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.

‘Miranda Yaver has produced a deeply disturbing interrogation of America’s deeply dysfunctional health care system. Brilliantly researched, with stories that will enrage you, Coverage Denied is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand why America’s health insurance bureaucracy can be so arbitrary and heartless – and why it doesn’t have to be that way.’

Jonathan Cohn - author of The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Coverage

‘Infuriating and original, urgent and expert, Coverage Denied lays bare the power of private health insurers to decide who gets care – and who does not. Combining path-breaking survey research, compelling stories, and a keen understanding of America’s distinctive policy landscape, Miranda Yaver has written the book on insurance coverage denials, why they cause so much hardship and inequality, and how they must be fixed.’

Jacob S. Hacker - Stanley Resor Professor of Political Science, Yale University, and author of The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Insecurity and the Decline of the American Dream

‘Why is it so hard for Americans to access health care? Miranda Yaver’s essential new book documents the growing use of health insurance denials – as a form of administrative burden – to pad the profits of health insurance companies by preventing access to life-saving health care. This is a must-read for policymakers, scholars, and anyone who interacts with the American health care system.’

Pamela Herd - Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy, University of Michigan, and author of Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means