How We Fought Back Against Denied Healthcare

Our insurance company rejected the life saving medication our daughter needed for at least the 13th time, so we went public, and guess what happened next?

My wife Ayesha and I have an incredible 9-year-old daughter who suffers from a life threatening and incurable chronic illness. Last December we co-wrote a painful piece about how our health insurance company repeatedly denied her the life saving care she needs to live. The piece, When Insurance Rejects Life Saving Care, went viral, and currently has more than 100,000 reads across platforms. Now in 2025, that same insurance company has denied our daughter’s life saving medication once more—and we’re no longer letting this suffering continue in silence. Let’s Address This.

Credit: Image: Flickr / Michael Fleshman

Why We’re Going Public

This story is one story of millions. It is from the perspective of my opinion, and my lived experience. And in that lived experience, my wife Ayesha and I exhausted every resource we could think of before going public with our daughter’s story. We previously did not name the insurance company, Oscar Health, because we had just submitted a claim for our daughter’s medication for 2025, had upgraded to their Gold Plan (i.e. the most expensive plan available on the ACA), and hoped perhaps this time they would approve that critical medication. We were wrong, and instead received the below notice—once again rejecting our valid claim, declaring it was “Not Medically Necessary.”

After taking some time to compose myself and navigate our next steps, I finally decided that staying silent was not a viable path forward. In channeled rage I posted our struggle on social media—a post that also went viral. Remarkably, and unexpectedly, Oscar Health responded to us on Twitter directly.

And then, within 12 hours, on a Sunday no less, Oscar Health called no less than seven times, leaving multiple messages, asking to speak. And just like that, our claim was approved not just for 2025 and not just for the the units of medication we requested—but unlimited units indefinitely (or at least until 2099).

For those who have followed my work, you know I’ve written in detail about America’s Violent Health System, which enables 68,000 annual preventable deaths per the Lancet, and enables 500,000 annual medical bankruptcies. You’ve seen my research debunking every prominent myth against universal healthcare as a human right, and making the case to ensure we move to a guaranteed healthcare system without insurance executives standing between us and our doctors. You’ve read my work where I’ve detailed the exploitative nature of HELL Corporations (Health Exploitation Limited Liability Corporations) and how they exist not to protect our health, but to exploit our illnesses. Meanwhile, as insurance corporations deny us the care we need, they profit more than $88 Billion annually across industries.¹

Questions That Demand Answers

I share all this to prove a simple point.

It should not take someone who has researched the health insurance industry for years, who has worked as a human rights attorney for decades, and who has millions of social media followers, for a HELL Corporation to finally do what is right and provide the life saving healthcare a 9-year-old girl needs to live. Meanwhile, a plethora of questions need answering. What would happen to our daughter if any of the following were true?

• What if my wife and I were uninformed on the exploitative insurance industry in the United States and didn’t know how to get our daughter the care she needed?

• What if we did not know or realize that it is not normal that Oscar wrongfully rejected our valid claim 13 times (as the Oscar rep who called confirmed to me)?

• What if our financial situation was one in which we could not simply tighten our belts (which we absolutely did) to afford the absurd out of pocket costs—in addition to our Oscar premiums—to ensure our daughter did not die?

• What if my wife did not have the ability or time to spend literally hundreds of hours on the phone, dealing with insurance bureaucrats, hospital administrators, doctors, labs, and billing departments to navigate the dystopian maze that is the for profit health insurance industry?

• What if we did not learn about going directly to the drug manufacturer to ask them to provide the drug at a subsidized cost?

• What if we could not afford the hospital expenses, which ran into the thousands, after Oscar denied that coverage too?

• What if I did not have millions of social media followers as a platform to publicize these injustices and place public pressure on Oscar to approve our claim?

• What if my daughter was not still with us, but in the time it took to get the medication she needed, succumbed to becoming a statistic as one of the 68,000 Americans who annually die preventable deaths because the for-profit insurance industry denied her the care and medication she needed to live?

