Bill Smith
@iambillsmith.bsky.social
Dog dad. Mental health advocate. 🏳️🌈Founder of www.Inseparable.us. Opinions are my own.
Congress scheduled a vote at 10pm Sunday night that could take away health care from almost 14 million people. MAYBE NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BE BITCHING ABOUT BIDEN BOOKS OR WHO GETS TO BE ON THE DNC. Call your representatives at 202-224-3121. Tell them hands off Medicaid.
May 17, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Congress scheduled a vote at 10pm Sunday night that could take away health care from almost 14 million people. MAYBE NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BE BITCHING ABOUT BIDEN BOOKS OR WHO GETS TO BE ON THE DNC. Call your representatives at 202-224-3121. Tell them hands off Medicaid.
Beyond unacceptable.
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.
(Published March 2023 with @capitolforum.bsky.social)
“We literally click and submit,” one former company doctor said.
(Published March 2023 with @capitolforum.bsky.social)
How Cigna Saves Millions by Having Its Doctors Reject Claims Without Reading Them
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.
propub.li
March 22, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Beyond unacceptable.
Turns out having no plan, no strategy, and no message is unpopular as well.
The Democratic Party's favorability rating among Americans stands at a record low, fueled in part by dimming views from its own frustrated supporters, a new CNN Poll finds: cnn.it/4bRAzKs
CNN Poll: Democratic Party’s favorability drops to a record low | CNN Politics
The Democratic Party’s favorability rating among Americans stands at a record low, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS, fueled in part by dimming views from its own frustrated supporters.
cnn.it
March 16, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Turns out having no plan, no strategy, and no message is unpopular as well.
This is the type of ads now being served to me on Twitter. Shameful propaganda.
February 20, 2025 at 7:26 PM
This is the type of ads now being served to me on Twitter. Shameful propaganda.
What fresh hell are we dealing with today? I mean good morning, everyone!
January 31, 2025 at 2:22 PM
What fresh hell are we dealing with today? I mean good morning, everyone!
Insurance companies should not be able to own pharmacies. Or medical practices. That shouldn’t be a complicated or controversial idea.
The 3 largest private insurance “pharmacy benefit managers” (Caremark Rx, ExpressEcripts, OptumRx) inflated the price of lifesaving and generic drugs for conditions like heart disease, HIV, and cancer by orders of magnitude more than their actual costs in order to take billions of $ in extra revenue
Specialty Generic Drugs: A Growing Profit Center for Vertically Integrated Pharmacy Benefit Managers
www.ftc.gov
January 15, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Insurance companies should not be able to own pharmacies. Or medical practices. That shouldn’t be a complicated or controversial idea.
Greedy health insurance companies are totally out of control. We need major reforms to put decisions where they belong- between doctors and their patients. Get rid of prior authorization and ‘fail first.’ Require transparent, independent standards of care. Ban ghost networks.
x.com/wallstreetap...
x.com/wallstreetap...
x.com
x.com
January 9, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Greedy health insurance companies are totally out of control. We need major reforms to put decisions where they belong- between doctors and their patients. Get rid of prior authorization and ‘fail first.’ Require transparent, independent standards of care. Ban ghost networks.
x.com/wallstreetap...
x.com/wallstreetap...
Privately insured people with anxiety and depression pay higher out of pocket costs. Unacceptable. www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/privat...
Privately insured people with depression and anxiety face high out-of-pocket costs - Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker
Enrollees who were treated for depression and/or anxiety in 2021 had almost twice as much annual out-of-pocket spending compared to enrollees who were not treated for a mental health diagnosis.
www.healthsystemtracker.org
January 8, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Privately insured people with anxiety and depression pay higher out of pocket costs. Unacceptable. www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/privat...
Thank you @propublica.org for shining a light on the abhorrent business practices of these huge insurers. It’s time to hold them accountable and make sure that when people pay for insurance, ‘coverage’ actually means care.
One doctor’s recommendation to deny a 43-year-woman coverage “contained errors on practically every aspect” of her condition, the Labor Department said in 2012.
