It’s time to reform our health care system
By Jan Schut
 Jan Schut became an ACS volunteer five years ago after her husband, Bruce, was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. Together, they found out how difficult it could be to get access to timely and adequate health care.
I am so happy that ACS CAN is playing such a prominent role in the efforts to reform our nation’s health care system. If we’re going to win the fight against cancer, the system must be fixed.
I am passionate about access to care and providing a healthier environment for all citizens.
I got involved with ACS five years ago after my husband, Bruce, was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. He died in 2007 when he was 56. I learned so much about what things were wrong in health care.
As my husband’s primary caregiver, I felt so frustrated with the power that insurance companies had. The more I found out, the more I learned that our health care system doesn’t work that well for everyone. There were times when it certainly didn’t work that well for me or my husband.
It’s too hard to get treatment options that a patient needs or even that a doctor recommends. Insurance companies have too much power—the power of life and death. They have to pre-approve each treatment, each pain medication—like my husband’s anti-nausea medication and even routine CT scans.
Then, when we learned that my husband’s cancer had spread to his liver and we learned that his diagnosis was terminal, the insurance company did not allow him to enroll in a clinical trial.
Because of FDA regulations, he could only enroll in Phase 1 clinical trial. The insurance companies (in Michigan) have the authority to deny your enrollment in clinical trial. We fought their decision, but by the time of the final appeal, it didn’t matter; Bruce was too sick to worry about it.
When it comes to compassionate care, and you’ve run out options, there has to be a mechanism in place where people can get the timely care that they need.
I’d like to see health care that’s simpler for patients and for doctors. I know my husband’s doctor was frustrated by our insurance company’s refusal to follow some of her recommendations. In a perfect world everyone should have access to quality health insurance.
In the end, we were lucky. Even though our insurance company fought us every step of the way, at least we had insurance. I’ve seen people bankrupted. Fortunately, we had coverage, but it was sad that they would cover end of life care…but not cover treatment options beforehand…It’s such a sad commentary.
The system must be fixed.
For more information on how to get involved in ACS CAN’s efforts and Health Care Reform, visit www.acscan.org/healthcare.
Pictured: Jan and Bruce Schut
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