Lawyers Volunteer to Help Consumers Challenge Their Health Insurers When Alice Elliot, a homemaker from Danielson, Conn., discovered she had breast cancer three years ago, her doctor said she needed a bone marrow transplant to combat the disease, but her insurance company, Central States Health and Life of Omaha, refused to pay for the treatment, calling it "experimental." However, the Elliots did not sit back and take the financial hit. They took action in the same way other Americans are beginning to fight Goliath-sized health care organizations. They turned to a public interest law firm with a specialty in health care that provides free legal counsel.