About this episode

Deborah Schwartz discusses the alarming rates of medical insurance claim denials and their impact on patients.

Deborah Schwartz, a healthcare attorney, saw how medical insurance companies put profit over patient and the impacts it had. While inside the health insurance industry, she tried to change the practices she saw which were antithetical to better health outcomes, but since leaving the field, she’s writing about in her new novel, “EmmaCare” and sounding the alarm about what she saw. By whatever measure, claim denials, coupled with prior authorizations and other practices, are growing and put the onus on the patient to fight for and appeal judgments from the insurers even when their doctor prescribes various drugs and procedures. It’s a maze that leads to financial strain and bankruptcy, delayed or denied care and mental and emotional stress. We all know that our health care system is broken. These practices are chief among the issues, though there are many more. So, what can we do? Aside from a universal health care model which is unlikely in this country at this time, how do we proceed? We’ll discuss on this podcast.

People in this episode

Guest: Deborah Schwartz

Topics covered

• medical insurance
• healthcare system
• claim denials
• patient advocacy
• health outcomes

Keywords

• medical insurance
• claim denials
• healthcare attorney
• patient care
• health outcomes

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: EmmaCare

More episodes of America Trends Podcast

• EP 972 Are Companies Responding to the Needs and Skills Working Parents Bring to the Workplace? · May 27, 2026 · 37 min
• EP 971 Older Americans are Hanging on to Power, Privilege and Resources Longer than Ever · May 25, 2026 · 39 min
• EP 970 Higher Education Will Change Dramatically in the Coming Years · May 20, 2026 · 35 min
• EP 969 USAID and Much Global Good Works and Goodwill, Destroyed by DOGE · May 18, 2026 · 38 min
• EP 968 Are Corporate Disclosures Meant to Reveal or Hide Their Employment Practices? · May 13, 2026 · 40 min
• EP 967 Who Are You in this Digital World? · May 11, 2026 · 44 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the America Trends Podcast podcast page.