Joe Rogan didn't hold back in a recent episode of his podcast when comedian Joe DeRosa joined him for a wide-ranging conversation that included the American healthcare system, specifically how insurance companies operate.
Double Lung Surgery Denied
Rogan told the story of former UFC and Bellator fighter Ben Askren, who at just 40 years old, needed a double lung transplant after suffering from necrotic pneumonia.
“He developed some kind of crazy pneumonia and then it became necrotic. So it like ate holes in his lungs,” Rogan said. “He had to get a double lung replacement surgery at 40, and insurance didn’t want to cover it.”
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DeRosa was floored, saying, “It’s insane.”
Rogan went on to say Askren was on a ventilator for months, and despite his condition and history as a professional athlete, the insurance company refused to step up.
Pay Every Month, Get Nothing?
The conversation then turned to how insurance often feels like a scam.
“Their business is to pay you as little as possible and get you to give them money every month so that maybe if something happens, they’ll pay for it. Maybe. But maybe not,” Rogan said.
DeRosa compared it to a recent experience with home insurance after water damage in his condo. Even though it got covered, he still felt frustrated by the process.
“I can’t f***ing imagine if you’re in a situation like that where it’s your health,” he said.
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DeRosa took it one step further: “Insurance has become buying the protection plan at Best Buy.” However, Rogan disagreed, saying, “But no, Best Buy’s protection plan is way better.” He explained that if, for example, your phone breaks, you just “show your receipt, they shake your hand, thank you, and you leave. It’s great!”
He summed up the whole thing by calling it what it is: “The insurance gamble is the craziest gamble ever. I’m going to pay you every month and hopefully you’ll be kind enough to cover my insurance if something goes wrong.”
A System That Feels ‘Demonic’
They also discussed the morality of insurance companies making life-and-death decisions based on cost.
Asking what “demonic behavior” would look like, Rogan had this to say: “If you know that someone’s going to die, but you can deny them coverage because you just can make some sort of subjective decision whether or not this person should get coverage, and then you know they’re going to die and they’ve been paying for insurance for years. How do you do that?”
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“That’s like a pact,” he continued. “Like, you could just sign here, and then they’re covered, and then they get this operation. You do everything you can to help them, and then everybody loves your company. Or you could say, ‘I just want the money now.’ It’s dark.”
Ethics Are Optional Now
The talk expanded to how more people, not just corporations, avoid accountability until they're forced to face it.
“People put themselves in a way where they say, ‘I will not be accountable, and I will force you to be the one that has to hold me to something,'” DeRosa said. “It makes me very, very sad.”
Today, it often feels like personal and corporate ethics are treated as suggestions, not obligations.
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