Robin Fields
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Global health reporter, ProPublica; formerly managing editor at ProPublica, cat servant
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Articles by Robin Fields
ProPublica Investigations You May Have Missed in 2025
Support fearless, independent journalism The story you just read was made possible by our readers. We hope it inspires you to support ProPublica, so we can continue producing investigations that shine a light on power, uncover the truth and drive real change. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to nonpartisan, evidence-based journalism that holds power accountable.
What a $2 million per dose gene therapy reveals about drug pricing
Reporting Highlights A Record Price: The gene therapy Zolgensma helped children born with a fatal disease, spinal muscular atrophy, grow up to run and play. But the cost was stunning: $2 million per dose. Cashing In: While taxpayers and small charities funded the drug’s early development, executives, venture-capital backers and a pharma giant have reaped the profits.
What a $2 million per dose gene therapy reveals about drug pricing Original
Breakthrough drugs like Zolgensma and other gene therapies are adding to the nation’s ballooning bill for prescription drugs, absorbed by all Americans in the form of rising insurance premiums and taxes for public programs like Medicaid. Owen Gent, special to ProPublica This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive its biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
What a $2 Million Per Dose Gene Therapy Reveals About Drug Pricing
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. The gene therapy Zolgensma helped children born with a fatal disease, spinal muscular atrophy, grow up to run and play. But the cost was stunning: $2 million per dose. While taxpayers and small charities funded the drug’s early development, executives, venture-capital backers and a pharma giant have reaped the profits.
What a $2 Million Per Dose Gene Therapy Reveals About Drug Pricing
4 hours ago Psychologist Adam Grant’s 10 Percent Principle Will Make You Instantly Smarter Want to be instantly smarter? Remember this simple, actionable rule of thumb from the star psychologist. It’s true that IQ is a relatively fixed trait, which means our intellectual horsepower doesn’t change much over our lifespans. A Fiat cannot magically turn into a Ferrari.
Health Plans Can’t Dodge Paying for Expensive New Cancer Treatments, Says Michigan’s Top Insurance Regulator
This article was originally published on ProPublica as part of a partnership with Scripps News. In a victory for many cancer patients in Michigan, the state’s top insurance regulator told health plans last week that they cannot deny coverage for clinically proven cancer treatments, and she made it clear for the first time that this includes cutting-edge genetic and biologic therapies.
The CDC Isn’t Asking States to Track Deaths Linked to Abortion Bans
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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. After the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order tasking the federal government with assessing the “devastating implications for women’s health“ of new state abortion bans. Experts were warning that these bans would interfere with critical medical care and lead to preventable deaths.
By Kavitha Surana Verified, Robin Fields Verified, Ziva Branstetter Verified, Patricia Callahan Verified
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ProPublica
Verified
Are Abortion Bans Across America Causing Deaths? The States That Passed Them Are Doing Little to Find Out.
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. In states with abortion bans, ProPublica has found, pregnant women have bled to death, succumbed to fatal infections and wound up in morgues with what medical examiners recorded were “products of conception” still in their bodies.
A Coast Guard Commander Miscarried. She Nearly Died After Being Denied Care. Original
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. The night the EMTs carried Elizabeth Nakagawa from her home, bleeding and in pain, the tarp they’d wrapped her in reminded her of a body bag. Nakagawa, 39, is a Coast Guard commander: stoic, methodical, an engineer by trade.
A Coast Guard Commander Miscarried. She Nearly Died After Being Denied Care.
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. The night the EMTs carried Elizabeth Nakagawa from her home, bleeding and in pain, the tarp they’d wrapped her in reminded her of a body bag. Nakagawa, 39, is a Coast Guard commander: stoic, methodical, an engineer by trade.
What to know about the roiling debate over U.S. maternal mortality rates
A new study challenged the accuracy of public health data on deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth — and the narrative of high and rising U.S. maternal mortality rates. An unusual public dispute has ensued. An unusual public dispute has erupted among leading maternal health experts over whether the striking rise of U.S. maternal mortality rates over the past two decades was the real deal — or a statistical mirage.
What to know about the roiling debate over U.S. maternal mortality rates
This story was originally published by ProPublica. An unusual public dispute has erupted among leading maternal health experts over whether the striking rise of U.S. maternal mortality rates over the past two decades was the real deal — or a statistical mirage. The challenge to what has been a long-held view among public health officials came from researchers behind a new study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
What to Know About the Roiling Debate Over U.S. Maternal Mortality Rates
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. An unusual public dispute has erupted among leading maternal health experts over whether the striking rise of U.S. maternal mortality rates over the past two decades was the real deal — or a statistical mirage.
