Clock is ticking for Insurance Consumers Protection Act to be heard on senate floor before end of session
If signed into law, the bill would give patients and their doctors the right to sue medical companies who deny or delay care in bad faith.
The Insurance Consumers Protection Act passed the house floor in March.
It was then stalled, but because of News 4's reporting, it was put on the agenda for the Senate Rules Committee Meeting, passing with overwhelming support.
Pat Hall is a spokesperson for the Oklahoma State Medical Association, saying 'It would make the health insurance companies wake up and realize that deny and delay of a medical benefit could lead to harm.'
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Lacy Cornelius-Boyd has been fighting for her life and fighting against her insurance company after being in a devastating car crash.
Cornelius-Boyd needs an intestinal transplant, but her insurance company has denied it more than once, adding to health challenges. She's now in kidney and liver failure.
'Since my car accident, I've been saying, like, something good has to come from this,' Cornelius-Boyd said.
She's chosen to use her tragic experience to do something good, putting the issue on the radar of state lawmakers.
However, the bill still has a long way to go.
The legislation now has to be heard on the senate floor in a matter of weeks.
'What we're asking is for the public to continue putting pressure to pass House Bill 2144,' said Hall.
Cornelius-Boyd is also urging Oklahomans to act.
'I feel like it's so important for everyone to stay invested. Keep calling. So that this bill can move forward,' said Cornelius-Boyd.
If the bill isn't heard on the senate floor, it will not complete the full legal process to make it to the Governor's desk, which would be the final step getting the bill signed into law.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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USA Today
24-07-2025
- USA Today
She lost her arm in a train accident. She was shocked by what happened next.
Elieah Boyd faces a long road to recovery, but she is thankful for doctors who reattached her arm and a community that is supporting her healing. Elieah Boyd describes herself as an active and creative person. The Southern California cafe manager loves to surf, to hike, to take her Australian cattle dog running. She paints, travels as often as possible, and makes jewelry and bags. She's also right-handed. Now, she's looking at a long road to recovery after her right arm was severed — and then reattached — in early July. But the 24-year-old sees the future not as a difficult process but as a "fun challenge." "I might be left-handed for a little while," she told USA TODAY from UC Irvine Medical Center, where she's already undergone multiple surgeries, with more to come. "I'll have learn how to live my life left-handed." Boyd was riding a friend's e-bike to meet her boyfriend on July 7 when she came upon railroad tracks that cut through two neighborhoods in Ventura. As she tried to wrangle the heavy bike across the tracks, a passerby offered to help. They were lifting the bike together when Boyd saw an oncoming train. Tracking the dangers: Cross with caution: Lack of oversight creates safety risks at private railroad crossings "I've gone this way hundreds of times," she recalled. "People around here do it all the time to get from one side of town to the other. Everybody in the city uses this crossway all the time. This just happened to be an unsafe time." She saw the train. She (and the man who stopped to help her) tried to get out of the way. But Boyd estimated she had about 3 seconds to react before the train bore down on them. 'Everything went silent' "I remember looking down at my arm, and everything went silent for a moment," she remembered. "I think I was in disbelief and I was still standing there. The train was gone so fast... I remember looking at my right arm, grabbing it, and there was nothing there." The man who'd helped her with the bike called for help. He is a retired firefighter, Boyd said, so he knew what to do, making sure she was stabilized and telling first responders to find her arm, which was severed cleanly. "He saw that, and he knew (the arm) was probably still viable," Boyd said. Boyd was taken to the nearest hospital, and then taken by helicopter to UC Irvine Medical Center. After 10 hours in surgery, the arm was reattached. She's had four surgeries since, and more are planned. But her outlook hasn't required any help. "I feel OK, and I'm trying to stay as positive as I can," she said. The pain has been minimal and she's been able to mostly avoid heavy painkillers, while expressing how impressive and compassionate medical professionals at the hospital have been. (A request for comment from UC Irvine was not immediately returned.) According to Massachusetts General Hospital, replantation (or the surgical reattachment of a limb) is a complicated process requiring several steps including removal of damaged tissue, shortening bones, reattaching with pins or plates, and repairing muscles, tendons, blood vessels and nerves. "The patient has the most important role in the recovery process," the hospital notes, and Boyd may have some advantages: Younger patients have better odds of regaining nerve function and feeling, and cleanly-cut limbs like her arm are more likely to recover. Doctors generally consider restoring 60% to 80% of function as an excellent outcome. Community steps up to help a woman with 'an undeniable spark' Her community has stepped up to support her as well, with a GoFundMe that's raised more than $50,000 so far. "She radiates joy, warmth and inclusivity in and out of the water," said photographer Amber Jenks, a friend who met Boyd through the local surf community. "She's not just an incredible longboarder, but someone who genuinely lifts everyone around her." Jenks mentioned Boyd's "undeniable spark," and added, "Her recovery is something we're all rooting for, every single day." Doctors haven't given Boyd a date when she can be released, nor are they certain how much function can be restored to the arm. She's has at least 18 months of physical and occupational therapy ahead, she said. "The amount of support, donations, texts and messages, even from people I don't know ... all their positive words have kept me going," she said. Once she's released from the hospital, she's looking forward to getting back to as much normalcy as possible: all the things she'd done before the accident, like surfing and going to the beach, playing with her dog and hanging out with friends and family.
