Insurance Companies

Enhance The Subsidies And Let Insurance Industry Feed At Federal Trough?

November 12, 2025 Ana Malinow, Counter Punch. Educate! Health Care, Insurance Companies, Single payer health care, Subsidies

It’s helpful to think of the U.S. health care system like a pie made up of different slices (Figure). The largest (blue) slice is employer health insurance, which covers 160 million workers and their dependents; individual non-group insurance (in orange) provides 24 million individuals and their families with patchy insurance (including the enhanced subsidies); Medicaid (in yellow) covers 65 million poor and low-income adults, children, and seniors; Medicare (in red) pays for medical care for 60 million seniors and people with disabilities; the Veteran’s Health Administration (in bright green) provides the best socialized medicine in the nation to 9.1 million qualifying veterans; and that leaves the rest, approximately 28 million Americans, in the (purple) slice of the uninsured.

This Little-Known Appeal Could Force Insurers To Pay For Lifesaving Care

October 8, 2025 Duaa Eldeib, ProPublica. Resist! health, Health Care, Insurance, Insurance Companies

When a health insurance company refuses to pay for treatment, most people begrudgingly accept the decision. Few patients appeal; some don’t trust the insurer to reverse its own decision. But a little-known process that requires insurers and plans to seek an independent opinion outside their walls can force insurers to pay for what can be lifesaving treatment. External reviews are one of the industry’s best-kept secrets, and only a tiny fraction of those eligible actually use them. ProPublica recently reported the story of a North Carolina couple, Teressa Sutton-Schulman and her husband, who we identified in the story by his middle initial, L, to protect his privacy.

Extinction Rebellion Sink Lamborghini At Fossil Fuel/Insurance Love-In

May 16, 2025 The Canary. Resist! climate crisis, Extinction Rebellion, Fossil Fuels, Insurance Companies, United Kingdoms

On Wednesday 14 May, environmental groups including Extinction Rebellion met delegates at Europe’s largest insurance brokers conference in Manchester Central with a colourful and dramatic protest. They were there to demand the industry stops backing fossil fuel projects. And what better way to call out flush fossil fuel financiers than to put a sinking Lamborghini at the event’s front door? A new report by Boycott Bloody Insurance shows that there are 33 British insurance companies active in large fossil fuel projects. Just five companies had invested $6.5bn. In April, campaigners in Manchester celebrated the decision by Chubb to rule out backing the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline.

Five Insurance Companies Are Propping Up Fossil Fuel Companies

April 23, 2025 The Canary. Resist! Allianz, Aviva, AXA, BP, climate crisis, Fossil Fuel, Insurance Companies, Intact, Oil and Gas Industry, Zurich

A new report exposes the complicity of global insurers in the climate crisis. Notably, it has revealed how five major insurance companies – Allianz, AXA, Aviva, Zurich, and Intact – have invested to the tune of $6.5bn in the fossil fuel corporations wrecking the planet. The report was authored by the Boycott Bloody Insurance campaign – which launched last month with a day of action. On Tuesday 25 March, the group targeted insurance offices nationwide. Now, its new publication Ensuring Climate Crisis: The Insurance Industry and Fossil Fuel Giants highlights how these insurance companies, while often presenting a green image, continue to support and profit from the fossil fuel industry.

Don’t Let Insurance Companies Fleece Homeowners

March 4, 2025 Kelsey Condon, Counter Punch. Strategize! Disaster Recovery, Extreme weather, Housing, Insurance Companies

As climate-fueled disasters escalate, insurers are getting richer while leaving Americans in the lurch. Citing climate-related losses, many insurance companies are exorbitantly inflating rates, refusing to renew policies, and delaying, denying, or underpaying claims. The latest of many examples is Los Angeles, where wildfires devoured over 40,000 acres and left thousands unhoused and unemployed. Many families were dropped by their insurers or struggled to find affordable options before the fires. Some turned to the state’s coverage plan, which costs more and covers less.

Los Angeles Fires Ravage Communities, Expose Systemic Issues

January 14, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. Educate! California, Capitalism, climate crisis, Insurance Companies, Prisoner rights, Wildfires

Several wildfires continue to burn in Eaton, Palisades, and other parts of the greater Los Angeles area, incurring a death toll of at least 24 people. Thus far the total area burned has reached nearly 40,000 acres, larger than each of the city limits of San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Boston and Miami. Over 150,000 people have been forced to flee from their homes, and the Eaton and Palisades fires alone have destroyed over 12,000 structures. As of the time of writing, the Palisades fire is only 14% contained and the Eaton fire is 33% contained. Wildfires are highly unusual in Southern California during this time of year.

No One Knows How Often Health Insurers Say No To Patients

July 4, 2023 Robin Fields, ProPublica. Educate! Denials, Health Care, Insurance Companies, Transparency

It’s one of the most crucial questions people have when deciding which health plan to choose: If my doctor orders a test or treatment, will my insurer refuse to pay for it? After all, an insurance company that routinely rejects recommended care could damage both your health and your finances. The question becomes ever more pressing as many working Americans see their premiums rise as their benefits shrink. Yet, how often insurance companies say no is a closely held secret. There’s nowhere that a consumer or an employer can go to look up all insurers’ denial rates — let alone whether a particular company is likely to decline to pay for procedures or drugs that its plans appear to cover.

Care Denied: The Dirty Secret Behind Medicare Advantage

June 28, 2023 Matthew Cunningham-Cook, The Lever. Educate! Health Care, Insurance Companies, Medicare Advantage, Medicare forAll

Jenn Coffey was so tired of having her care denied by her Medicare Advantage insurer that she signed a do-not-resuscitate order. “There was no more hope,” she said. “There was nothing left for me to hope for.” Coffey, a former EMT from Manchester, New Hampshire, went on Medicare, the government health insurance program for seniors and others with disabilities, after a breast cancer diagnosis left her unable to work. Like an increasing number of Medicare beneficiaries, she ended up on a for-profit Medicare Advantage plan; a marketer directed her to an option administered by UnitedHealth Group, a $450 billion insurer.