We’re not ashamed to admit that we can sometimes get jealous of what other publications publish. If anything, it inspires us to see what other reporters are digging into on the same topics we’re exploring, and gives us ideas for how we might want to approach similar stories in the future.
Here are some of our favorite pieces that other outlets published this year.
“Not medically necessary”: Inside the company helping America’s biggest health insurers deny coverage for care by T. Christian Miller, Patrick Rucker, and David Armstrong, ProPublica and the Capitol Forum
I felt a deep personal connection to this story, as it came out right after my own mom’s chemotherapy treatment was denied by insurance, delaying her access to critical treatment for weeks. As a healthcare reporter, I already had a basic understanding of how insurance denials work, but the depth of reporting in this story really illuminates what happens behind the scenes. I empathized deeply with the Cupp family’s experience, which is a great example of humanizing a story.—MA
Alone in a bathroom: The fear and uncertainty of a post-Roe medication abortion by Caroline Kitchener, the Washington Post
Caroline Kitchener’s reporting always gets me, and not just because she has an awesome first name. In this raw—and, at times, disturbing—article, she profiles the experience of women who take abortion pills at home and doctors who provide support via a free miscarriage and abortion hotline, something I didn’t even realize existed. It was an angle I hadn’t seen reported before, and certainly not in this much depth.—CC
How the self-care industry made us so lonely by Allie Volpe, Vox
As the US is knee-deep in a “loneliness epidemic” (the surgeon general’s words, not mine), I’ve been thinking a lot about how the boom of the self-care industry reflects and highlights this problem—and how that in turn impacts our health. This piece in Vox brilliantly bridges how self-care spun out of healthcare and its impacts on public health.—CH
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Afraid to seek care amid Georgia’s abortion ban, she stayed at home and died by Kavitha Surana, ProPublica
When it comes to national health issues that affect thousands of people, sometimes the story of one person can be the catalyst for change. Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, there have been numerous reports of people who have been harmed or died because they couldn’t get the care they needed. One of those people was Candi Miller, a mother in Georgia who died after she decided not to seek care, reportedly “due to the current legislation on pregnancies and abortions.” There are no words to describe how devastating this story is to me, but it’s essential to consistently report on stories like Candi’s and remind readers that there are life-and-death consequences to abortion bans.—CM
This company promised to improve healthcare in jails. Dozens of its patients have died. by Cary Aspinwall, Brianna Bailey and Sachi Mcclendon, the Marshall Project
I used to freelance for the Marshall Project (TMP), a nonprofit news org that covers the US justice system, so I’m already a big fan of the staff’s investigative reporting and am consistently blown away by how deep the stories go. Learning about Turn Key Health Clinics and TMP’s investigation into it was shocking, to say the least. It’s an in-depth look at how the system fails people in prison, especially those like Shannon Hanchett who were jailed rather than given mental health treatments.—NO