United and other insurers continued to hire the doctor over the next decade.
propub.li/3BQjJ1e
United and other insurers continued to hire the doctor over the next decade.
propub.li/3BQjJ1e
Insurers Continue to Rely on Doctors Whose Judgments Have Been Criticized by Courts
In dozens of cases ProPublica reviewed, judges found that some doctors working for these companies engaged in “selective readings” of medical evidence and “shut their eyes” to medical opinions opposing their conclusions.
propub.li
December 30, 2024 at 3:46 PM
Thank you @propublica.org for shining a light on the abhorrent business practices of these huge insurers. It’s time to hold them accountable and make sure that when people pay for insurance, ‘coverage’ actually means care.
Reposted by Bill Smith
A damning account of how insurers, like United, rely on the same doctors to deny mental health care, even as judges repeatedly question their calls: “puzzling,” “disingenuous”, “dishonest, “baseless”
By the very best @deldeib.bsky.social @mayatmiller.bsky.social
www.propublica.org/article/ment...
By the very best @deldeib.bsky.social @mayatmiller.bsky.social
www.propublica.org/article/ment...
Insurers Continue to Rely on Doctors Whose Judgments Have Been Criticized by Courts
In dozens of cases ProPublica reviewed, judges found that some doctors working for these companies engaged in “selective readings” of medical evidence and “shut their eyes” to medical opinions opposin...
www.propublica.org
December 30, 2024 at 1:15 PM
A damning account of how insurers, like United, rely on the same doctors to deny mental health care, even as judges repeatedly question their calls: “puzzling,” “disingenuous”, “dishonest, “baseless”
By the very best @deldeib.bsky.social @mayatmiller.bsky.social
www.propublica.org/article/ment...
By the very best @deldeib.bsky.social @mayatmiller.bsky.social
www.propublica.org/article/ment...
www.propublica.org/article/ment... Propublica: ‘Insurers Continue to Rely on Doctors Whose Judgments Have Been Criticized by Courts.’ The more you learn about how these companies abuse #mentalhealth patients, the madder you’ll get. It’s time for major reforms and real accountability.
Insurers Continue to Rely on Doctors Whose Judgments Have Been Criticized by Courts
In dozens of cases ProPublica reviewed, judges found that some doctors working for these companies engaged in “selective readings” of medical evidence and “shut their eyes” to medical opinions opposin...
www.propublica.org
December 30, 2024 at 3:32 PM
www.propublica.org/article/ment... Propublica: ‘Insurers Continue to Rely on Doctors Whose Judgments Have Been Criticized by Courts.’ The more you learn about how these companies abuse #mentalhealth patients, the madder you’ll get. It’s time for major reforms and real accountability.
It’s truly unconscionable that we take people with mental health emergencies and put them in jail because we don’t have appropriate resources and facilities. We must do better for #mentalhealth and build a real continuum of crisis services.
When Sydney Jones arrived at Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto during a mental health crisis, her family assumed she would soon receive treatment.
Instead, the hospital sent her to jail, though she was charged with no crime.
w/ @mississippitoday.org
(Published May 2024)
Instead, the hospital sent her to jail, though she was charged with no crime.
w/ @mississippitoday.org
(Published May 2024)
This Mississippi Hospital Transfers Some Patients to Jail to Await Mental Health Treatment
Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto doesn’t have a psychiatric unit, so it sends patients elsewhere for mental health treatment. When publicly funded facilities are full, some patients go to jail to…
propub.li
December 30, 2024 at 12:07 AM
It’s truly unconscionable that we take people with mental health emergencies and put them in jail because we don’t have appropriate resources and facilities. We must do better for #mentalhealth and build a real continuum of crisis services.
Reposted by Bill Smith
A private insurance co & its data mining arm’s CEO carried out a coordinated operation to fraudulently bill for health conditions that didn't even exist.
Dozens of CMS audits have found private health plans intentionally overcharged by hundreds of millions of dollars but the agency has done little
Dozens of CMS audits have found private health plans intentionally overcharged by hundreds of millions of dollars but the agency has done little
In Settling Fraud Case, New York Medicare Advantage Insurer, CEO Will Pay up to $100M - KFF Health News
A whistleblower suit alleged a health insurer bilked Medicare by exaggerating how sick patients were.
kffhealthnews.org
December 25, 2024 at 1:10 AM
A private insurance co & its data mining arm’s CEO carried out a coordinated operation to fraudulently bill for health conditions that didn't even exist.
