Benefits rep for the parent company called me this morning to say "we're doing everything we can."

I asked if they were contracting a second insurance provider so we'd at least have a market from which to choose, or if they were lobbying for single-payer at the corporate level.

He said no.

I said, "then you're not doing everything you can. I expect better."

The conversation didn't really go anywhere after that, but it took him forty-five minutes to recognize that.

To be sure, at one point he did fully admit that our corporate benefits package sucks and he hates having his hands tied, and it was good to hear that acknowledgement, but learned helplessness doesn't move the needle. He did say by the end that he would ask about how long my spouse would have to be without treatment before they could apply for TNS as a "new depressive episode," and that might work. And he did say he'd tell me how to manage an external review. But none of that _fixes_ this.

THIS is why we need unions.
THIS is why we need collective action.
THIS is why we need solidarity.
THIS.
The benefits rep on the phone said flat-out he's having to tell a patient with breast cancer that she's exceeded her limits, and he "felt terrible" for having to do it. I about screamed on the bus, "your feelings won't pay for her cancer treatment."