Getting the warrior mindset...

Once we got out of the shock and awe portion of Cigna's (here after CDIC) treatment of us, we realized that we had to know more because we were fighting an enemy that didn't think like we did, didn't act for reasons acceptable to the rest of the free world and most importantly, could not be trusted to act in good faith, with ethics or compassion.

You have to start somewhere, going from being a victim of CDIC to becoming a problem of theirs. However we can show you how to do it at minimum cost and so far pretty great effect. First prepare yourself for battle:

• Get out of the victim mindset. You are not powerless, certainly not as powerless as they would have you believe. You have more options than you think and it all depends on how far you are willing to go.
• Set aside emotions such as fear, depression, sadness. These may be very real where you are but in truth, if you want to be truly effective against them, you have got to set those aside. Those emotions all tend to lead to apathy or paralysis, neither of which is helpful.  Fuel your day with thoughts or new and creative tactics to use in your claim.
• Learn one simple rule for yourself: learn enough to know that which you do not know. This single, simple rule isn't some self-help bullshit. It is a powerful tactic when dealing with CDIC any level. For example, if a CDIC  rep says to you that "such and such is true because of blah policy", you demand a notarized copy of that policy for review. They owe this to you because they have determined your fate based on a document you don't have. If that document references other documents that pertains to your case...this same simple rule can be applied to many situations to your benefit.

 So once you get yourself ready for battle, you need to be ready to battle CDIC. Most folks have little money, few resources, little more than a token Internet account.  How can you take on those circumstances? Don't count on legal help; nothing against lawyers but most won't touch a CDIC claim dispute regardless of the merits of the case. Go against the federal government? No problem but tell them it is CDIC and they usually forget to speak English about then. There may be someone to take your claim on contingent that doesn't totally bite but as Captain Malcolm Reynolds would say: "that's a long wait for a train that may never come."

In the meantime, you have bills, no income and CDIC screwing with you. Every day. If you want help folks, you can really count on helping yourself because CDIC does not have your best interest at heart. We too once believed but we learn quickly. The one thing you CAN have however is information and folks say it with me now: knowledge is power. We know that is cliche but we also know that we will prove it true here.

So to start things off, contact your "rep" or whoever is handling your case and politely but firmly tell them that you want a full and complete copy of all records and documents (make sure you tell them that you want all paper and electronic material) they have on you. Be very careful on this because the way you word it gives them a ton of weasel room and it can take multiple requests to get everything. (Like the first request I just asked for a copy of his file, they only sent the paper file.)

Once you have this (it might take a few weeks, depending on how you apply the pain), put on a pot of coffee, take the weekend and read it all. Make notes of records, names and events around when your denial (or whatever you are contesting) happened. Please do not underestimate the value or power of having this block of information is. They wind up giving you so much more than you expect that it becomes a target-rich environment for fighting back.

Since you are reading this, you have a computer and we are assuming basic skills at just creating simple documents, saving, editing, etc.

Skim through the records and set aside any that pertain to the event you are investigating, plus about 90 days prior.

From there, start three files on the computer. Call them time-line, people and documents. Now skim the records and every time you see a new name unknown to you, jot it down in the persons file. The ones directly touching your denial, appeal, whatever, mark those with a star and eventually you will find the two or three people most directly responsible for your pain. Double-star those.

For the time-line file, as you see specific events with date and time-stamps, make an entry such as "01/01/2013, 08:00. Medical Director McGoo enters denial" or whatever actually happened. Keep the topic brief. Here is one use for the time-line file...


The documents file kind of goes hand-in-hand with an earlier rule but anytime you see anything in the remaining records that references some other document, make a notice of it here. This is information you are owed and should have.

Once you get to this point, there are a number of options open to you but to explore each is beyond the scope of this article. Trust us to know that those three files (and the records they reference) are like raw TNT. Now it is up to you to use them to take the fight to the enemy.

Like they say in the movies, where we go from here is up to you...

Peace,
Mom Cobb
CignaWarJournal at Gmail dot com