Ravi Coutinho bought a health insurance plan thinking it would deliver on its promise of access to mental health providers. But even after 21 phone calls and multiple hospitalizations, no one could find him a therapist.
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Ravi Coutinho bought a health insurance plan thinking it would deliver on its promise of access to mental health providers. But even after 21 phone calls and multiple hospitalizations, no one could find him a therapist.
Our reporters are investigating how American insurance companies — quietly, and with little government pushback — have assumed an outsize role in mental health care. People in pain are paying the price. Here are some highlights from the project:
Our reporting showed that while the company charged with her care took monthly stipends from Zbiegniewicz, it kept her living in squalor while ignoring her protests. Last month, the judge overseeing Zbiegniewicz’s case sought to rectify that, ordering her guardian to return $5,400 that it had taken in compensation while providing “minimal services, if any” for years.
Zbiegniewicz said she hopes her story will prompt broader change: “Maybe somebody will see and maybe somewhere, down the line, somebody will do something about it.”
Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, privately heaped praise on religious-rights group First Liberty Institute for fighting efforts to reform the high court — efforts sparked, in large part, by her husband’s ethical lapses. The group’s leader, Kelly Shackelford, also attacked Justice Elena Kagan as “treasonous” for backing a stronger ethics code.
Thomas expressed her appreciation for the group’s anti-reform work in an email sent to Shackelford. He read Thomas’ email aloud on a July 31 private call with his group’s top donors. ProPublica and Documented obtained that recording.
