The article gives a good example of why it's in the insurance companies' interest to pay people to give you advice. It was obvious to everyone on the ground that the insurer would save money if they just sent the author's mother to an out-of-network physical therapist rather than keeping her in the hospital. But the insurer didn't have anyone who could quickly make that cost-saving judgment call.

Really, the biggest problem in a lot of cases is not that insurers deny claims for life-saving procedures, it's that they prioritize expensive and ineffective treatments over inexpensive and effective treatments.