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Articles by David Armstrong
How a 25-Cent Cancer Pill Became a Hundred-Billion-Dollar Business
Reporter David Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer and soon learned that one of his drugs sold for almost $1,000 per pill — despite the fact it cost just pennies to make. What he found out helps explain why our healthcare system is the most expensive in the world. Reporter David Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer and soon learned that one of his drugs would cost almost $1,000 per pill. He set out to discover why, and uncovered financial records and legal filings that shocked him.
How a 25-Cent Cancer Pill Became a Hundred-Billion-Dollar Business
Reporter David Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer and soon learned that one of his drugs would cost almost $1,000 per pill. He set out to discover why, and uncovered financial records and legal filings that shocked him. The drugmaker’s strategy to raise the price over and over again helps explain why our healthcare system is the most expensive in the world. Read the original story here. A transcript of this episode will be posted soon.
Trump’s Justice Department Dropped 23,000 Criminal Investigations in Shift to Immigration
7 hours ago Daniel Tocci's attorney had previously argued that the case should be dismissed because “all the evidence" stemmed from his Capitol siege case. A man pardoned by President Donald Trump for his actions on Jan. 6 has been sentenced for possessing more than 100,000 child sexual abuse images and videos …
Which Drugs Has the FDA Allowed Into the U.S. From Banned Foreign Factories?
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ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. For more than a dozen years, the Food and Drug Administration quietly allowed substandard foreign factories to continue shipping medications to the United States even after the agency officially banned them from doing so because of dangerous manufacturing failures. ProPublica exposed the little-known practice in June.
By Debbie Cenziper Verified, Megan Rose Verified, Katherine Dailey Verified, David Armstrong Verified
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ProPublica
Verified
A Giant Indian Drugmaker Failed to Fix Safety Breaches. The FDA Let It Off the Hook Again and Again.
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. The dispatches from one of India’s most troubled generic drug makers were contrite, filled with far-reaching promises to clean up its factory, stop contamination and send safe medication to Americans counting on the company’s drugs.
Veterans’ Care at Risk Under Trump as Hundreds of Doctors and Nurses Reject Working at VA Hospitals
The women whom Jeffrey Epstein abused demand to be heard. And their voices — long suppressed, but now emerging powerfully and with courage — could further fuel the maelstrom around President Donald Trump and aides who dig the scandal deeper each time they try to end it. These are women who’ve been …
Israel Secretly Recruited Iranian Dissidents to Attack Their Country From Within Original
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Commandos that the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, recruited from Iran and neighboring nations destroyed Iranian air defenses in the first hours of a June attack. Israeli operatives identified the bedrooms in which Iranian nuclear scientists were sleeping, enabling precise airstrikes.
He Died Without Getting Mental Health Care He Sought. A New Lawsuit Says His Insurer’s Ghost Network Is to Blame.
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. The mother of an Arizona man who died after being unable to find mental health treatment is suing his health insurer, saying it broke the law by publishing false information that misled its customers.
He Became the Face of Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirement. Now He’s Fed Up With It.
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This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with The Current. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published. Last summer, as political debate swirled over the future of Georgia’s experiment with Medicaid work requirements, Gov. Brian Kemp held a press conference to unveil a three-minute testimonial video featuring a mechanic who works on classic cars.
By Margaret Coker Verified, David Armstrong Verified, Vernal Coleman Verified, Eric Umansky Verified
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ProPublica
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The Firm Running Georgia’s Struggling Medicaid Experiment Was Also Paid Millions to Sell It to the Public
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This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with The Current. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published. When the state of Georgia handed Deloitte Consulting a $10.7 million marketing contract last July to promote the nation’s only Medicaid work requirement program, the initiative was in need of serious PR.
By Margaret Coker Verified, David Armstrong Verified, Vernal Coleman Verified, Eric Umansky Verified
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ProPublica
Verified
Why Do Americans Pay More for Prescription Drugs?
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ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. In the U.S., the price of Revlimid, a brand-name cancer drug, has been increasing for two decades. It now sells for nearly $1,000 a pill. In Europe, the price has been consistently lower — in some countries by two-thirds. I started reporting on Revlimid after I was prescribed the drug following a diagnosis of multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer.
By David Armstrong Verified, Vernal Coleman Verified, Eric Umansky Verified, Kavitha Surana Verified
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ProPublica
Verified
The Price of Remission: This Cancer Drug Saves Lives — but Costs a Fortune. I Wanted to Know Why.
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. The pain jolted me awake. It was barely dawn, a misty February morning in 2023. My side felt as if I’d been stabbed. I had been dealing with pain for weeks — a bothersome ache that felt like a bad runner’s cramp. But now it was so intense I had to brace myself against the wall to stand up. A few hours after arriving at the emergency room, I heard my name.
