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ER Physicians' Video Mocks Cigna Commercial

News  |  By HealthLeaders Media News  
   November 29, 2016

The American College of Emergency Physicians takes insurers to task for lack of insurance coverage for emergency care.

The American College of Emergency Physicians responded to Cigna Health Insurance Company's national ad campaign featuring famous TV doctors—from Patrick Dempsey to Noah Wiley—with a satirical video of its own starring real emergency physicians.

"We are poking fun at Cigna to highlight a serious issue: the lack of fair coverage for value in emergency medical care," ACEP's president, Rebecca Parker, MD, FACEP, said in a release.

"Many people don't realize how little insurance coverage they have until they visit the ER, and then they are shocked at how little their insurance company pays."

The $9 million Cigna spent on the ad, in which famous actors play physicians, could have been better spent on patients. "Emergency physicians fight hard for their patients who are bearing an increasingly large share of the burden for their medical care," Parker said.


Emergency Department Strategies


The ACEP video, which has been viewed more than 24,000 times since it was posted on November 15, closely parodies Cigna's commercial. However, it focuses on the life-saving care ED doctors provide to nearly 140 million patients each year, much of which is uncompensated.

ACEP's video claims the insurance industry has enacted measures that increase its profits, while shifting the cost burden to patients and the physicians who treat them.

"Cigna, and others like them, are exploiting federal law [EMTALA] to reduce coverage for emergency care, knowing emergency departments have a federal mandate to care for all patients, regardless of their ability to pay," Parker stated.

In the ACEP statement, Parker encourages patients to investigate what their health insurance covers and demand fair and reasonable coverage for emergency care.

"Emergency physicians are there for their patients 24 hours a day, every day of the year. We can't say the same for the insurance industry."

The video stars Sudip Bose, MD, of Chicago; Alison Haddock, MD, of Houston; Jay Kaplan, MD, ACEP's immediate past president, of New Orleans; Ryan Stanton, MD, of Lexington, KY; and Jose Torradas, MD, of Stockton, CA. They were not compensated for appearing in the video.


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