Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, the office humor comic strip, is pictured at work in 2006. Adams has metastatic prostate cancer and he appealed to President Trump to help save his life by solving a bureaucratic problem with his health insurance. It worked: His appointment is Tuesday.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
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Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
Like many, many Americans, Scott Adams had health insurance problems.
But Adams — made famous first by his long-running Dilbert cartoon, and later for a racist rant on YouTube — counts some powerful people in his social media circle: President Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr. and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
So Adams posted his complaint on X, saying Kaiser of Northern California, his health insurer and care provider, had “dropped the ball” in scheduling a procedure needed to treat his metastatic prostate cancer. Adams wrote he was going to ask Trump to help save his life, and he added: “I am declining fast. I will ask President Trump if he can get Kaiser of Northern California to respond and schedule it for Monday.”
Donald Trump Jr. responded to the post on X first, saying: “Going to make sure that my dad sees this.”
Just after 11 am on Sunday morning, Kennedy responded, saying, “Scott. How do I reach you? The President wants to help.”
Later that day, President Trump posted a screen shot of Adams’ original post and responded “On it!” on his favored social media platform, Truth Social.
And on Monday, Adams posted that he had an appointment to receive the infusion he needed of the cancer drug, Pluvicto, on Tuesday.
“For context, I waited months for the drug, like everyone else,” Adams wrote. “But I think my files got misplaced or something and that glitch just got corrected. Not sure.”
The U.S. health care system is notoriously complex, confusing and expensive, and many Americans have had similarly frustrating experiences as Adams did. Few, though, have the social media reach to enlist such powerful helping hands.
“Our health system shouldn’t be one where we need the intervention of the president or the HHS secretary to weigh in on behalf of a high-profile political backer,” said Anthony Wright, the executive director of Families USA, a health care advocacy organization.
Wright added that he is gratified Adams got the help he needed and said it should be available to all. “Glad the President is offering to do casework,” Wright said, noting that federal workers who do similar problem solving have been fired and navigators who help people sign up for Affordable Care Act health insurance have been cut by 90%. Wright also called out the” “current shutdown over the issue of tax credits that help millions access and afford health care.”
NPR reached out to Kaiser for comment and they e-mailed this statement: “Mr. Adams’ oncology team is working closely with him on the next steps in his cancer care, which are already underway. Since it was approved by the FDA three years ago, Kaiser Permanente’s nuclear medicine and medical oncology experts have treated more than 150 patients with Lu-177 PSMA (Pluvicto) in Northern California alone. We know this drug and this disease.”
Adams’ experience drummed up a chorus of well-wishes online, as well as those who called out the preferential treatment he apparently got.
“There are Americans all over America who are currently going through similar circumstances,” wrote one X poster, responding to Kennedy’s offer to help Adams.
Another responded: “How about promoting UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE, like the rest of the Industrialized 1st World Nations, so EVERYONE can be treated, not just Celebrity & the Wealthy?”
In the shutdown health care fight that started Oct. 1, about 24 million Americans who buy their insurance on the ACA marketplaces will see their premiums skyrocket — the average plan will double in price — if Congress doesn’t act. Democrats say they will not reopen the government unless the tax subsidies that bring down the cost are renewed. Republicans say they will not discuss renewing the subsidies until the government is reopened.