What to Know About the Roiling Debate Over U.S. Maternal Mortality Rates
A new study challenged the accuracy of public health data on deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth — and the narrative of high and rising U.S. maternal mortality rates. An unusual public dispute has ensued. The study concluded that maternal death rates put out by the CDC have been substantially inflated by misclassified data. Using an alternate way of counting deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth, the study found, U.S. maternal mortality rates would be far lower than have been reported.
A Utah Cleft Palate Team Says Its Approach Is Innovative. Others See a Pattern of Unnecessary Surgeries on Children.
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Returning to his home state of Utah, where more babies are born with cleft lip and palate than is typical, Dr. Devan Griner made plans to open his own practice, joining the small cohort of plastic surgeons nationwide who treat the condition. Defend the facts. Support independent journalism by donating to ProPublica.
Michigan Lawmaker Introduces Bill Requiring State Health Plans to Cover Cutting-Edge Cancer Treatments
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. Update, March 5, 2024: After this story was published, the bill was introduced.
Republicans Hatched a Secret Assault on the Voting Rights Act in Washington State
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Republican Paul Graves’ work was about to come undone. In the wee hours of Nov. 15, 2021, he and his fellow Republican on Washington state’s independent redistricting commission had finally prevailed on their Democratic counterparts to agree to the maps voters would use in the upcoming election.
Why Museum of Us and History Colorado Didn’t Have to Scramble to Comply With New Repatriation Rules
America’s institutions hold human remains and sacred items taken from the graves of tens of thousands of Native Americans. A federal law, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, was meant to help return them, but decades after its 1990 passage, many tribes are still waiting. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
Health Plans Can’t Dodge Paying for Expensive New Cancer Treatments, Says Michigan’s Top Insurance Regulator
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. This story first appeared in ProPublica on Jan. 9 and was done in partnership with Scripps News.
Health Plans Can’t Dodge Paying for Expensive New Cancer Treatments, Says Michigan’s Top Insurance Regulator
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. This story is part of a partnership with Scripps News.
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.
Health insurers are still denying claims despite breaking state laws
Sign up for our Health Care Report newsletter to get a weekly digest of local health care industry news right in your inbox.
Health Insurers Have Been Breaking State Laws for Years
by Maya Miller and Robin Fields 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 insurers reject millions of claims for treatment every year in America. Corporate insiders, recordings and internal emails expose the system and its harm.
Health insurers are still denying claims despite breaking state laws
This story was originally published by ProPublica. In North Carolina, lawmakers outraged that breast cancer patients were being denied reconstructive surgeries passed a measure forcing health insurers to pay for them. In Arizona, legislators intervened to protect patients with diabetes, requiring health plans to cover their supplies. Elected officials in more than a dozen states, from Oklahoma to California, wrote laws demanding that insurance companies pay for emergency services.
How often do health insurers reject patients’ claims? No one knows
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.
Health insurers have been breaking state laws for years
In the most egregious cases, patients have been denied coverage for lifesaving care. On Wednesday, a ProPublica investigation traced how a Michigan company would not pay for an FDA-approved cancer medication for a patient, Forrest VanPatten, even though a state law requires insurers to cover cancer drugs. That expensive treatment offered VanPatten his only chance for survival. The father of two died at the age 50, still battling the insurer for access to the therapy. Regulators never intervened.
Health Insurers Have Been Breaking State Laws for Years
by Maya Miller and Robin Fields 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 insurers reject millions of claims for treatment every year in America. Corporate insiders, recordings and internal emails expose the system and its harm.
Health insurers have been breaking state laws for years
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. Health insurers reject millions of claims for treatment every year in America. Corporate insiders, recordings and internal emails expose the system and its harm.
Health insurers have been breaking state laws for years
This story was originally published by ProPublica, in collaboration with the Capitol Forum and in partnership with Scripps News. For more stories from ProPublica, sign up to receive its newsletter. In North Carolina, lawmakers outraged that breast cancer patients were being denied reconstructive surgeries passed a measure forcing health insurers to pay for them. In Arizona, legislators intervened to protect patients with diabetes, requiring health plans to cover their supplies.
