Scott Adams, creator of the office humor comic strip Dilbert, is pictured at work in 2006. Adams has metastatic prostate cancer and has asked President Trump to help save his life by resolving a bureaucratic problem with his health insurance. It worked: his appointment is scheduled for Tuesday.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
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Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
Like many, many Americans, Scott Adams had problems with insurance.
But Adams, who became famous first for his long-running Dilbert cartoon and then for racist tirade on YouTube — counts some of the influential people in his social media circle: President Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr. and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
So Adams posted his complaint against X, saying that Kaiser of Northern California, his health insurance company and healthcare provider, “dropped the ball” in prescribing a procedure needed for treatment. his metastatic prostate cancer. Adams wrote that he was going to ask Trump to help save his life, and added: “I am rapidly deteriorating. “I will ask President Trump if he can get the Kaiser of Northern California to respond and schedule it for Monday.”
Donald Trump Jr. was the first to respond to a post on Xsaying, “I'll make sure my father sees this.”
Just after 11 o'clock on Sunday morning, Kennedy repliedsaying, “Scott. How can I contact you? The President wants to help.”
Later that day, President Trump posted a screenshot of Adams' original post and responded “On this!” on your favorite social network, Truth Social.
And on Monday Adams wrote that he an appointment was made to get the infusion he needs of the cancer drug Pluvicto on Tuesday.
“For context, I waited months for the drug, just like everyone else,” Adams wrote. “But I think my files got lost or something and this glitch just got fixed. Not sure”.
The US health care system is notoriously complex, confusing and expensive, and many Americans have had experiences as frustrating as Adams'. However, few have the social media capabilities to enlist such powerful help.
“Our health care system should not be one in which we need the intervention of the president or the HHS secretary to speak on behalf of a high-ranking political patron,” said Anthony Wright, executive director US familieshealth advocacy organization.
Wright added that he was glad Adams got the help he needed and said it should be available to everyone. “I'm glad the president is proposing to look into cases,” Wright said, noting that federal workers doing similar problem-solving have been laid off and navigators who help people sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act have been cut by 90%. Wright also called ” “current closure due to issuance of tax credits that help millions of people access and afford healthcare.”
NPR reached out to Kaiser for comment, and they emailed the following statement: “Mr. Adams' cancer team is working closely with him on the next steps in treating his cancer, which are already underway. Since the drug was approved by the FDA three years ago, nuclear medicine and medical oncology specialists at Kaiser Permanente have treated more than 150 patients with Lu-177 PSMA (Pluvicto) in Northern California alone. We know this drug and this disease.”
Adams' experience prompted a chorus of well wishes online, as well as those shouting about the preferential treatment he apparently received.
“There are Americans all over America who are going through similar circumstances right now,” he wrote. one X posterresponding to Kennedy's offer to help Adams.
Another replied: “How about promoting UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE like the rest of the industrialized first world countries so that EVERYONE can be treated, not just the famous and rich?”
As they fight the health care shutdown that began Oct. 1, the roughly 24 million Americans who buy insurance through the ACA marketplaces will see their premiums skyrocket—the average plan. will double in price – unless Congress takes action. Democrats say they won't reopen the government until tax subsidies that lower costs are restored. Republicans say they won't discuss reinstating subsidies until the government reopens.
