‘Rationing by Inconvenience:’ How Insurers Keep Patients From Care
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This time on Code WACK! Got health insurance, but still can't get the care you need? Ever spent hours on hold, battling claim denials, and jumping through hoops just to get the care you already paid for with your insurance premiums? What does it say about our healthcare system when getting treatment depends not just on your medical needs, but also on how much time, money, and energy you can dedicate to fighting for it? In her new book, , Miranda Yaver points out that having insurance and actually being able to use it are often two very different things. This is the second of with...
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Health Coverage Denied? Appeal. You might win!
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This time on Code WACK! We're talking about one of the most frustrating experiences in American healthcare - when your insurance company says ‘no.’ According to Miranda Yaver, an assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh, insurance denials aren't rare. They're a routine part of navigating our healthcare system. In her new book, , Miranda Yaver explores what happens when patients undergoing treatment find themselves trapped between their doctors and their insurance companies. This is the first of two episodes with Miranda Yaver. Check...
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What the New UCLA Report Reveals About California Single Payer
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This time on Code WACK! California has debated a single-payer healthcare system for decades, but commissioned by the California Health and Human Services Agency under could reshape the conversation. In this episode, Michael Lighty, president of , explains how the report moves the debate from cost to equity. This is the second of with Michael Lighty. Check out the and for more! And please keep Code WACK! on the air with a .
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California’s Next Governor Could Transform Healthcare—or Gut It. Becerra vs. Hilton
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This time on Code WACK! The upcoming governor's race could shape the future of health care for nearly 40 million Californians. With former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra facing Republican Steve Hilton, the election is raising critical questions about whether California will move closer to a single-payer healthcare system—or further away. Michael Lighty, president of Healthy California Now, joins us to break down what the primary results mean, where the candidates stand on healthcare reform, and what's at stake for the future of universal healthcare in...
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When Your Health Insurance Says 'No' to Your Doctor's Orders
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This time on Code WACK! For many Americans getting the right medical care isn't just about what their doctors recommend, it's also about what their insurance company is willing to cover. So what happens when those two don't agree? And why can it be so difficult for patients to fight back? Attorney Lisa Kantor of Kantor & Kantor, LLP has spent more than two decades helping patients challenge health insurance denials. Her cases have ranged from eating disorders to life-threatening cancers, giving her a firsthand look at how insurers make coverage decisions and the consequences when they...
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When Insurance Cuts Eating Disorder Care Too Soon
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This time on Code WACK! In the United States, as many as 30 million people are affected by eating disorders, including many children and adolescents, according to . Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that affect both mental and physical health. How well does our corporate healthcare system respond to illnesses as complex as eating disorders? What happens when an insurance company decides treatment is costing too much, and pressures a patient to go home? Can your insurer really cut off coverage? And what if that decision turns out to be not just wrong, but...
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We've accepted this healthcare system as normal. Should we?
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THIS TIME ON CODE WACK! Is it really normal that the health insurance we pay for often doesn't fully protect us? It may be ‘normal’ but is it right? Millions of Americans face soaring healthcare costs, coverage denials, medical debt, job lock, and even hospital closures. Have we simply come to accept these realities as part of life? Retired pediatrician and healthcare reform advocate Dr. Ana Malinow says they don't have to be. After three decades caring for immigrant, refugee, and underserved children, Dr. Malinow believes America is at a pivotal moment to rethink its healthcare...
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Breaking Free From America’s Medical-Industrial Complex
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This time on Code WACK! America's healthcare system doesn't only hurt us in big ways - like forcing us to choose between getting expensive medical treatments or living sick. Or having to choose the ‘least worst,’ but always very expensive health insurance policy. It also hurts us in small ways, forcing us to compromise to save a few bucks, to make a thousand little choices that can cost us our quality of life. As we approach the 4th of July, we’re talking with Dr. Ana Malinow, a retired pediatrician. She’s helping lead a campaign for a new Declaration of Independence … from the...
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Why Nursing Home Residents Need the Essential Caregivers Act
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This time on Code WACK! Imagine being cut off from Mom - a nursing home resident - for months. You can't bring her favorite foods, or help dress her, hug her, or even hold her hand. For thousands of families during the COVID-19 pandemic, this became a heartbreaking reality. And without new laws, advocates say, it could very well happen again. That's why they are fighting to ensure our loved ones are never again separated from those they depend on most in nursing homes and other long-term care settings Today we're speaking with Tony Chicotel, senior staff attorney with California...
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‘No Way to Live’: The Cost of Nursing Home Isolation
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This time on Code WACK! What role do family members and friends play in the lives of nursing home residents? When COVID hit, how were residents impacted when their loved ones were no longer allowed to visit them? Today, we share the story of Melody Taylor Stark, who became an advocate for the Essential Caregivers Act after her husband, a retired dentist and nursing home resident, dramatically declined, then died, after being denied her daily visits during the dark days of COVID. Melody is a founding member of Essential Caregivers Coalition, a member of Caregivers for Compromise,...
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What if the rising cost of health care — the surprise bills, the shrinking choices, the long waits — weren’t random at all, but largely the result of quiet, strategic consolidation happening behind the scenes?
The Center for Health & Democracy has been working to reveal just this. Founded by former insurance executive-turned-whistleblower Wendell Potter, the organization shines a light on how corporate power shapes the American health care system — and what it means for patients and families.
Joining us today is Rachel Madley, the Center’s Executive Director. A scientist by training and a federal health policy expert, Rachel also brings lived experience navigating the health system with Type 1 diabetes — giving her unique insight into how policy decisions ripple into real lives.
Today, we’re talking about the Center’s recent Sunlight Report, a first of its kind investigation into the corporate structure and expansion of UnitedHealth Group, the largest healthcare company in the world. The report pulls back the curtain on health care consolidation and reveals how deeply corporate expansion is reshaping who delivers care, how much it costs, and who ultimately benefits.
Check out the Transcript and Show Notes for more!
And please keep Code WACK! on the air with a tax-deductible donation at heal-ca.org/donate.