Health insurers have been breaking state laws for years
This story is republished from Propublica. Read the original article, which is part of a partnership with Scripp News. In North Carolina, lawmakers outraged that breast cancer patients were being denied reconstructive surgeries passed a measure forcing health insurers to pay for them. In Arizona, legislators intervened to protect patients with diabetes, requiring health plans to cover their supplies.
Health Insurers Have Been Breaking State Laws for Years
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. This story is part of a partnership with Scripps News . In North Carolina, lawmakers outraged that breast cancer patients were being denied reconstructive surgeries passed a measure forcing health insurers to pay for them. In Arizona, legislators intervened to protect patients with diabetes, requiring health plans to cover their supplies.
Health Insurers Have Been Breaking State Laws for Years
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. This story is part of a partnership with Scripps News.
Insurance Executives Refused to Pay for the Cancer Treatment That Could Have Saved Him. This Is How They Did It.
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. This story is part of a partnership with Scripps News. Forrest VanPatten was 50 and strong after years as a molten-iron pourer when he learned in July 2019 that a hyperaggressive form of lymphoma had invaded his body. Chemotherapy failed. Because he was not in remission, a stem cell transplant wasn’t an option.
Insurance Executives Refused to Pay for the Cancer Treatment That Could Have Saved Him. This Is How They Did It.
1 day ago Climate change is expensive, deadly and preventable, according to the new National Climate Assessment, the most sweeping, sophisticated federal analysis of climate change compiled to date. Released every five years, the National Climate Assessment is a congressionally mandated evaluation of the …
Insurance Executives Refused to Pay for the Cancer Treatment That Could Have Saved Him. This Is How They Did It.
The news was bad. Forrest had something called Richter's transformation. It made his lymphoma significantly more aggressive and less likely to respond to conventional chemotherapy. After hanging up, Forrest typed Richter's into his phone. Almost immediately, he proclaimed, "This is a death sentence." Betty needed to clear her head. She walked around the block, passing a restaurant where Forrest's name was on the wall for completing a taco-eating challenge.
How Often Do Health Insurers Say No to Patients? No One Knows.
How Often Do Health Insurers Say No to Patients? No One Knows. Published August 25, 2023 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.
How often do health insurers say 'no' to patients? No one knows. – Daily Montanan
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.
How often do health insurers say no to patients? No one knows.
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.
How often do health insurers say no to patients? No one knows.
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.
No One Knows How Often Health Insurers Say No To Patients
Above Photo: Daniel Fishel for ProPublica. Insurers’ denial rates — a critical measure of how reliably they pay for customers’ care — remain mostly secret to the public. Federal and state regulators have done little to change that. 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?
How often do health insurers say no to patients? No one knows.
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. 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.
How often do health insurers say no to patients? No one knows.
By Robin Fields 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 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?
How Often Do Health Insurers Say No to Patients? No One Knows.
This article first appeared at ProPublica and was co-published with The Capitol Forum. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. 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?
How frequent do health insurers deny claims? No one knows Original
This story was originally published by ProPublica. 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.
How Often Do Health Insurers Say No to Patients? No One Knows. – RamaOnHealthcare
How Often Do Health Insurers Say No to Patients? No One Knows. ProPublica June 28, 2023 By Robin Fields Insurers’ denial rates — a critical measure of how reliably they pay for customers’ care — remain mostly secret to the public. Federal and state regulators have done little to change that. 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?
How Often Do Health Insurers Say No to Patients? No One Knows.
by Robin Fields ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. 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.
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.
4 Ways the U.S. Failed COVID-19 Vaccine Messaging Original
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. With the rollout this month of a new coronavirus booster, U.S. public health leaders once more face the challenge of persuading Americans that they should roll up their sleeves and get another, possibly better, shot targeted at the omicron strain. This has become tougher with each successive vaccination campaign.
This Hurricane-Ravaged Town Has Waited Years for Long-Term Aid. It Could Happen Again.
This article was produced by The Times-Picayune | The Advocate, a member of ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published. LAKE CHARLES, La. — Hilda Brown ambled down a wooden walkway with the help of a cane and gingerly took a seat at a table between her badly damaged house and a FEMA trailer. It had been more than a year and a half since Hurricane Laura, but the then-64-year-old widow still didn’t know where to turn.
New York Polio Case Now Connected to Traces of Virus Found in UK and Israel
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
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