves and take the blame, if not for the denials, for the condition that led them to where they are. What better population to discriminate against than a bunch of fat women who are mostly in ill health and have become accustomed to being discriminated against in virtually every other area of their lives. This just fits right in as more of the same once you've been living a portion of your lifetime with morbid obesity. Hopelessness sets in before the will to organize and do something constructive with the rage can ever take root. We need to all get off our duffs, connect with empathy for the fact that there are people out there dying because they're being turned down for this surgery, and focus that anger and sadness enough to stay in the faces of our State politicians until they become as convinced as we are that the current state of affairs is just plain wrong. When I bring up the fact to people that they need to imagine the insurance stonewalling that goes on happening with heart bypass surgery, it becomes inconceivable. What's the difference? They're both surgeries that cater to a population that will likely die without them. They both cost about 25k. The target population is in the same age range. The big difference is that one disease affects men and the other affects socially marginalized fat women. The only other difference is that the heart bypass gives less of a life extension benefit over the long haul (I believe about 12 years), than the wls. But can you even imagine an insurance company having the audacity to give a company a discount for cutting heart bypass out of their coverage. The hew and cry would be swift and unending until that policy changed back - yet we're all sitting out here on our hands while more women die. When enough critical mass builds to have even a hundred people who are willing to take on the cause of lobbying and publicising these poor women's tragedies, we'll make a change in no time. Till then, there's not much any one of us alone can do but pray for individual miracles, and we all know those don't come easy. - Stephanie J

WOW Stephanie you are full of super good information!!! I can feel the passion in your heart while reading. How can we all get together? I mean I will make phone calls, hell I can make phone calls all day long I can write letters. I can write great letters! I want to be a person that can make a difference in how others are seen with the surgery. I'll even stand in the middle of Phoenix in daisy dukes with a life size cut out of myself before surgery to promote it. I'll scream to the top of my lungs on the corner that I didn't have an extreme surgery so that society would except me but because I wanted to spend as many happy and productive years as possible with my babies! I've been fat all my life. I've had days to where I'd rather die than to have to think of going through one more minute of moving my ass around. I've had days where if it wasn't for my children I'd be gone. I really feel like I'm standing outside a box here looking in at everybody who has had the surgery, thinking wow someday I might get to be in there, on the other side. I have some hope left. I imagine that I will be turned down by my insurance company. If all else fails I will have to find another ins. comp. I was reading about a woman who lost her coverage because she called to see if her insurance carrier would pay for her surgery. They told her no and that she should've never even been given a policy at such a high risk and her insurance was cancelled. OMG what now!!!??? Will I have to hide behind a phone so that my provider doesn't see my fat butt in fear of being cancelled but also in despirate need of help? I was sick! Its like having your history written all over you. What do you tell your provider now when you call?? O no mr. so in so I'm in great health!!, yes I weigh 315 lbs but really I feel great! I need WLS can you help? No major complications as of yet.. I'm young! no? Well,,, Ok. What more could I say? My hopes are now left with my doctor and surgeon. I know that nobody wants the politics to overwhelm them. I understand that it is a burden, but eventually the insurance companies are going to weed this out of their policies. I looked at all the things that my policy covered at the time I called to see about surgery. They pay for abortions. Its right there in black and white clear as day. They even pay for lead-based paint removal to prevent lead poisoning. And its a damn good thing that they cover sanitariums because thats were I'm going to need to be soon. lol. This is a struggle and I want to try and make it easier for those of us that need help to survive. When I went and saw my Dr. last week I was totally prepaired for another diet. Food pyramid, Atkins (Again), Deal a Meal, you name it, I would've done it again. He looked at me straight in the face and said, no more diets, and that the only thing that was going to help me was surgery. I have to say I was extremly shocked. I still am really, shocked and scared. I guess that is it, all or nothing now. I really did like you said. When I made that call and was turned down I gave up. I thought, I got myself here and I'm going to have to get myself out. I let someone that was being paid at the most 8 bucks an hour to set on their butt and say no make me feel worthless. I let them get away with that! I'm not prepaired to let that happen again. No one should. I will fight this time, and I will get what I want! I am a strong willed person but this breaks me everytime, and I do not want to be at the point any longer. I just want to make it easier on the next person behind me.

(http://www)scfaz.com/publish/Listing_of__Arizona_Legislators.shtml

Sorry it's taking me so long to get back to you. I can feel your passion too. I've been wondering what the best way just a few people could begin to attack the problem might be. I keep thinking that if we could get even five people together who have been turned down and could tell their (your), stories to the press, I could probably get a friend of mine who works there to point me to who to set up with for an interview with the Republic. Another tactic that might possibly pay off with enough publicity to get the ball really rolling on this might be getting the same five women to commit to picketing either the employers who have been talked into these exclusions or the HMOs that are excluding. I would be glad to drive to Phoenix and join in. I've picketed before and already have some good stuff to write on the signs like "Obesity Exclusions = Death". We would call all the press outlets - both television and print media, and would definitely get coverage. I still believe that, in the long run, legislation is absolutely necessary. But people are currently not even aware of the problem, by and large, so a logical first step may well be getting the light of day shining on the issue. Is anyone else out there that might come on board with any of this??? - Stephanie J

Do we think that Az state politicians will care? HA! My husband is a state employee and the new insurance policy put in place last October totally excludes obesity surgery. I'm having to self pay. Our social services in AZ are something like 48 out of 50 states. It'll never happen here! Teresa