Flying For Hope

So Clooney was probably right when he asked us how much our life weighs.  “Imagine for a second that you're carrying a new backpack,” he said in the classic Up In The Air. “Only this time, I want you to fill it with people. Feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake - your relationships are the heaviest components in your life.” But they are the most important and more businesses are getting the hint that their people and their health matter. Many are now encouraging patients who need surgery or specialized long-term treatment to fly far to do just that, picking a single center thousands of miles away for the diagnosis or treatment. Rush Medical Center and United Airlines partnered 6 years ago, City of Hope and Wellpoint partnered more than a decade ago. After meeting deductibles, employees could get the full treatment and cost of travel and accommodations covered. Dozens of companies are getting on board by broadening or creating these policies, some raising the allowed budget just for travel to $10,000, others more prescriptive identifying specific partners as the airline did.  My old friend Dave Tofanelli used to promote the idea back in the late 1990s when he was in charge of contracting nationally for Wellpoint. “It is beyond me,” he said at the time, “why we aren’t paying for travel to get the right diagnosis and treatment, particularly for cancer." Tofanelli was among the first to advocate this at a national level.  Now families can get cancer treatment, organ transplants, gender reassignment surgery, psychiatric treatment and reproductive care at so-called centers of excellence they could never imagine. It is a lifeline for some we sometimes don’t quite appreciate. That extra carry-on bag – well that’ll probably still cost you. -BC