SEATTLE - Len Shaw sat down to talk with us about the most personal and gut wrenching diagnosis of his life.
"It's was pretty nervewrecking you know. They said, Len, we found cancer," he said.
Shaw has rectal cancer, his chemotherapy treatment was scheduled to begin Monday. Two days ago however, he received a letter that says beginning January 1, 2010, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance will no longer accept his insurance.
"Yesterday was sort of woe-is-me day," said Shaw. "But, there's a lot of people that need help."
The letter says all AETNA patients from UW, Harborview and the Cancer Care Alliance will no longer be covered. The letter also tells patients to contact AETNA with questions - but all offices are closed until Monday, which puts Shaw in a difficult situation.
"I can't start something and then, oh, we're going to stop for while and see how everything turns out. I don't think it works that way," he said.
The University of Washington can only say this is not a done deal. A spokesperson issued a statement which says, "UW Medicine is in active negotiations with AETNA and our hope is to reach an agreement that will allow patients with AETNA coverage to continue to receive care within our health system."
"When it comes down to my life as opposed to my insurance company. I'm going to choose my life," said Sharon Zimmerman, who suffers from a rare form of cancer. Both Zimmerman and Shaw have a long road ahead in finding another insurance carrier willing to accept them.
Shaw says this situation makes him both sad and angry.
"You know maybe you're going to have a baby, well, guess what? Mom, you can't come here (UW) because you have AETNA," he said.
We tried contacting AETNA several times today. Our calls have yet to be answered.
