Most people in Central Florida have never heard of Curt Levine yet he was determined to make an impact on their lives. If you research him online you’ll find some facts about this extraordinary man. Born in Connecticut in 1947, he graduated from Northeastern University and got his law degree from Suffolk University. He went to work as a public defender in Palm Beach County then had to serve in the U.S. Army as an Artillery Officer. After his Army stint he returned to the public defender’s office as chief of the Capital Crimes division.
He went into private practice in 1976 and also served as National General Counsel for Wellesley Inns. It was clear that Curt Levine was a young man on the move. He served as Sierra Club Political Chair for several years in the 1990s. In 1998 he won election to the State House in District 89. He was an outspoken and effective freshman in the House, quickly moving up to the leadership position of Democratic caucus whip. His colleagues voted him the outstanding freshman for that term. He must have ruffled a few feathers back in Palm Beach because he had an opponent with lots of political support in the Democratic primary. He lost by fewer than 40 votes in 2000. Undaunted, he served as Al Gore’s Florida election co-chair in 2000. He moved to the Orlando area in 2004 and worked in the Public Defender’s office. He remarried in 2006. Life was going well for Curt and he decided to slowly get back into the political arena.
I met him in 2010 and we became fast friends. Curt was like that; his personality was such that he could draw you in. Our backgrounds growing up were similar; both from big northeastern metropolitan areas. He loved his Red Sox and Patriots and I loved my Phillies and Eagles, no matter where we were living. We shared the same cultural values of art museums, ballet, world class philharmonic orchestras and great literature. The other bond between us was that we both served at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I preceded him by six years, however it was the same fort when he got there, and we shared a huge dislike for the army hospital where we both had some bad experiences.
What Curt kept secret from everyone was that he was diagnosed with a life threatening liver disease and had a liver transplant in February 2010. By this time, Curt was active in pursuing a criminal law and litigation practice. He also hosted a weekly radio program discussing current events and politics. The news of his liver disease was a temporary setback because the operation was a resounding success. His doctors had prescribed two anti rejection drugs, Prograf and Pegasys-ribavirin, extremely expensive medications that he would have to take the rest of his life. Insurance was no problem because Curt’s wife, Catherine Levine, was a state employee covered by one of the state’s health insurance providers, Blue Cross and Blue Shield and their prescription drug plan with CVS. Curt was covered under her plan. Things went very well from February 2010 through October 2011. Curt asked me to manage his candidacy for state senate. I advised him not to run for that office because there was no way he could win in that district against Geraldine Thompson in the primary. I advised him to run for any other local office where I could help him get elected. We held planning session after planning session figuring out school board races or county commission races or state house races to enter, how many votes we needed, how to raise the money and everything a well coordinated campaign needs. Then in November Curt informed me that there was a major problem and he would have to withdraw from seeking office.
That’s when he informed me of his transplant and subsequent difficulties because Blue Cross’s new pharmacy provider Medco, withheld his medications for twenty one days on their first shipment. That did serious enough damage that Curt had to be hospitalized to get him back under control. The doctors felt that he would pull through, but it wasn’t the case. Even if he had survived this he would never be the same. He was hospitalized several times between December 2011 and June 2012 and finally succumbed on July 31, 2012. What a needless waste of a talented life over an incompetent health care provider.
According to Catherine Levine, during that 21 day period Medco would not talk to him since his wife was the primary insured, so she had to make the phone calls. Conversations back and forth with the doctors, and Medco still yielded no positive results. This begs the question, why on earth did Blue Cross give up CVS for Medco? The only reason to switch is simple-it’s price. But who made the decision; Blue Cross executives, Florida’s Insurance Commissioner or Governor Rick Scott? It seems likely that with the amount of employees insured by Blue Cross that Governor Scott and Commissioner McCarty would have quite a bit to say how taxpayer money is spent, so who actually made the decision and what was the reasoning behind it? These are relevant questions. What is obvious is that no one did due diligence in researching Medco or they would have discovered horror stories and case histories involving people who had to buy from Medco. Had they properly researched all aspects of dealing with Medco they could not have allowed the switch in drug plans with a clear conscience. No, their only consideration was cheaper cost. Programs like health insurance cannot take cost into consideration when human lives are at stake. This article deals only with one person, but Blue Cross has scores of thousands of people in their health care plans and we don’t know who else was so adversely affected. Curt Levine is most likely not the only victim. This really calls for an investigation at some high level. As long as Rick Scott and Pam Bondi are in office that will not happen.
Curt Levine’s death was certainly avoidable. Wouldn’t it be nice to find out who was responsible and make them pay dearly for it?
