After a spell of two days in hospital following what amounts to a heart attack, I returned home and was shortly thereafter sent a document telling me my insurer refused to pay any of the $17,000+ bill. My friend Daryl (I have changed his name to preserve his privacy), a highly sophisticated and notably brilliant writer, said all this to me in an e-mail when I asked him how he was doing. He went on. ‘This is larcenous and disgraceful behavior; I’ve been paying ever increasing monthly premiums for years, and it is beyond belief that the insurer should now refuse to meet its responsibilities. Daryl had come here from another industrialized country where healthcare was considered a right; this was the first time he had asked anything of his insurer, and his disbelief was tinged with deep vexation. ‘When my attorney wife called them to protest, she was told cheerfully that this notice had been sent out routinely ‘before the situation has even been assessed’ and hence to ignore it-for the moment. Then I got notified that a crucial medication I have had prescribed for some years was being disallowed even though my specialist wrote the requested authorization […]