There is a gripping scene in the movie “The Rainmaker,” based on John Grisham’s book of the same title. A former claims representative, played by Virginia Madsen, testifies in court, before a jury, about what happened with a claim made by the mother of Donny Ray Black, a young man suffering from leukemia. A bone marrow transplant would most likely have saved Donny Ray’s life, but the family’s health insurer denied the claim eight times before the family sought out a young and idealistic lawyer played by Matt Damon.
On the stand, Madsen delivers a devastating picture behind the scenes of what happened with the Black family’s claim, which was just one of thousands of claims denied by the insurance company in a year. Questioned about whether she knew the Black claim, which she had initially denied pursuant to the company’s internal policies, should have been paid, she replies: “Everybody knew. The company was playing the odds that the insured would not consult a lawyer.” Madsen’s character is soon discredited, shamefully, on personal grounds, but it is not giving away the movie to note that everything she said was true.
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