"At some point, we'll have to decide what to do about the tens of millions of Americans who contracted and survived unconfirmed cases of COVID-19, particularly those of them who will suffer lasting or chronic medical conditions as a result. Many of them will be uninsured or underinsured, and even those who enjoy what passes for good insurance (people like me) will find their paths to care obstructed. My insurance company rejected preauthorization for almost every test and scan my doctors ordered. Its effort to deny me care created numerous delays as my doctors pleaded my case to the physicians who work for Aetna; patients with worse doctors, or less flexibility might have given up. We should eliminate this abusive system for everyone, but in the immediate term, undisrupted care for COVID survivors is a more reachable goal, and it should be extended to those who were unable to confirm their infections because policymakers failed them." -- Brian Beutler (brianbeutler), "My Life After COVID", 2021-05-17