Ann's compensation for her job in Jakarta had included health insurance, which covered most of the costs of her medical treatment. She had even had a physical to qualify -- an examination she said had required six separate office visits in Jakarta. Once she was back in Hawaii, the hospital billed her insurance company directly, leaving Ann to pay only the deductible and any uncovered expenses, which, she said, came to several hundred dollars a month. To cover those charges as well as living expenses, she filed a separate claim under her employer's disability insurance policy. That policy, however, contained a clause allowing the company to deny any claim related to a preexisting medical condition. If, during the three months before starting work, a patient had seen a doctor or had been treated for the condition that caused the disability for which they later wanted coverage, the insurance company would not compensate the patient for lost pay.

    In late April [1995], a representative of the insurance company, CIGNA, notified Ann that the company had begun evaluating her disability claim. (According to CIGNA, the disability policy was underwritten by Life Insurance Company of North America, a subsidiary of CIGNA.) In the meantime, the representative suggested that Ann find out if she was eligible for benefits under the Social Security system. Ann had already been told by Social Security Administration officials in Honolulu that she was not eligible: She had not earned enough credits in the previous ten years to be eligible for Social Security disability income, and she was ineligible for benefits under the Supplemental Security Income program for disabled people with limited resources because she owned an asset worth more than $2,000, an Individual Retirement Account.

[Janny Scott, A Singular Woman, Pages 335-336]