Yes, I know that stories from corporate bureaucracy have been taking front and center here lately, but this is our time to undo what insurance companies have done.

One woman who is dedicated to that undoing is Dawn Smith. She was diagnosed with a treatable brain tumor for which Cigna has refused to pay. She’s been through nine denials over more than two years, and in the meantime Cigna has increased her premiums by more than 100%.

These are the kind of tactics that insurance companies have relied on for years to beat down the people whom they owe. And it’s generally pretty easy to get away with, because sick people generally don’t have a lot of resources–internal or external–to fight hard against the injustice of being denied coverage they’ve already paid for.

But every now and then a bureaucracy finds out that they’ve messed with the wrong person, and now it’s Cigna’s turn to find out they shouldn’t have messed with Dawn Smith. Here’s the video of Dawn’s story:

Word comes today that Dawn wants to travel from Georgia directly to Cigna’s headquarters in Philadelphia to confront Cigna’s CEO, H. Edward Hanway. She also wants to stop off in Washington, D.C. to talk with a few people in the Capitol along the way. There’s a fund raising drive underway to hire a nurse and an RV to get Dawn safely there and back. Go here to chip in.

Peace.

Deborah Alicen