Sloan Kettering cancer patients sick over threat of losing medical coverage under insurer Cigna

Metro

exclusive

By Carl Campanile

Scores of cancer patients are scared to death after being informed that they could lose their medical coverage due to a financial dispute between a prestigious Manhattan specialty hospital and a health insurance giant, The Post has learned.

Patients — including those seriously ill with Stage 4 cancer — received letters from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center last month claiming their insurer, Cigna, would soon drop their in-network coverage.

Sloan Kettering has urged patients to call Cigna to put pressure on the insurer to maintain their coverage as the two sides negotiate the terms of payments over services for cancer care.

“We are writing to let you know that Cigna Healthcare does not plan to renew their contract with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) as an in-network insurance provider in 2024. This will impact your ability to receive care at MSK in the future,” MSK’s chief executive Lisa De Angelis said in a Dec. 1 letter sent to patients enrolled with Cigna.

“We have been doing everything we can to reach a fair agreement with Cigna. MSK has faced major cost increases in recent years and Cigna is not willing to help cover these costs. As a result, we have not been able to reach an agreement that allows us to provide the very best cancer care at low cost to our patients.”

The letter continues, “We encourage you to call Cigna at the number on the back of your insurance card to tell them you want to keep access to MSK.”

One breast cancer survivor said she was shocked and sickened after reading the letter from Sloan Kettering.

“My heart just stopped. It’s a scary situation to have this burden placed on me,” said Leslie, who underwent breast cancer surgery and chemotherapy two years ago and still receives services from doctors at Sloan Kettering.

“This is my health care,” she said.

A pal of another patient currently being treated for Stage 4 cancer said, “This isn’t about people getting treated for a broken arm. This is a vulnerable population.”  

Leslie, who requested that her full name not be used, said she felt she and other patients were being treated as pawns.

But Sloan Kettering’s pressure, or scare tactic, of riling up patients to contact Cigna seemed to be working.

Leslie blamed Cigna — saying at least Sloan Kettering informed her of the dispute while Cigna did not.

“Sloan Kettering saved my life. I’m not going to see them as a villain in this situation. Cigna is the villain here,” said Leslie, 33, a mom of two children.

“Cigna is taking the care out of health care,” she said.

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale), who chairs the Assembly Health Committee, said, “these types of letters are unfortunately all too common.

“The patients are caught in the middle. Both parties have to admit it’s horrible for the patients. They have an obligation to work it out so patients aren’t used as pawns,” the state lawmaker said.

Paulin said most of the time the hospital and health insurer work out an agreement on pricing for medical bills — but not always.

“If Cigna does pull out of providing coverage at Sloan Kettering, it’s a problem for patients,” Paulin said. “At what point is it fair to tell patients?”

Both Sloan Kettering and Cigna declined to say how many patients would be impacted if they failed to reach terms on a new contract.

They said the current contract was being extended a month to Feb. 15 and that a new contract was in the works.

“Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) has reached a tentative agreement with Cigna that would enable MSK to remain in-network. As a result, we have extended the termination date of the current contract to February 15, 2024 ensuring that patients will continue to have coverage at MSK,” said MSK spokesman John Connolly.

Cigna spokesman Madeline Ziomek said, “We have mutually agreed to extend our current contract until February 15 as we work together to finalize a new agreement.”

In a letter to patients, MSK chief De Angelis said patients getting active treatment at the world-renowned cancer center would still qualify for in-network coverage at least through April 14, 2024 and that bone marrow transplants would be covered for a year from treatment.