Newsweek
11-07-2025
- Newsweek
In the Age of Ozempic, Kim Boyd Named WeightWatchers' Chief Medical Officer
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Kim Boyd has held a lot of different titles: U.S. national team gymnast, Stanford Academic All-American, board-certified doctor, national medical director. The list goes on, and it's nowhere near finished. "I still don't entirely know what I want to be when I grow up," Boyd told Newsweek. "And that openness has been a gift." Most recently, her inclination to take the path less traveled has led Boyd to WeightWatchers, the 62-year-old health and wellness company angling for a major comeback. Just two months after filing for bankruptcy, WeightWatchers announced Tuesday it had completed its strategic reorganization process—successfully eliminating $1.15 billion in debt—as well as its plans to launch a new menopause program, to relist on the Nasdaq and to appoint Boyd as the company's chief medical officer. Boyd is not new to the world of metabolic health, women's health and obesity care, but her move to WeightWatchers—a legacy weight-loss empire that has been around since 1961—is a step in a different direction. Over the last decade, Boyd has helped lead and scale newer health care startups, like Calibrate, Caire, Galileo and Nurx. And although One Medical is no longer considered a startup (the company went public in 2020 and was acquired by Amazon in 2022), the disruptive, tech-based primary care practice was a startup during the seven years Boyd spent there. "In retrospect, the tapestry of my career makes sense," she said. "But the most pivotal moments often came from choosing instinct and idealism over the safe or expected path." Women's Global Impact: Kim Boyd Women's Global Impact: Kim Boyd Newsweek Illustration This has been a tendency that Boyd has carried with her since med school. At Stanford, she chose to pursue primary care instead of surgery—a "slightly crazy" decision according to many of her professors, she said. "That decision became a turning point—staying true to my core, even if it meant taking a less prestigious path," she said. "It opened unexpected doors and set the tone for a career defined not by convention but by alignment with purpose, curiosity and a willingness to take risks." "The truth is, there was no trail to follow in the path I've taken," she said, adding, "If I had simply followed a predetermined course that I charted in medical school, I would have missed out on the most meaningful—and unexpected—chapters of my career." Boyd attributes her willingness to say yes to new cities, new roles and new ideas as having guided her into spaces she never could have imagined when she was still in school. "This kind of career didn't exist yet," she said. "The careers we'll see 15 or 20 years from now are also likely yet to be shaped." Over the last two decades, the national weight-loss conversation has transformed from restriction-based dieting of the early 2000s to the wellness-oriented "clean" eating of the 2010s and into today's Ozempic era. WeightWatchers, too, has changed with the times. Massively popular in 2005, the company's original model—characterized by its point-counting system and group meetings—drew in millions of members around the world. As the culture began embracing body positivity, and WeightWatchers began losing members and struggling to compete with newer platforms, the company changed again in 2015, rebranding as a "lifestyle" rather than a diet and announcing Oprah Winfrey as both spokesperson and board member. Now, WeightWatchers is up against another inflection point. The emergence and popularity of weight loss drugs, like Ozempic and Mounjaro, have sparked a seismic shift in the United States. About one in eight adults in the U.S. has used a GLP-1 medication before, and about 6 percent of adults, or more than 15 million people, are currently taking the drug, according to a KFF Health Tracking Poll conducted in May 2024. About one in eight adults in the U.S. has used a GLP-1 medication before, and about 6 percent of adults, or more than 15 million people, are currently taking the drug, according to a KFF... About one in eight adults in the U.S. has used a GLP-1 medication before, and about 6 percent of adults, or more than 15 million people, are currently taking the drug, according to a KFF Health Tracking Poll conducted in May 2024. Boyd called the drugs "especially impactful" for women in perimenopause and menopause. More WeightWatchers While grocers, restaurants and food manufacturers were forced to grapple with the nation's declining appetite, dieting brands have been forced to find relevance in a world where losing weight is suddenly easy. Even Winfrey, who left WeightWatchers' board of directors in 2024, has begun using GLP-1-related medications. "Why do we need WeightWatchers if we have Zepbound and Wegovy?" Winfrey asked then-CEO Sima Sistani, during a prime-time special on ABC last year. "WeightWatchers is not just about weight loss, it's about community, it's about education, it's about care; that's our new philosophy," Sistani responded. As the company transformed itself again and began offering prescription weight-loss drugs, WeightWatchers announced in October 2023 that it would appoint its first-ever chief medical officer as part of the company's "commitment to providing the most clinically proven tools and interventions surrounding weight health." Boyd will be the second person to serve