You keep paying for health insurance, month after month. When they’re collecting your premiums, you’re their father, you’re their mother. You’re the customer. You’re God.
But when it’s time to pay your claim? Suddenly, they treat you worse than a fucking animal. You’re just a number on a spreadsheet.
That’s what went through my head watching this woman describe losing coverage for medication she says is helping her. She’s already dealing with an illness. Now she has to worry about how she’ll afford treatment, too.
And there’s a much bigger problem behind that fear.
KFF’s analysis of federal data found that Medicare Advantage insurers fully or partially denied 4.1 million requests for prior authorization in 2024. That means patients’ providers were asking insurers to approve care before it could be covered. Only 11.5% of those denials were appealed. Among the denials that were appealed, 80.7% were fully or partially overturned.
Think about what that process demands. You’re sick. You’re exhausted. You may be missing work. Now you and your doctor have to fight through another round of paperwork to get care approved. Even when you win, you’ve spent time and energy getting past a refusal.
Your illness doesn’t pause while somebody processes the appeal. Your rent doesn’t pause either.
In 2023, ProPublica documented UnitedHealthcare trying to deny coverage for Christopher McNaughton’s effective ulcerative colitis treatment. His bills approached $2 million annually.
Your treatment is something you need to keep functioning. On an insurer’s books, it is also an expense. That is a hell of a conflict to build into healthcare.
The company controls the coverage decision. You carry the consequences. A denial can leave you choosing between fighting, paying money you don’t have, or going without. To me, being left without access to treatment you need can feel like being handed a death sentence.
The rich have options. They can pay out of pocket, hire help, and keep fighting. Ordinary people have groceries, mortgages, children, and jobs they can’t afford to lose. How are you supposed to feel safe when keeping your treatment depends on winning another argument over coverage?
You bought insurance because you couldn’t afford to face an illness alone. Now you’re still paying, still sick, and still begging for coverage.
I’m sorry to say, that is cruel. Making a sick person fight for care while they’re already struggling to function feels almost evil.
This is what extreme capitalism looks like when you’re the one who needs the medicine.
