Coverage Denied - How Health Insurers Drive Inequality in the United States

In the aftermath of the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024, everyday Americans took to social media to share stories of the challenges they'd faced trying to navigate the American health insurance system. Why did this event strike such a nerve with the American public? For a topic as central to the lives of Americans as health care, there is no book that examines the impact of coverage denial, whereby health insurers decide whether to cover health services that appear to be within the scope of a plan's benefits - not until now. In Coverage Denied, health policy professor Miranda Yaver offers a sobering account of the ways in which coverage denials damage patient health and exacerbate inequalities along income, education, and racial lines. Combining rich interview material with original survey data, Yaver draws critical attention to the tens of millions of medical claims denied by health insurers every year, shining a necessary light on our inequitable health care system.

List of contents

Preface; 1. The political origins of coverage denials; 2. Causes and types of coverage denials; 3. Whose coverage is denied?; 4. Prescriptions are a headache; 5. Coverage denials and cost shifting to patients; 6. Navigating red tape in modern medicine; 7. Who wins and loses appeals; 8. The special difficulties of mental health; 9. A path forward; Appendix to chapter 1; Appendix to chapter 3; Appendix to chapter 6; Appendix to chapter 7; List of figures; List of tables; Acknowledgments; Notes; Index.

About the author

Miranda Yaver is an assistant professor of Health Policy and Management at the University of Pittsburgh. She was the 2025 Author-in-Residence at the Roosevelt Institute. Her research has been published in several journals, including American Journal of Political Science and Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law. Her op-eds and other health care commentary have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post's Monkey Cage Blog, STATNews, and The Hill.

Product details

• Authors: Miranda Yaver, Miranda (University of Pittsburgh) Yaver
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 31.03.2026
• EAN: 9781009649810
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0964981-0
• No. of pages: 352
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Education > Social education, social work; Social sciences, law, business > Business > Economics; USA, Health economics, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Economic Policy, POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / General, POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / National, Social discrimination & inequality, United States of America, USA, Central / national / federal government policies, Central government policies, Medical insurance, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Health Care, Social discrimination and social justice, Relating to lower socioeconomic groups / status