Dozens of CMS audits have found private health plans intentionally overcharged by hundreds of millions of dollars but the agency has done little
Dozens of CMS audits have found private health plans intentionally overcharged by hundreds of millions of dollars but the agency has done little
Access to quality mental healthcare, prevention and early intervention resources in schools, a full continuum of care for people in mental health emergencies, and a bigger, more diverse workforce are all essential if we want to address the mental health crisis in this country. How we get there: 🧵
December 27, 2024 at 4:03 PM
Access to quality mental healthcare, prevention and early intervention resources in schools, a full continuum of care for people in mental health emergencies, and a bigger, more diverse workforce are all essential if we want to address the mental health crisis in this country. How we get there: 🧵
Reposted by Bill Smith
NEW: UnitedHealth is the nation’s largest health insurance conglomerate.
ProPublica obtained what is effectively the company’s internal playbook for limiting and cutting therapy costs.
Here’s what we found.
ProPublica obtained what is effectively the company’s internal playbook for limiting and cutting therapy costs.
Here’s what we found.
How UnitedHealth’s Playbook for Limiting Mental Health Coverage Puts Countless Americans’ Treatment at Risk
United used an algorithm system to identify patients who it determined were getting too much therapy and then limited coverage. It was deemed illegal in three states, but similar practices persist due...
propub.li
November 19, 2024 at 4:12 PM
NEW: UnitedHealth is the nation’s largest health insurance conglomerate.
ProPublica obtained what is effectively the company’s internal playbook for limiting and cutting therapy costs.
Here’s what we found.
ProPublica obtained what is effectively the company’s internal playbook for limiting and cutting therapy costs.
Here’s what we found.
Reposted by Bill Smith
"There is no single regulator for a private health-insurance company, even when it is found to be violating the law. For United’s practices to be curbed, mental-health advocates told ProPublica, every single jurisdiction in which it operates would have to successfully bring a case against it."
December 8, 2024 at 2:03 PM
"There is no single regulator for a private health-insurance company, even when it is found to be violating the law. For United’s practices to be curbed, mental-health advocates told ProPublica, every single jurisdiction in which it operates would have to successfully bring a case against it."
Hats off to @propublica.org for their consistent, in-depth reporting on how health insurance companies abuse the system and make it almost impossible to access #mentalhealth care.
It’s painful not being able to connect those seeking therapy to therapists covered via insurance. Propublica helps explain how health insurance companies undermine the process for profits.
projects.propublica.org/why-i-left-t...
projects.propublica.org/why-i-left-t...
Why I Left the Network
Those who need therapy often have to pay out of pocket or go without care, even if they have health insurance. Hundreds of mental health providers told us they fled networks because insurers made thei...
projects.propublica.org
December 27, 2024 at 3:30 PM
Hats off to @propublica.org for their consistent, in-depth reporting on how health insurance companies abuse the system and make it almost impossible to access #mentalhealth care.
Just getting started on this app. Looking for great advocates, mental health experts, LGBT rights, and fun content during such heavy times. Who should I follow?
December 27, 2024 at 2:28 PM
Just getting started on this app. Looking for great advocates, mental health experts, LGBT rights, and fun content during such heavy times. Who should I follow?
The health of our minds is inseparable from the health of our bodies. www.inseparable.us
Inseparable
Inseparable is a coalition of people from across the country who share a common goal to fundamentally improve mental health care policy, to take care of ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities.
www.inseparable.us
December 27, 2024 at 2:22 PM
The health of our minds is inseparable from the health of our bodies. www.inseparable.us
Want to help build a real movement for mental health? Come join us at www.inseparable.us !
Inseparable
Inseparable is a coalition of people from across the country who share a common goal to fundamentally improve mental health care policy, to take care of ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities.
www.inseparable.us
December 27, 2024 at 2:21 PM
Want to help build a real movement for mental health? Come join us at www.inseparable.us !