Not Before Coffee

When Barbara Wagner’s lung cancer returned, the Oregon woman was prescribed a chemotherapy drug, Tarceva, that could lengthen her life and provide comfort. Later, she was notified that the Oregon Health Plan wouldn’t cover the cancer drug, but would cover palliative (comfort) care, including a doctor with the same talents and qualifications as Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

“Treatment of advanced cancer that is meant to prolong life, or change the course of this disease, is not a covered benefit of the Oregon Health Plan,” said the unsigned letter Wagner received from LIPA, the Eugene company that administers the Oregon Health Plan in Lane County.

The Oregon Health Plan will not cover chemotherapy unless there is a better than 5% chance it will help patients live for five more years. Patients who don’t meet that standard get a letter denying coverage for chemo and suggesting comfort care, including pain relief and, potentially, doctor assisted suicide.

Read the complete heartbreaking story

With that said – this Flippin’ It Award goes to Oregon Health Plan!