Marcus, a forty-one-year-old account manager from Charlotte, North Carolina, had finally agreed to enter a residential treatment program for his alcohol use disorder. His therapist found a bed at a respected facility for Monday morning. On Friday afternoon, the admissions coordinator called with words Marcus did not expect to hear: the insurance company needed to … Read more
When Eleanor died at seventy-nine in her Sarasota, Florida, condominium, she left behind a thirty-eight-year-old son named Daniel who had lived with schizoaffective disorder since college. Eleanor had been careful her whole life. She had saved methodically. She had worked with her bank to draft a will that left Daniel half her estate, about $190,000 … Read more
It was 2:47 a.m. when Maya, a sophomore at the University of Michigan, finally typed the message into her residence hall group chat: “I don’t think I want to be here anymore.” Her roommate Ainsley, asleep until her phone buzzed, woke up, read the screen twice, and ran across the hallway barefoot. She had heard … Read more
It was 2:47 a.m. when Maya, a sophomore at the University of Michigan, finally typed the message into her residence hall group chat: “I don’t think I want to be here anymore.” Her roommate Ainsley, asleep until her phone buzzed, woke up, read the screen twice, and ran across the hallway barefoot. She had heard … Read more
Priya, a twenty-nine-year-old graphic designer in Austin, Texas, had spent three weeks calling therapists in her insurance network. The eight names that had openings were either booked into the following spring, no longer accepting her plan, or specialized in something that did not match her needs. When she finally found a therapist whose Instagram post … Read more
Priya, a twenty-nine-year-old graphic designer in Austin, Texas, had spent three weeks calling therapists in her insurance network. The eight names that had openings were either booked into the following spring, no longer accepting her plan, or specialized in something that did not match her needs. When she finally found a therapist whose Instagram post … Read more
On a Wednesday afternoon in Phoenix, Marisol noticed her hands trembling as she sat in her parked car outside her office. She had run out of her sertraline four days earlier because her psychiatrist’s portal kept rejecting the refill request. Sleep had collapsed. Her boss had pulled her aside that morning to ask if everything … Read more
On a Wednesday afternoon in Phoenix, Marisol noticed her hands trembling as she sat in her parked car outside her office. She had run out of her sertraline four days earlier because her psychiatrist’s portal kept rejecting the refill request. Sleep had collapsed. Her boss had pulled her aside that morning to ask if everything … Read more
Bernard, a fifty-two-year-old line cook in Cleveland, walked into the ER on a Tuesday with chest pain that turned out to be a panic attack stacked on top of an ulcer. Three weeks later, an envelope arrived with a $14,800 bill for the visit, the imaging, and the overnight observation. Bernard had no insurance, two … Read more
Bernard, a fifty-two-year-old line cook in Cleveland, walked into the ER on a Tuesday with chest pain that turned out to be a panic attack stacked on top of an ulcer. Three weeks later, an envelope arrived with a $14,800 bill for the visit, the imaging, and the overnight observation. Bernard had no insurance, two … Read more