Billionairess With a Cause--but With CIGNA, What's the Point?

Now for some backstory.

When all this began, my husband had just been hired by Fidelity Investments.  FYI, Fidelity is privately owned and headed by Abigail Johnson, the granddaughter of Fidelity's founder.  CIGNA is a public company.  The two companies are very entwined and CIGNA is Fidelity's provider of disability insurance. 

And in what seems like a great show of corporate responsibility there is the annual Fidelity-sponsored bike ride for Multiple Sclerosis.  Great cause, right?  But shameful, really, considering how one of Ms. Johnson's employees with MS (my husband) was treated by the company Fidelity hired specifically to cover such health emergencies. 

There we were in the airport in December 2006, the whole family, thrilled to be embarking on a new position in a new state; slightly intimidated to be moving mid-year but happy that we'd be all together as a family rather than waiting for the school year to end.  Paul, the boys and I clink our glasses in celebration, looking forward to Christmas in California.  Then my husband looks up at me and says "I can't feel my right leg."

Multiple sclerosis is an auto-immune disease whereby the body's immune system attacks the myelin sheath around the spinal cord.  Lesions are formed in both the brain and spinal cord due to the process of demyelination. Loss of feeling in the limbs or numbness and burning sensations are a common residual effect of loss of the myelin.

Fast forward to 2007 and Paul has been diligently working this new job with long hours yet something is wrong.  He is continuously tired.  He isn't himself when he comes home.  He finally tells me in February that he is numb up to mid-chest.  He goes to see an MS specialist at USC.  He is given a routine round of steroids.  He complains of pain.

The numbness subsides around July, 2007.  At this point he is numb to his waist and in August it finally levels off at his legs, where the damage has been irreparable.  

He is now (and always will be, barring some new myelin regenerating procedure) in a permanent state and combination of: numbness, tingling, burning and painful sensations in both his legs roughly from the knees down.  The same goes for his left arm, from his last two fingers and up to his elbow.

Fast forward again to February, 2008.  A new exacerbation comes on with a vengeance.  He experiences something the likes of which I have never seen called spasticity. He had his feet propped up, watching a football game on TV one Sunday afternoon, when his toes contorted themselves into a position that voluntary muscle movement could not replicate.  We both watched as his foot muscles tensed so hard he was finding it hard to breathe.  His toes remained in this painful and strange position for about 45 minutes.  After the muscles relaxed, he could not even walk to the kitchen without an enormous amount of pain.  The days following this episode, his headaches (a new symptom) became worse to the point where all he could do was go to bed.  He experienced dizziness and vertigo doing the simplest of tasks.  He was finding it difficult to see.  We were really scared.  This was a man who'd never been sick--ever.

More next posting on Paul's visit to his neurologist and the beginning of short-term disability hell with CIGNA--because no matter what highly esteemed Harvard degreed Doctor of Neurology at UCLA states, CIGNA knows better.  How much better?  Here's a good one for you: Paul's paperwork during short term disability was being reviewed at CIGNA by someone who didn't even hold a medical degree or a nursing degree or anything related to medicine.  See, you can be hired by CIGNA to be a claims processor with a four-year degree in ANYTHING or with equivalent job experience.  See their job listing directly taken from their website below complete with the misspelling of judgment.   It's a laugh!

Job Description https://jobs.cigna.com/erecruit
Short Term Disability Group Claims Associate
Org Marketing Statement

CIGNA's Mission: To help the people we serve improve their health, well-being and sense of security.

At CIGNA, we are committed to providing our customers with benefits, expertise, and services that improve their health, well-being, and sense of security. Our people are the key to success in a changing and increasingly competitive marketplace. The collective skills, behaviors, and work experiences of all CIGNA employees enable us to make a real difference in the lives of our customers. We seek the most talented and creative minds in the industry to develop innovative solutions our customers value and expect. CIGNA is committed to recruiting, developing, motivating, and retaining a diverse workforce representing the best and brightest both inside and outside of our industry - a workforce that reflects our customers and the communities where we operate.

Entry-level support position, requiring guidance and training. Manages assigned caseload of disability claims for short- term disability. Under close supervision, inputs claimant medical and demographic data; evaluates claimant eligibility; develops plan to address disability obstacles and plans with claimants, attending physician and employer; monitors medical condition of claimant *, discusses return to work with employer; integrates individual rehab/return to work plans into ongoing medical treatment; monitors social security decisions and other disability income benefits; decides payment period, follows up and monitors payment accuracy and timeliness; follows plan to closure.

Responsibilities

Network with both the claimant and their physician to medically manage the claim from initial medical requests to reviewing and evaluating on going medical information
Work directly with Employers to facilitate a return to work either on a Full-time or modified duty
Provide consistent customer service to both our customers and claimants through timely responses to all inquiries, telephone calls and e-mails while delivering on service commitments
Pay all covered claims accurately
Understand and interpret contractual language and responsibilities
Manage both new claims daily as well as open claims equally
Manage all claims according to published Quality and Compliance standards

Qualifications
BA/BS degree or equivalent work experience. Wait a second, you're going to allow someone to make all the above decisions without so much as a 4-year degree?

Ability to solve problems and utilize analysis, experience, and judgement to make effective decisions.
Ability to communicate information in a clear, concise, and timely manner while using appropriate channels of communication.
Ability to meet expectations of internal and external customers.
Demonstrated excellent customer relations.
Ability to continuously identify opportunities for improvement and take appropriate action.

Pay Benefits Work Schedule

CIGNA offers a competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits package including health and wellness benefits, 401k plan, and work/life balance programs, as well as opportunities for career growth and development.

How To Apply
We encourage you to complete all questions on the candidate profile if you wish to be considered for this opportunity.

EEO Statement
CIGNA is an Equal Opportunity Employer

*And by "monitors the medical condition of the claimant" they mean, harasses the person in the midst of a horrendous MS exacerbation every 3 weeks with the gathering of MRI reports, blood tests, doctor's notes and repetitious paperwork to be filled out by Paul and Paul's already busy neurologist.  Dog them with the repeated threat of not being paid or holding up the payment until CIGNA (said BA or equivalent experience Claims Processor) deems the paperwork and reading of the reports satisfactory.  Forget the neurologist and everyone else with medical experience.  This is CIGNA's game.  

This, of course, only added to the stress and exacerbation of Paul's symptoms.  This made him even more ill.  CIGNA added to the damage.