Hi Reader,

A bit over a month ago, we published a story from our series exploring how the health insurance industry denies coverage to patients. Cigna, one of the country’s largest insurers, has built a system that allows its doctors to instantly reject a claim on medical grounds without so much as opening the patient’s file, leaving the insured with unexpected bills. This system allows Cigna’s staff doctors to reject tens of thousands of claims per month, despite many state laws that call for insurance company doctors to review patient files and use their expertise to decide whether to approve or deny claims. As our series shows, however, these blanket denials of claims have meant suffering and financial hardship for many patients.

Journalism like this is time-consuming and expensive. But it’s worth it. We invest the time and resources needed to tell these stories because we know that when we shine a light on injustice, it can lead to change. In fact, our work has an unparallelled track record of spurring impact: Laws get passed, policies get reversed, innocent people are freed and more. Already, a congressional committee and state and federal regulators have begun to scrutinize the legality of Cigna’s system after our story was published.

But ProPublica only has the resources to invest in a story like this because of folks like you. As a nonprofit newsroom, our funding comes from donations. Each year, tens of thousands of readers who know how important it is to dig up and expose corruption and bad behavior make gifts of all sizes to us to ensure we can keep at it. And we do.

Today, I’m asking you to join us. Make your gift of any amount and be a part of this amazing group of people standing with us and supporting this critical work. We’ve just begun our summer campaign and for just two weeks, I’m rounding up readers to pitch in what they can to help us keep going. If you’re in a position to do so, I’d be so grateful if you’d join us today.

Thanks so much,
Jill Shepherd
Proud ProPublican