Lived Experience is Vital to Positively Impacting At-Risk Youth
Mentoring is a powerful tool for supporting our youth that are experiencing foster care and juvenile detention, helping them to overcome challenges and achieve their goals. Mentors can provide guidance, support, and inspiration, and can help young people build the skills and confidence they need to succeed. But not all mentors are created equal, and not all mentoring relationships are equally effective.
Inside the Company Helping America’s Biggest Health Insurers Deny Coverage for Treatments
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. America’s largest insurers hire EviCore to make decisions on whether to pay for care for more than 100 million people. EviCore uses an algorithm that allows it to adjust the chances that company doctors will screen prior authorization requests, increasing the possibility of denials.
EPA Proposes Ban on Pesticide Widely Used on Fruits and Vegetables Original
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ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a proposal this week to ban a controversial pesticide that is widely used on celery, tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables.
By Sharon Lerner Verified, Patrick Rucker Verified, David Armstrong Verified, Debbie Cenziper Verified
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ProPublica
Verified
FDA Finally Moves to Scrutinize Specialized Health Screenings
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. The Food and Drug Administration issued a rule on Monday that brings new scrutiny to a vast array of critical lab tests, including some popular prenatal genetic screenings, that reach patients without any federal agency checking to ensure they work the way their makers claim.
A Doctor at Cigna Said Her Bosses Pressured Her to Review Patients’ Cases Too Quickly. Cigna Threatened to Fire Her.
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Series: Uncovered – How the Insurance Industry Denies Coverage to Patients Health insurers reject millions of claims for treatment every year in America. Corporate insiders, recordings and internal emails expose the system and its harm. In late 2020, Dr. Debby Day said her bosses at Cigna gave her a stark warning.
A Doctor at Cigna Said Her Bosses Pressured Her to Review Patients’ Cases Too Quickly. Cigna Threatened to Fire Her.
1:27 4 days ago Nurse has malnutrition after dentist removes nearly all her teeth SWNS • 4d A nurse left unable to eat after a dentist extracted nearly all her teeth says she's had to retire early due to suspected malnutrition. Annette Aldridge, 55, went to the dentist with a loose tooth and was shocked when she was told her all her teeth would be needed to be taken out due to infection.
An Atlanta Movie Exec Praised for His Diversity Efforts Sent Racist, Antisemitic Texts
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week. Update, April 22, 2024: This story has been updated with a statement sent by Ryan Millsap days after the original article was published.
Did Drug Traffickers Funnel Millions of Dollars to Mexican President López Obrador’s First Campaign?
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Years before Andrés Manuel López Obrador was elected as Mexico’s leader in 2018, U.S. drug-enforcement agents uncovered what they believed was substantial evidence that major cocaine traffickers had funneled some $2 million to his first presidential campaign.
Doctors with histories of big malpractice settlements found a new home in the insurance industry
During the weeks that Murphy prayed for his wife to recover and the months that he fought Kasemsap in circuit court in Brevard County, Florida, he didn’t know that other families had complained that their loved ones had suffered under the same doctor’s care. Kasemsap has settled five malpractice cases for a total of $3 million, according to the Florida malpractice payment database. That includes $1 million paid to the Murphy family.
Insurers Are Hiring Doctors With History of Malpractice to Decide on Coverage
This story was originally published by ProPublica and The Capitol Forum. When Shawn Murphy’s wife died in 2009 after a botched gallbladder surgery, he presumed the doctor who performed the operation would be forced out of medicine for good. Dr. Pachavit Kasemsap, a former Air Force surgeon, had cut Loretta Murphy’s aorta during that common procedure, according to a database of malpractice payments kept by Florida insurance regulators.
Doctors With Histories of Big Malpractice Settlements Now Work for Insurers, Deciding If They’ll Pay for Care
Health insurers reject millions of claims for treatment every year in America. Corporate insiders, recordings and internal emails expose the system and its harm. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. When Shawn Murphy’s wife died in 2009 after a botched gallbladder surgery, he presumed the doctor who performed the operation would be forced out of medicine for good.
Doctors With Histories of Big Malpractice Settlements Have Found a New Home in the Insurance Industry
Doctors working for health insurers can rule on 10,000 or more requests for care a year. At least a dozen were hired by major insurance companies after being disciplined by state medical boards or making multiple or outsized malpractice payments. Medical directors can, without ever seeing a patient, overrule the judgment of the doctor who did and deny payment for a recommended procedure, test or medicine.
