As these hit songs proclaim and you shall confirm on Simchat Torah; let us stay strong and cling to our beliefs. Let us cast aside the alma deshikra that tempts us every day and strengthen our connection to the One Above and His Torah. In that merit, we will be zoche to greet Moshiach Tzidkeini, may he come speedily, in our day.
V'taher Lebanu L'avdecha B'emes,
UOJ
4 comments:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cigna8-2009oct08,0,3843730,print.story
A CIGNA employee gave the finger -- literally -- to a woman whose daughter died after the insurance giant refused to cover her liver transplant.
Hilda and Krikor Sarkisyan went to CIGNA's Philadelphia headquarters, along with supporters from the California Nurses Association, to confront the CEO Edward Hanway over the death of her 17-year-old child.
In 2007, Nataline Sarkisyan was denied a liver transplant by the company, on the grounds that the operation was "too experimental" to be covered. Nine days later it changed its mind, in response to protests outside its office. It was too late: Nataline died hours later.
"CIGNA killed my daughter," Nataline's mother Hilda told security. "I want an apology." Sarkisyan was not able to speak to Hanway; a communications specialist talked to her instead. After their conversation, employees heckled the group from a balcony; one man gave them the finger. CIGNA called the police and had the family and their friends escorted from the building.
A CIGNA executive apologized for the incident in a letter about a month later.
A Los Angeles judge threw out the wrongful-death complaint, saying it was barred by a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that shields employer-paid healthcare plans from damages over their coverage decisions.
But U.S. District Judge Gary Allen Feess said the Sarkisyans could pursue damages for any emotional distress caused by the Philadelphia incident.
Judge Feess cited rulings by the Supreme Court and others interpreting 1974's Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, which governs employee retirement funds and benefit plans.
Under ERISA, the courts have said, the only monetary damages that beneficiaries of workplace health plans can sue for is the cost of the treatment of service in dispute.
The cost of mounting a lawsuit often far exceeds the cost of the treatment in question, patient lawyer Scott Glovsky said. As a result, few lawyers take them on. That has in effect shut the courthouse doors on most treatment coverage disputes involving workplace health plans, which are the source of medical insurance for 132 million workers and dependents.
"ERISA is a license to kill," Glovsky said. "The companies know that they can deny treatment with the sick or dead member having virtually no recourse."
Wendell Potter, a Cigna spokesman who quit after handling the publicity surrounding the Sarkisyan case, agreed.
"HMOs and insurers are largely free to deny access to care without fear of reprisal or financial consequences," Potter said
I like the message.
Check out the latest post at frumfollies.worpress.com about a recently revealed Agudah memo. It is funny but sadly it has more than a kernel of truth.
Several people claim he is a genius. I think that is an exaggeration but he or she is definitely worth reading.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/world/africa/12kenya.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, is a teeming city of have-nots and have-lots, so notorious for violent crime that it is often called “Nai-robbery.” But there is a new problem, or at least one that is causing new fear — kidnapping, and several recent attacks have been on children and Western women.
Parents in the packed, iron-shanty slums that ring downtown Nairobi like a collar of rust are now walking hand in hand with their children, even short distances. In the frangipani-scented enclaves where the diplomats live, security is being stepped up at schools and e-mail kidnapping alerts are spreading faster than a computer virus.
More than 100 Nairobi residents have been abducted for ransom this year, security consultants say, a huge increase over years past. Big chunks of money are changing hands. And as the security experts say, the minute you start paying ransom, kidnapping goes from a crime to a business. Just ask those in Mexico City, in Baghdad or in Bogotá, Colombia.
Blindfolds, safe houses, military-grade assault rifles and complex, well-practiced maneuvers with cars to block in unsuspecting prey — they are all part of Kenya’s emerging kidnapping industry.
The kidnappings are highly organized and often ruthless. One Belgian woman who was recently held for more than a week was stripped naked, according to security consultants who worked on her case. A second foreigner, a German woman, was seized in a subsequent attack and then locked in a closet with the Belgian woman in the same squalid house, indicating that a criminal gang may now have its sights on Western women.
UOJ:
Mishpacha Magazine over Yom Kippur/Sukkos had an article outlining the recent cases of Bais Din rulings being overturned in court. They seem to be stunned that a court has the audacity to toss out a verdict when it was proven that 1] One dayan was a first cousin of the plaintiff, and 2] One dayan spoke out against the defendant.
They are trying to blaim all problematic Bais Din rulings (even when one dayan has direct financing from the plaintiff), on the inability for Jews to "fargin" and accept the truth of the Din Torah. In this (Parshas Beraishis) week's edition they plan on discussing how to deal with losing a Din Torah.
Can you prepare a posted response to this whitewashing of Bais Din corruption? No one is required to listen to sheker v'chazav from a "connected" Dayan.
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