In the seventies, Bill Mantlo was one of the most prolific comic book writers in the business, sometimes scripting as many as eight comics a month for Marvel. He was partially out of comics and into practicing law in '92 when he was seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident and he has spent his "life" since in and out of nursing homes and comas. I put the word "life" in quotes because he has obviously not had much of one in the years since the car hit him.
If you'd like your heart broken today, read this very long piece by Bill Coffin about Mantlo and his family's struggles to keep him in those nursing homes and get him treatment despite an insurance company's successful efforts to cease paying for his care. And keep in mind that this is the story of a man who had health insurance. One can only shudder at what would have happened if the same accident had happened, as it easily could, to one of the 50 million Americans who have no health insurance at all. If it was that bad for a guy with coverage…
Given the rep of the publication, the fact that the author had obvious access to Mantlo's family and that we all know this kind of thing happens, I would assume the factual recital of the insurance battles is correct. The article does try to present the insurer's side of the case in the last few pages and I think it's yet another strong argument that we need Single Payer insurance-for-all in this country. Those who still fear government "death panels" should take note of the portions of Mantlo's story where his private insurer keeps trying to cut off all payments to him because, after all, their primary duty is to their stockholders.
I'm not necessarily endorsing the account of Mantlo's career in comics. Though I was around that world then, I somehow never met Bill Mantlo. Passed him in the halls of Marvel a few times but never met him. Coffin's account of how a Marvel Comic was created is not really accurate but that's really not what the article is about. Those few paragraphs aside, it is an excellent bit of journalism…and a very sad one, indeed.