How Cigna saves millions by having its doctors reject claims without reading them
When a stubborn pain in Nick van Terheyden’s bones would not subside, his doctor had a hunch what was wrong. Without enough vitamin D in the blood, the body will pull calcium from the bones. Left untreated, a vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis. A blood test in the fall of 2021 confirmed the doctor’s diagnosis, and van Terheyden expected his company’s insurance plan, managed by Cigna, to cover the cost of the bloodwork.
They Were Promised Help With Mortgage Payments. Then They Got a Foreclosure Notice.
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week. When Noelle Geraci lost her job at a private investment firm this year, she did everything she could to protect her most important asset: the house she owns with her mother in a Las Vegas suburb. That same day she started applying for work and signed up for unemployment benefits.
Congressional Committee, Regulators Question Cigna System that Lets Its Doctors Deny Claims without Reading Patient Files
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. A key congressional committee asked insurance giant Cigna on Tuesday to provide corporate documents so that lawmakers can examine the company’s practice of denying health care claims without ever opening a patient file.
Congressional Committee, Regulators Question Cigna System That Lets Its Doctors Deny Claims Without Reading Patient Files
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. A key congressional committee asked insurance giant Cigna on Tuesday to provide corporate documents so that lawmakers can examine the company’s practice of denying health care claims without ever opening a patient file.
Health insurance claim denied? See what insurers said behind the scenes
By Maya Miller, with additional reporting by Patrick Rucker and David Armstrong This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Series: Uncovered How the Insurance Industry Denies Coverage to Patients When a health insurance company is deciding whether to pay for your medical treatment, the company generates a file around your claim.
Your Health Insurance Claim Is Denied? See What Insurers Said Behind the Scenes
By MAYA MILLER, PATRICK RUCKER, and DAVID ARMSTRONG (ProPublica) When a health insurance company is deciding whether to pay for your medical treatment, the company generates a file around your claim. All the records associated with your case should be part of your file. This includes documents explaining the reasons your claim was denied. You have a right to see this file.
Health Insurance Claim Denied? See What Insurers Said Behind the Scenes
By MAYA MILLER, PATRICK RUCKER, and DAVID ARMSTRONG (ProPublica) When a health insurance company is deciding whether to pay for your medical treatment, the company generates a file around your claim. All the records associated with your case should be part of your file. This includes documents explaining the reasons your claim was denied. You have a right to see this file.
Health insurance claim denied? See what insurers said behind the scenes
Independent health news for Oregon and SW Washington Independent health news for Oregon and SW Washington Federal regulations require most health insurance plans to give people an opportunity to review documents related to their claim for free by |Propublica May 11, 2023 ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
Health Insurance Claim Denied? See What Insurers Said Behind the Scenes
Always Ask These Three Questions Before Paying a Medical Bill Our healthcare system may be broken, but you don't have to go down without a fight. Unless you’re remarkably lucky, if you live long enough in the …
How Cigna Saves Millions by Having Its Doctors Reject Claims Without Reading Them
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Series: Uncovered – How the Insurance Industry Denies Coverage to Patients When a stubborn pain in Nick van Terheyden’s bones would not subside, his doctor had a hunch what was wrong. Without enough vitamin D in the blood, the body will pull that vital nutrient from the bones. Left untreated, a vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis.
How Cigna Saves Millions by Having Its Doctors Reject Claims Without Reading Them
by Patrick Rucker, Maya Miller and David Armstrong ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Join the reporters Tuesday, March 28, for a virtual discussion with a former Cigna executive and other experts about America’s broken health insurance system. When a stubborn pain in Nick van Terheyden’s bones would not subside, his doctor had a hunch what was wrong.
Uncovered
Uncovered After ProPublica reported on a Michigan insurer that wouldn’t cover a cancer patient’s last-chance treatment, a state lawmaker introduced a measure compelling health plans to cover a new generation of advanced cancer therapies. Uncovered After ProPublica reported on a health insurer that refused to cover the only medicine that could save a cancer patient’s life, Michigan insurance regulators clarified that, by law, many plans must pay for any clinically proven treatments.
GoLocalProv | Business | Company “Helping America’s Biggest Health Insurers Deny Coverage for Care” Has Blue Cross Ties
But the insurance companies don’t always make these decisions. Instead, they often outsource medical reviews to a largely hidden industry that makes money by turning down doctors’ requests for payments, known as prior authorizations. Call it the denials for dollars business.
UnitedHealthcare tried to deny coverage to a chronically ill patient. He fought back, exposing the insurer’s inner workings.
In May 2021, a nurse at UnitedHealthcare called a colleague to share some welcome news about a problem the two had been grappling with for weeks. United provided the health insurance plan for students at Penn State University. It was a large and potentially lucrative account: lots of young, healthy students paying premiums in, not too many huge medical reimbursements going out. But one student was costing United a lot of money.
