Vermont Senator Flanagan Explains his ordeal with TBI
Vermont Senator Edward Flanagan suffered a traumatic brain injury two years ago when he was in a near-fatal car crash that put him in a coma for two months. Once out of the coma he had to endure intense physical therapy for 18 months. Through his experience he is now bringing attention to the difficulties that victims of TBIs suffer. Everywhere from having to learn how to swallow again to the walls he came up against with his health insurance company while trying to gain access to the services he needed. He faced mounting challenges while learning to walk, talk and brush his teeth again. "You wake up slowly (from a coma) and you realize something's not right," Flanagan said during a news conference. "You're struggling to use all the facilities you're used to having, and most of us use it without even thinking, walking, drinking." Flanagan said he had a health insurance policy that he thought was "very generous" that was to provide 360 sessions to cover all four kinds of therapy he needed to treat his brain injury. The truth was after 100 sessions the insurance company telephone operators were trained to say no and that’s what they did. Fortunately, his family and friends worked on his behalf to get him the services he needed. "My question is how many others are just plain alone. How many of them can deal with the insurance companies?" Flanagan reflects.