The harsh truth is that none of the above are hypotheticals, because at least one, if not all of them apply to every single person in this country. None of this suffering is necessary. All of it is preventable. And that can only happen when we recognize—as the vast majority of our nation has²—that healthcare must be a human right guaranteed to all people, not a for profit enterprise for the select few. But since we remain the only developed country on Earth without healthcare as a human right, here is how you can best protect yourself in response to denied care.

How to Respond to Denied Care

Here are the steps Ayesha and I took to ensure our daughter got the care she needs. This is not an exhaustive list, but it is a list I wish we had when she was born nearly a decade ago.

1. Appeal every denial. Do not let HELL Corporations get away with a simple denial. Appeal, appeal, appeal, and demand they put their rejection explanation in writing. According to the American Medical Association, more than 82% of initial rejects are overturned on appeal.³ This is a wholly unnecessary and cruel hoop to force unwell people to jump through, but this is the current reality until we can pressure HELL Corporations to act with more expediency the first time. To this day I still do not understand why Oscar rejected our daughter’s life saving medication 13 times. So, suffice it to say, do not stop appealing.

2. Seek “peer to peer” reviews, in which your physician prescribing the medication has the opportunity to speak with the HELL Corporation bureaucrats directly on a live call. Remember, it is impossible for HELL Corporations to be experts on every medical condition out there—they’re not doctors (even though apparently no one told them that). Your doctor is your best advocate—have them go to bat for you.

3. Go directly to the drug manufacturer. As was the case for us, when HELL Corporations refuse to fulfill their duty, some drug manufacturers are willing to provide the drug at a lower or subsidized cost. This is not an endorsement of the Big Pharma industry, it is an acknowledgement of one more option that may exist to procure the medication your doctor has prescribed for you.

4. Publicize your story. Almost all of the above failed for Ayesha and I, but once we publicized our story, we saw a shift. Recall that last year when Blue Cross and Blue Shield announced a limit on anesthesia, then quickly reversed after public outrage and condemnation.⁴ Raise your voice and tell your story—it matters.

5. Be an ally to each other. I am hopeful our daughter’s story is a reminder that this is not a battle between left and right, between MAGAs and Liberals, between Progressives and Moderates—this is class warfare of the wealthy elite against the working class. And for us to get through this, it is critical we look out for one another and elevate each other. You can be an ally by elevating the stories of those around you who are being denied care, especially for critical medications for cancer, chronic illnesses, or disabling diseases. Let HELL Corporations feel the pressure of public backlash against their unjust policies.

Conclusion

This was never about our daughter alone, but about every child and every person denied the care they need. It’s why I spoke up loudly for universal healthcare as a human right before our daughter was diagnosed with this life threatening illness, and why I will continue to speak up even after she’s ostensibly getting the care she needs (though to be sure, my lawyer dad brain keeps me skeptical for now).

I am here to provide my platform as a resource for readers and for the benefit of the public interest—because healthcare access impacts us all. If you have suffered rejection of life critical medication from your HELL Corporation, please email me your story at qasim.rashid@gmail.com and I will do my best, within my capacity, to publicize your story. I want to do everything in my power to ensure the HELL Corporation denying you the care you need is publicly held accountable for their cruelty and greed. And while I can make no guarantees of resolution, I can do my best to ensure we are not silent. I do not care of your political affiliation, status, or faith—if a HELL Corporation is exploiting you, I will do my best to elevate your struggle and join your fight for human rights and justice. We will use the power of this platform to peacefully rebuke the violence imposed on us by HELL Corporations.

We are in this together. We will only survive if we work together. Let’s get to work and end this hell imposed upon us.

1. https://iltla.com/?pg=Blog&blAction=showEntry&blogEntry=109107

2. 70% of Americans support Medicare For All: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/28/most-americans-now-support-medicare-for-all-and-free-college-tuition.html

3. https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/prior-authorization/over-80-prior-auth-appeals-succeed-why-aren-t-there-more#:~:text=The%20statistic%20is%20particularly%20alarming,was%20between%202019%20and%202021.

4. https://www.npr.org/2024/12/05/nx-s1-5217617/blue-cross-blue-shield-anesthesia-anthem