Denied and Dying: When Insurance Says No
The Dr. Phil Podcast
Dr. Phil McGraw
4.4 • 13.2K Ratings
🗓️ 16 August 2025
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When insurance companies deny care, people die. Dr. Phil exposes the real-life consequences of a profit-first healthcare system and the rage that’s reaching a breaking point.
Dr. Phil investigates the growing fury toward health insurance companies in America. Angela says her husband died of Stage 4 stomach cancer after their insurer denied a life-saving procedure. Kay, diagnosed with breast cancer at just 35, spent a decade battling for treatment approvals. Brigham Buhler left Big Pharma after seeing profits prioritized over patients, and now runs a preventative healthcare company, Ways2Well. Dr. Bill Hennessey created CareGuide after watching patients suffer through delays and denials. Is our system broken beyond repair or is there a way out?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You've had to fight your insurance while fighting cancer. |
| 0:03.1 | That's right. |
| 0:04.1 | You were pre-approved, and at 11 o'clock at night, |
| 0:08.3 | the doctor calls and says, no, it's not approved. |
| 0:12.7 | They put a price tag on my husband's life |
| 0:14.6 | and decided that he was not worth it. |
| 0:16.6 | Do you feel like if things had gone differently, |
| 0:19.1 | he could still be here? |
| 0:20.8 | 100%. |
| 0:22.5 | I gotta look behind the curtain. |
| 0:24.0 | He says the system is rigged. |
| 0:26.3 | In December 2024, Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate allegedly pulled out a gun and murdered United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson in cold blood on a busy street in New York City. |
| 0:52.3 | Mangione's alleged crime sparked a storm of anger among Americans, |
| 0:58.0 | but many were not pointing fingers at the alleged gunman. |
| 1:03.0 | Instead, one poll indicated that one in four people sympathized |
| 1:09.0 | with Mangione, highlighting deep, deep anger and frustration with |
| 1:15.6 | U.S. health care, a system that includes high cost, denials of care, and the perceived |
| 1:22.3 | exploitation of patients. |
| 1:25.5 | Angela says she knows all too well the anger and frustration people feel |
| 1:30.3 | about health insurance companies. Just one year after the death of her husband from |
| 1:36.2 | stage four stomach cancer, Angela says she blames his insurance company for putting profit |
| 1:43.0 | over people and contributing to killing him. |
... |
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