He was no ordinary patient. And he was ready to fight.

ProPublica ProPublica <[link removed]> Donate <[link removed]>

The Big Story
Tue. Nov 7, 2023

<[link removed]>

Big Insurance Met Its Match When It Turned Down a Top Trial Lawyer’s Request for Cancer Treatment <[link removed]> Blue Cross and Blue Shield denied payment for the proton therapy Robert “Skeeter” Salim’s doctor ordered to fight his throat cancer. But he was no ordinary patient. He was a celebrated litigator. And he was ready to fight. by T. Christian Miller

VIEW STORY <[link removed]>

How the Insurance Industry Denies Coverage to Patients

I Set Out to Create a Simple Map for How to Appeal Your Insurance Denial. Instead, I Found a Mind-Boggling Labyrinth. <[link removed]> I spoke with more than 50 insurance experts, patients, lawyers, physicians and consumer advocates about building a tool anyone could use to navigate insurance appeals. Nearly everyone said the same thing: Great idea. But almost impossible to do. by Cheryl Clark for ProPublica <[link removed]>

How Often Do Health Insurers Say No to Patients? No One Knows. <[link removed]> Insurers’ denial rates — a critical measure of how reliably they pay for customers’ care — remain mostly secret to the public. Federal and state regulators have done little to change that. by Robin Fields <[link removed]>

Health Insurance Claim Denied? See What Insurers Said Behind the Scenes <[link removed]> Learn how to request your health insurance claim file, which can include details about what your insurer is saying about you and your case. by Maya Miller, with additional reporting by Patrick Rucker and David Armstrong <[link removed]>

How Cigna Saves Millions by Having Its Doctors Reject Claims Without Reading Them <[link removed]> Internal documents and former company executives reveal how Cigna doctors reject patients’ claims without opening their files. “We literally click and submit,” one former company doctor said. by Patrick Rucker, Maya Miller and David Armstrong <[link removed]>

UnitedHealthcare Tried to Deny Coverage to a Chronically Ill Patient. He Fought Back, Exposing the Insurer’s Inner Workings. <[link removed]> After a college student finally found a treatment that worked, the insurance giant decided it wouldn’t pay for the costly drugs. His fight to get coverage exposed the insurer’s hidden procedures for rejecting claims. by David Armstrong, Patrick Rucker and Maya Miller <[link removed]>

More From Our Newsroom

Here’s What Can Happen When Kids Age Out of Foster Care <[link removed]> Two teens aged out of New Mexico’s child welfare system last year. This photo essay shows how different their lives have become. by Kitra Cahana, special to ProPublica, and Ed Williams, Searchlight New Mexico, photography by Kitra Cahana, special to ProPublica <[link removed]>

The EPA Has Found More Than a Dozen Contaminants in Drinking Water but Hasn’t Set Safety Limits on Them <[link removed]> The inaction on regulating contaminants — including those that likely cause cancer, reproductive or developmental issues — found in the water of millions of Americans illustrates shortcomings in the U.S. response to environmental threats, say experts. by Agnel Philip <[link removed]>

Los Angeles Mayor Orders Residential Hotels to Be Used for Temporary Homeless Housing <[link removed]> A 2008 city law intended hotels used as primary residences to be preserved as safety-net housing. But with little enforcement, some landlords had turned their buildings into tourist hotels. by Robin Urevich, Capital & Main <[link removed]>

The Scandal That Never Happened <[link removed]> The all-white judges of Louisiana’s 5th Circuit Court of Appeal systematically ignored thousands of claims from prisoners, most of them Black, who said they had been wrongly convicted. Efforts to expose the decadelong injustice went unheard. by Anat Rubin, Illustrations by James Lee Chiahan, special to ProPublica <[link removed]>

The Supreme Court Will Decide if Domestic Abuse Orders Can Bar People From Having Guns. Lives Could Be at Stake. <[link removed]> The court’s ruling on United States v. Rahimi could clarify an earlier decision on guns. Or it could take away one of the best options to protect domestic violence victims. In states like Tennessee, the consequences could be deadly. by Paige Pfleger, WPLN/Nashville Public Radio <[link removed]>

The Night Doctrine: ProPublica’s First Animated Documentary Traces Reporting on Afghanistan’s Zero Units <[link removed]> In 2022, reporter Lynzy Billing wrote a powerful investigation into squads of deadly commandos who had killed hundreds of Afghan civilians. “The Night Doctrine” is a short, animated documentary following her reporting. by ProPublica <[link removed]>

A Texas Billionaire’s Associates Are Trying to Sink a School Tax Election via Their Dark Money Nonprofit <[link removed]> Tim Dunn’s public policy groups have helped ensure that tax hike language is attached to school bonds in the state. Now, that language is being used to undercut support for a bond in his hometown of Midland. by Jeremy Schwartz and Dan Keemahill <[link removed]>

UC Berkeley Takes Significant Step to Repatriate 4,400 Native American Human Remains <[link removed]> It would be the largest repatriation by far at an institution that holds more than 9,000 ancestral remains and has lagged behind in returning its holdings under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. by Mary Hudetz <[link removed]>

People Who Used Recalled Philips Breathing Machines Face Painful Choices <[link removed]> The devices at their bedsides were lifelines, until they learned the foam inside could break down and make them sick. Now, they’re plagued by illness, lost sleep and worry. by Margaret Fleming, Monica Sager, Nicole Tan, Susanti Sarkar, Evan Robinson-Johnson and Claire Gardner, Medill Investigative Lab; Photography by Liz Moughon, ProPublica <[link removed]>

A Sweeping Report on a Michigan School Shooting Finds Multiple Failures and a Troubled Aftermath <[link removed]> Parents, already shaken by the fatal incident at Oxford High School, lost confidence in the school district when it hesitated to find and acknowledge accountability for the 2021 shooting. by Anna Clark <[link removed]>

Find us on Facebook <[link removed]> Follow us on Twitter <[link removed]> Follow us on Instagram <[link removed]> Watch us on Youtube <[link removed]> Donate <[link removed]>

Get the ProPublica mobile app:
Download on the App Store <[link removed]> Get it on Google Play <[link removed]>
Was this email forwarded to you from a friend? Subscribe. <[link removed]> Want less email? Click here if you only want to receive one ProPublica newsletter each week. This email was sent to [email protected]. Update your email preferences or unsubscribe <[link removed]> to stop receiving this newsletter. Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. <[link removed]> ProPublica • 155 Ave of the Americas, 13th Floor • New York, NY 10013 <a href="[link removed]><img src="[link removed]" alt="" border="0" /></a>