in that role. "GLP-1s are game-changing medications," Boyd told Newsweek. "They deliver weight-loss outcomes previously only seen with bariatric surgery—and they also improve key markers of cardiometabolic health. These are powerful tools that are transforming how we approach weight and metabolic care. And we know these medications work best when paired with targeted nutrition, physical activity, lifestyle support and community. WeightWatchers' new chief medical officer added that these drugs can be "especially impactful" for women in perimenopause and menopause, a group that the company plans to support with a new program that will launch later this year. In a press release announcing the expansion, WeightWatchers said the plans are "a strategic move to address a broader gap in health care." "This new program is a natural evolution of our mission—to deliver sustainable, science-backed care," Boyd said. "This is about helping women feel better now and improving their long-term health and longevity," she said. "Women deserve accurate information and real solutions based on the best science—delivered through a holistic platform that combines clinical care, lifestyle change, expert support and community." WeightWatchers' approach to wellness in 2025 looks much like Boyd's personal views on health. Growing up as an athlete, Boyd recalls spending a lot of time in doctors' offices and looking at the row of casts that lined up against her bedroom wall. As a former national team gymnast, from a young age, she developed a deep awareness of her body. She knows when her body is functioning at its highest caliber or when things feel slightly off. "That early exposure shaped how I think about health today: not just as the absence of illness but as the ability to perform, recover and adapt," she said. "It also opened me up to a broader toolbox early on—things like acupuncture, targeted nutrition and integrative approaches to health." Today, Boyd describes wellness as "an outcome of many inputs working together over time." The most important step in her own routine is not one workout or food group but continued recognition that health, for her, is a "core value." "Some days, that means prioritizing movement and sleep. Other times, it's about being intentionally present with my family, getting outside, or choosing foods that help my body feel its best," she said. "It's less about perfection and more about trying to pay attention to what supports me in showing up fully." Boyd will join Newsweek at this year's inaugural Women's Global Impact forum. The August 5 event, hosted at Newsweek's headquarters in New York City, will bring together some of the world's top female executives and connect them with rising stars across industries and job functions. For more information on the event and entry guidelines, please visit the Women's Global Impact homepage.
Business Insider
09-07-2025
- Business Insider
WeightWatchers Restructures $1.15B Debt, Targets Women's Health to Compete with Weight-Loss Drug Leaders
WeightWatchers International, which operates weight loss brand WeightWatchers, has emerged from bankruptcy and pledged that it's ready to challenge 'quick fix' rivals such as Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Eli Lilly (LLY) with a renewed focus on women's health. Don't Miss TipRanks' Half-Year Sale Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Make smarter investment decisions with TipRanks' Smart Investor Picks, delivered to your inbox every week. The group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early May with debts of $1.15 billion, and was delisted later that month. It said today that a court process had enabled it to restructure its finances and write off the debts, which made up more than 70% of the total amount. It also agreed to new terms to pay back its lenders. Menopause Gap The group said it had appointed a new chief medical officer, physician Dr Kim Boyd, to lead the integration of emerging science into its wider lifestyle-based offering for members. It also revealed it would be launching a new program later this year to support women through perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause, through tailored nutritional and behavioral strategies. The move will help it address a broader gap in healthcare and meet the evolving needs of millions of its members around the world, it said. Dr Boyd said she planned to expand the company's 'legacy' by 'combining the best tools of modern medicine, like weight-loss jabs GLP-1s, with science-backed lifestyle change and the power of community to deliver better outcomes.' Weighty Challenge The company's troubles were in part due to the popularity of weight loss drugs such as Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro. But WeightWatchers believes it has a point of difference to appeal to people worried about their weight. WeightWatchers chief executive Tara Comonte said it was a 'pivotal moment for the group.' She said: 'With renewed financial strength, an expanded leadership team, and the addition of Dr Kim Boyd to lead clinical strategy and program innovation, we're accelerating our transformation.' She added that in a landscape dominated by 'noise, quick fixes, and conflicting advice, WeightWatchers continues to lead as the most trusted, science-backed platform, proven to drive better results and lasting impact.' We have rounded up the best healthcare stocks to buy now using our TipRanks comparison tool.
