{"id":129349,"date":"2024-05-24T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=129349"},"modified":"2024-05-24T06:37:41","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T10:37:41","slug":"ct-marshall-allen-christian-muckraker-who-held-the-health-care-industry-accountable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=129349","title":{"rendered":"(CT) Marshall Allen, Christian Muckraker Who Held the Health Care Industry Accountable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In another investigation<\/a>, [Marshall] Allen reported that Dignity Health, a large religious health system that described itself as carrying on \u201cthe healing ministry of Jesus,\u201d had refused to cover the medical expenses of an employee\u2019s three-month-premature baby. Dignity claimed the woman hadn\u2019t filled out the necessary paperwork and that she bore sole responsibility for a nearly $1 million hospital bill, though she had enrolled her baby with the insurer from the NICU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Allen called the company with questions, Dignity reversed its decision and retroactively covered the baby, who survived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome people might think that Christians are supposed to be soft and acquiescent rather than muckrakers who hold the powerful to account,\u201d he wrote<\/a> in The New York Times<\/em>. \u201cBut what I do as an investigative reporter is consistent with what the Bible teaches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allen argued that the Bible \u201cteaches that people are made in the image of God and that each human life holds incredible value.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Christian journalist, he said, should be comforted by God to be a comfort to others. A Christian journalist should rebuke deception and unfair practices. A Christian journalist should get all sides of the story, in line with Proverbs\u2019 call<\/a> for hearing multiple witnesses. And a Christian journalist should admit and correct mistakes with humility. He also shared this vision of Christian journalism in lectures to<\/a> journalism students at The King\u2019s College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe saw this work as redemptive and Christian in nature,\u201d said Paul Glader, a friend of Allen\u2019s and a former journalism professor at King\u2019s. \u201cHe did amazing work investigating the health care bureaucracy and bullies, seeking out answers and truth for the little guy\u2014all of us consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nRead it all<\/a>.

Marshall Allen, a Christian muckraker who held the health care industry accountable, has died at age 52.

His obituary from @emlybelz<\/a>:https:\/\/t.co\/jKrQA3nle3<\/a><\/p>— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) May 23, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>