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The following is an excerpt from the Parkinson's Action Network October Action Reporter - an Advocacy Report for the Parkinson's Community. PAN Joins Suit for Coverage of "Breakthrough Therapies" The Parkinson's Action Network has joined as a party to an appellate brief supporting a court decision on the crucial issue of pivate insurance coverage for "breakthrough therapies". The case, which involved a woman with breast cancer seeking insurance coverage of a bone marrow transplant, has direct application to emerging Parkinson's therapies such as pallidotomy and neural cell transplantation. In Whitney v. Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the insurance carrier had rejected a request for coverage on the ground that the treatment--high dose chemotherapy followed by Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation-- was "experimental" or "investigative" under terms of the policy. After trial, the U.S. District Court for the Southern district of New York found that the treatment proposed was shown to be "effective and appropriate and of proven benefit." As a result, the court ruled that the decision to deny coverage of the treatment was inconsistent with the insurer's obligations under the policy. "The time is ripe for strong court direction requiring coverage where the treating neurologist and the scientific data support a procedure's effectiveness." said Joan Samuelson, PAN President. Parkinson's Action Network 800-850-4726 Headquarters: 818 College Ave., Suite C Santa Rosa, CA 95404 phone 707-544-1994 fax 707-544-2363 email: [log in to unmask] Washington, DC office 601 13th St. NW., Suite 310 Washington, DC 20005 phone 202-628-2079 fax 202-628-2077 Brad Udall, Chair Joan I. Samuelson, President John L. Dodge, Treasurer Bonnie K. Mioduchoski, Administrator Michael Claeys, Community Coordinator The Action Reporter is a free publication of the Parkinson's Action Network, a non-profit charitable foundation for a cure for Parkinson's. Use of this material in other publications is welcomed. We ask that the Network be identified as the source of the material, and notified how, when and where the material is used. Simply call 800-850-4726