Bill aimed at holding health insurance companies accountable stalls at Capitol

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A bill that would have held health insurance companies accountable has stalled at the Oklahoma State Capitol. House Bill 2144 would have given Oklahoma patients the right to sue medical insurance companies if their health was affected by denied or delayed treatments.

The measure passed off the House floor with unanimous support in March and it seemed the legislation was moving in the right direction. This week, the bill was not heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee and the deadline for bills to be heard in committee is Thursday, April 24.

Representative Chris Kannady, R-Oklahoma City, authored the bill. He said he has heard of situations where Oklahomans have been impacted by denials of insurance companies while he introduced the bill on the House floor.

"Once the insurance company figured out the cost of the treatment, they pulled the authorization," said Kannady, in March.

Lacy Cornelius-Boyd of Yukon has been fighting with her insurance company for more than a year. Her life was forever changed after a car crash.

"Most people have 35 feet of intestines," said Cornelius-Boyd, who said after the crash she would need an intestine transplant. "I have been left with 35 inches."

Her insurance company has denied the transplant several times. She said they have told her she can live just fine without it.

"I'm in liver failure," said Cornelius-Boyd. "Not being able to drink water normally is damaging my kidneys. The hope is, if I can get the transplant sooner than later, I will not end up with a multi-organ transplant."

She said she has not been able to get the care she needs or help from her lawmakers.

"I just expect people to do the right thing in the world. Doesn't work that way," said Cornelius-Boyd. "If it was their family or if it was him, they would want it. So it's very disappointing."

The Oklahoma State Medical Association has come out in support of the proposed legislation.

"Many patients that we see every hour have these issues," Dr. Sumit Nanda. "I'm living this problem on a daily basis." The bill was expected to be heard in the Senate committee this week but the chair of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Brent Howard, R-Altus, decided to leave the legislation off the agenda despite lawmakers' overwhelming support.

"To have a bill that seeks to build in that consumer protection for individuals and give them give it some teeth, not be hurt, and it's unfortunate," said Rep. Melissa Provenzano, D-Tulsa.

If you would like to hear more about Lacy Cornelius-Boyd's story, click here.