[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 12, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H3063]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               FIBROMYALGIA, IT IS A DISABLING CONDITION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening in honor of National 
Fibromyalgia Awareness Day and the suffering that those with this 
disorder endure. In honor of this day, I just introduced the Access to 
Disability Insurance Act with the hopes of ending the suffering that 
those with this disorder experience at the hands of insurance 
companies.
  It is estimated that 6 to 12 million people suffer from fibromyalgia. 
75 percent of those with this disease are women. The illness affects 
people between the ages of 20 to 60, often striking people in their 20s 
and 30s.
  Although nearly all of those with the disorder suffer from both 
muscular pain and fatigue, the vast majority also experience insomnia, 
joint pain and headaches. For many, the suffering they experience with 
fibromyalgia is just the beginning. When they try to collect on their 
private disability insurance because their symptoms are debilitating 
and prevent them from working, they are denied by their insurance 
company. To add insult to injury, they are then denied the ability by 
law to appeal their denial.
  This denial is easy and is commonplace by insurance companies because 
of the way that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act is written. 
This act, known as ERISA, prevents an individual from appealing an 
insurance company's denial of a claim unless the person can prove that 
the insurance company, and I quote, abused its discretion.
  That is difficult to do because insurance companies have often stated 
that physician diagnoses of fibromyalgia are, in their words, 
subjective because the doctor had to rule out a number of disorders in 
order to arrive at this fibromyalgia diagnosis.
  My bill, the Access to Disability Insurance Act, would allow appeals 
of insurance company decisions without having to demonstrate the hard 
to prove standard of abuse of discretion.
  Picture this: You and your employer have paid into disability 
insurance for years, hoping that you will never have to use it. Then 
you do get sick and fight to get well, but are unable, constantly 
dealing with uncontrollable pain and fatigue. Then you have to stop 
working. All the while, your physician is struggling to determine what 
has gotten you sick. In many cases, it takes 5 years, 5 years, for 
accurate diagnoses. After all of this, your disability insurance 
company denies your claim.
  Under current law, there is no recourse, no ability to appeal that 
denial.
  Why should a doctor's painstaking diagnosis be brushed off by an 
insurance company claims administrator? Because, I believe that 
patients have a right to appeal that decision, the same right they 
would have if they applied for governmental Social Security disability 
benefits, I am introducing this legislation tonight.
  This is not an isolated problem. Approximately 30 to 40 percent of 
fibromyalgia patients have paid into long-term disability plans while 
they were working, hoping as we all do that we will never need to use 
this insurance.
  It is bad enough that people have to suffer from this illness. They 
should not have to suffer through a disability process that closes the 
door on them before even hearing an appeal.
  I urge all of my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring the Access to 
Disability Insurance Act and to celebrate National Fibromyalgia 
Awareness Day.

                          ____________________