Kerri Clemons

CALL TO ACTION: NOW is the time to make our voices heard. The Essential Health Benefits rule does not clearly express access to specialty care and access to specialty treatments for patients. Click on the link below and then click on the "comment now" tab. Then copy and paste the note below and fill in the information as it pertains to you. When you have completed your part in advocating, please be sure to LIKE this status. We want to show that there is power in numbers!! We are 50 Million STRONG! Comment I am Kerri Clemons, a patient with Behcet's Disease. It affects my everyday life. I live in daily pain. I am one of the millions of Americans who suffer from one or more autoimmune disease or rare condition. I am writing to express my concern about the proposed Essential Health Benefits (EHB) rule which will soon define the standard of care for millions of Americans including patients like me. I believe that the proposed rule does not adequately address the complexities which confront people who live with diseases like mine. Our conditions are often extremely difficult to diagnose, require extensive testing, and necessitate ready access to providers who have special expertise. Moreover, many of us must rely upon a variety of medicines to combat our illness or ameliorate its symptoms. Consequently, access to specialist, specialized care, and specific medicines can be a matter of life and death. The proposed rule does not provide us with adequate protection. We ask you to recognize the critical need we have for access to treatment by specialists by explicitly stating that in the rule. We ask you to recognize the fact that our health – even our lives –depend upon being able to access to specific medicines because of the esoteric nature of our illnesses and the potential for negative drug interaction. We ask you to provide us with more precise definitions of medical necessity and rights of appeal.