Specifically, those patients who have Multiple Sclerosis and can't travel here today to share their individual stories. Multiple sclerosis is a very complex and unpredictable disease with symptoms that range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. Multiple sclerosis is not currently curable but does not shorten your life span. As more and more breakthroughs occur in the treating and understanding of MS, it becomes increasingly essential that a pathway to specialists who have that cutting-edge knowledge be guaranteed.
Patients fight to get access to the specialists who are trained to treat their disease.
These patients suffer through numerous, expensive and pointless visits to primary care physicians who do not have the expertise to treat them. Unnecessary costs are accrued and the patient does not get access to the quality health care that they pay for. That is why we are here today. The national survey commissioned by the Patient Access Coalition and conducted by the Luntz Research Companies, shows that Americans expect access to quality health care from their plan, and they are willing to pay a reasonable amount more to assure access to the specialists, procedures, and information they need to make sound judgments about their own health. If managed care cannot provide this themselves, people are willing to let Congress step in to protect patients' rights.