By Joseph Burns
When reporting on junk health insurance plans, one of the prerequisites is finding consumers willing to talk about how they fell victim to an egregious health coverage scam.
Such stories are most compelling when we feature an unsuspecting consumer willing to explain how he or she got swindled into buying what looked like a worthwhile health insurance plan that would cover the costs of routine or emergency care or a major illness.
Finding sources for these types of stories requires digging, along with knowledge of how social media works and knowing where to look, explains Jenny Deam, a veteran health care journalist for ProPublica.
Early in 2021, Deam and her colleague Maya Miller, an engagement reporter worked on an article about junk health insurance plans. Knowing that the best consumer stories include anecdotes from consumers themselves, they went hunting for sources.
Miller shared that when seeking sources who have outstanding bills, it’s useful to search on GoFundMe and Reddit to find consumers looking for advice. “We learned from GoFundMe that about a third to one half of their content is from people raising money for medical debt or medical costs,” she said. She went into a bit more detail in this piece published in the summer of 2021.
Deam has a slightly different approach that can be equally effective, as she explains in the following Q&A.
What are some of the best ways to identify sources for your stories? For example, it might be difficult to find people who have been scammed into buying junk health insurance because they may be embarrassed to talk to reporters.
I’ve written about health insurance for a number of years now and in that time, I’ve joined many groups on Facebook and now those people know me. They also know my work and they trust me. Facebook was one of my go-to sources when was I was working in Texas for The Houston Chronicle. I reached out to one of the members of the group who knew someone I could interview for our ProPublica story.
Do you have suggestions for certain Facebook groups to join?
I’ve had terrific luck both on Facebook and in general by joining groups for mothers. One reason those groups work well is they tend to be extremely candid and chatty, and they usually are in charge of their family’s health care. There are national mothers’ groups on Facebook and there are groups for mothers in cities and states. In some cities, you can find groups even down to the neighborhood level that you can tap. You might be able to find these groups by searching for affordable health care or help paying health care bills.
If you know the names of some groups, you can search that way. For example, we found one Facebook group for mothers called Moms Rising.
Some of the groups are private, meaning you have to ask to join. If it’s a private group, you kind of have to tread lightly, and then ask to join. Being a mother myself, that seems to help and so I’m a member of a number of these groups. So, when I’m looking for sources, I just scroll through those groups. Just reading what people are saying helps to focus me a bit on what issues are important to people and what trends they’re seeing.
Then, if you find somebody who has a good story, I often just message them through Facebook.
Do you just reach out to people thinking they’ll be the primary source for your story?
Yes, that’s most often what happens. But recently, I was working on a story about people being sued and I found one source through Facebook because I had a name from a court record. It turns out that the person being sued did not respond. But also, I saw through his Facebook that his mother had posted about his case. So, I went to her Facebook page and messaged her. She said, “Sure, I’ll be happy to talk to you.”
So sometimes, you just have to connect the dots. And, of course, you have to meet people where they are. By that I mean, you have to be somewhat sympathetic but also honest and straightforward that you’re reporter doing a story and you’re looking for sources.
Are there other groups that you look for besides groups for mothers?
Yes, back in 2017, there was a group Saving Affordable Health Insurance, which was an offshoot of a group of writers that I was in years ago. In 2017, there was a lot of talk about overturning the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and this group was formed by people who had individual health plans because they were freelance writers and artists. They didn’t want to lose the ACA, so they created their own Facebook group.
I found somebody that way, but I wasn’t able to use that person. She had created her own advocacy group in Illinois that turned out to be useful. Using Facebook or searching anywhere online, it’s sometimes a bit of a journey to get to the right people. But it’s like anything in journalism, you just have to keep pulling the threads.
For the junk health insurance story, I searched for high medical bills or insurance and a bunch of stuff came up. First, I contacted the administrator of the group and asked if I could post a question and she said no. But she also mentioned that one of the members of the group had started another advocacy group and that person was very helpful. We didn’t use her in the story, and she didn’t provide a patient, but it could be a good source for the future.
Have you also inquired about patient advocacy groups such as those for people who have certain conditions, such as cancer, leukemia or heart disease?
Yes. Most states have some sort of a consumer advocacy group that will work with poor people or with people who have certain health conditions. They can be a good starting point.
But if you do that, it will help if you could narrow the focus a little bit. It would be best to say that you’re looking for a particular type of consumer who has a good story and is willing to talk to a reporter.
Resources for finding sources
- Check out patient-advocacy groups that support patients with various conditions. For example, see this report, Under-Covered: “How Insurance-Like Products Are Leaving Patients Exposed” from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and 29 other organizations representing patients. It includes good examples from patients who learned thorough bad experience that they were buying insurance that did not comply with the consumer-protection rules of the ACA.
- Another advocacy group worth checking out is Patients for Affordable Drugs (P4AD), a nonprofit organization that says it does not accept contributions from any organizations that profit from the development or distribution of prescription drugs. Visit P4AD’s blog for harrowing stories about patients who suffer financially from having to pay for high-priced medications.
- Call associations that represent patient advocates such as the Alliance of Professional Health Advocates (APHA), an organization for independent patient advocates in the United States and Canada. APHA’s members include medical bill reviewers and negotiators, insurance claims specialists, health care navigators, care managers and health insurance advisers.
- Ask physicians, nurses, and social workers in your area, particularly those treating patients with high-cost conditions who are becoming increasingly aware of the financially toxic nature of the health care system. In particular, ask oncologists, rheumatologists, and endocrinologists for the names of patients who have had to skip treatment or medications because of high costs.
More organizations to contact