“We’re Still Gonna Say No”: Inside UnitedHealthcare’s Effort to Deny Coverage to Chronically Ill Patient
1 day ago There are few better emblems of the failures of the US system of medical care than its inability to consistently provide insulin to Americans who need it. The drug was discovered 100 years ago, and it provides essential and ongoing treatment for millions of people living with diabetes, one of the …
Do You Have Insights Into Dental and Health Insurance Denials? Help Us Report on the System.
In the United States, having health insurance does not guarantee that you will receive the care you need. Every year, insurance companies reject tens of millions of claims from people seeking all kinds of medical services, ranging from surgeries to MRIs. The same goes for dental care. A patient who is denied care and tries to push back faces many obstacles.
St. Jude Stashed Away $886 Million in Unspent Revenue Last Year
Published by jason@omahadail... on Mon, 06/13/2022 - 1:00am By David Armstrong and Ryan Gabrielson In July 2021, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital announced to fanfare that it had just fin-ished raising $2 billion in donations, a single-fiscal-year record for the nation’s largest health care charity. “Solving pediatric cancer is a global problem — a multi-trillion, multi-year prob-lem,” Rick Shadyac, chief executive of St. Jude’s fundraising arm, told the Associated Press at the time.
St. Jude Fights Donors’ Families in Court for Share of Estates
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Series: St. Jude’s Unspent Billions Behind the Hospital’s Claims to Donors ~~~~~~~~~ Most Americans know St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital through television advertisements featuring Hollywood celebrities asking for contributions or the millions of fundraising appeals that regularly arrive in mailboxes across the country.
St. Jude Fights Donors’ Families in Court for Share of Estates
by David Armstrong and Ryan Gabrielson ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Most Americans know St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital through television advertisements featuring Hollywood celebrities asking for contributions or the millions of fundraising appeals that regularly arrive in mailboxes across the country. But a select group of potential donors is targeted in a more intimate way.
Utah Makes Welfare So Hard to Get, Some Feel They Must Join the LDS Church to Get Aid
Welfare reform allowed states to choose how they provide assistance to the poor — or hardly provide it at all. In the rapidly changing Southwest, that has sometimes led to bizarre or impossible requirements for getting help. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week. This story was co-published with The Salt Lake Tribune.
St. Jude Hoards Billions While Many of Its Families Drain Their Savings
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Series: St. Jude’s Unspent Billions Behind the Hospital’s Claims to Donors ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A series of sharp knocks on his driver’s side window startled Jason Burt awake. It was the middle of the night on a Saturday in 2016.
St. Jude hoards billions while many of its families drain their savings
A series of sharp knocks on his driver’s side window startled Jason Burt awake. It was the middle of the night on a Saturday in 2016. Burt was sleeping in his pickup truck in the parking lot of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in downtown Memphis, Tenn., where his 5-year-old daughter was being treated for brain cancer. He’d driven more than 500 miles from his home in Central Texas to visit her. A St. Jude security guard peered into the truck and asked Burt what he was doing.
St. Jude hoards billions while many of its families drain their savings
By David Armstrong and Ryan Gabrielson ProPublica | Nov 13, 2021 at 9:30 AM This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. A series of sharp knocks on his driver’s side window startled Jason Burt awake. It was the middle of the night on a Saturday in 2016.
St. Jude Hoards Billions While Many of Its Families Drain Their Savings
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital promises not to bill families. But the cost of having a child at the hospital for cancer care leaves some families so strapped for money that parents share tips on spending nights in the parking lot. This article was published on Friday, November 12, 2021 in ProPublica. By David Armstrong and Ryan Gabrielson A series of sharp knocks on his driver's side window startled Jason Burt awake. It was the middle of the night on a Saturday in 2016.
We Are Releasing the Full Video of Richard Sackler’s Testimony About Purdue Pharma and the Opioid Crisis
Health Care A settlement is about to shield members of the Sackler family from civil litigation regarding their alleged roles in the opioid crisis. So it’s a good time to release the full video of Richard Sackler’s 2015 deposition. by David Armstrong Aug. 4, 11:45 a.m. EDT ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
Dying on the waitlist
In early December, Miguel Fernandez lay unconscious in the intensive care unit at a Los Angeles area hospital. A mechanical ventilator pumped oxygen into his lungs, which had been ravaged by COVID-19. The 53-year-old was dying. The best, and likely only, chance of Miguel surviving was a therapy calledextracorporeal membrane oxygenation, better known as ECMO. It would allow his lungs to rest while a machine infused his blood with the oxygen he needed.
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