Cancer Patient to Lose 'Lifesaving' Insurance Policy Under ObamaCare; CNN Ignores Her Op-Ed

November 4th, 2013 4:51 PM

A cancer patient worried for her life expectancy says she lost her current health insurance because of ObamaCare and will have to choose between keeping her doctor and cheaper health insurance. CNN has yet to report her Wall Street Journal op-ed, however.

One month ago, the network repeatedly covered the tragic plight of cancer patients unable to receive experimental treatment because of the government shutdown. Yet CNN hasn't touched Edie Sundby's claim that ObamaCare has effectively booted her from her "lifesaving" insurance plan.

"Everyone now is clamoring about Affordable Care Act winners and losers. I am one of the losers," Sundby wrote. "For almost seven years, I have fought and survived stage-4 gallbladder cancer," but she added that "My affordable, lifesaving medical insurance policy has been canceled effective Dec. 31."

Sundby's choices? Access the ObamaCare exchange and "lose access to my cancer doctors" – after President Obama promised more than once that patients could keep their doctor – or go outside the exchange and pay on average "40% to 50% more" for "an unfamiliar insurance company and impaired benefits."

Although CNN reported on ObamaCare's flaws over the weekend, the network did not touch Sundby's story. However during the shutdown, CNN repeatedly covered the story of cancer patients who would be unable to access care from the NIH due to the government shutdown.

"The government shutdown is affecting some of the country's sickest people," reported anchor Suzanne Malveaux on October 2. "We are talking about 200 patients who begin clinical trials each week. This is at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. And now they're being told they have to wait until the government reopens."

"It's just horrible," added senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. "It is life or death for some people. It really is. And I think that we forget that."

Both when ObamaCare was passed and its constitutionality was debated by the Supreme Court, CNN made the news personal. The network gushed over then-11 year-old health care activist Marcelas Owens, who was present when the bill was signed into law. Two years later, CNN highlighted the concerns of the family of an epileptic three year-old girl who could be affected by the Court's decision on the law.