Maya Miller

Engagement Reporter

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Maya Miller is an engagement reporter at ProPublica working on community-sourced investigations. She’s collaborated across and beyond the newsroom on series about aggressive medical debt collection practices, housing and evictions, as well as toxic air pollution and health. The impact of her reporting includes a national doctors’ group announcing it would stop suing patients for medical debt, state legislators introducing a bill to repeal a criminal eviction statute, as well as federal lawmakers and officials promising investigations and reforms.

Her reporting within ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, which has included working with residents to monitor air quality and crowdsourcing real-time reactions to air pollution, has contributed to several awards. These include a 2020 Selden Ring Award and Gerald Loeb Award (“Profiting from the Poor”), as well as a 2021 finalist for the Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics and the Gather Award in Engaged Journalism (“State of Denial”). Her work has appeared in NBC Investigations, Chicago magazine and the Chicago Tribune, among others. She lives in New York and speaks Spanish.

New EPA Rule to Slash Cancer-Causing Emissions From Sterilization Facilities

The new rule comes after a 2021 investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune revealed the EPA’s yearslong failure to inform communities of the risks they faced from cancer-causing ethylene oxide emissions.

Michigan Lawmaker Introduces Bill Requiring State Health Plans to Cover Cutting-Edge Cancer Treatments

After ProPublica reported on a Michigan insurer that wouldn’t cover a cancer patient’s last-chance treatment, a state lawmaker introduced a measure compelling health plans to cover a new generation of advanced cancer therapies.

We’re Investigating Mental Health Care Access. Share Your Insights.

ProPublica’s reporters want to talk to mental health providers, health insurance insiders and patients as we examine the U.S. mental health care system. If that’s you, reach out.

Health Plans Can’t Dodge Paying for Expensive New Cancer Treatments, Says Michigan’s Top Insurance Regulator

After ProPublica reported on a health insurer that refused to cover the only medicine that could save a cancer patient’s life, Michigan insurance regulators clarified that, by law, many plans must pay for any clinically proven treatments.

Health Insurers Have Been Breaking State Laws for Years

States have passed hundreds of laws to protect people from wrongful insurance denials. Yet from emergency services to fertility preservation, insurers still say no.

Insurance Executives Refused to Pay for the Cancer Treatment That Could Have Saved Him. This Is How They Did It.

A Michigan law requires coverage of cancer drugs. One insurer came up with a “defensible” way to avoid paying for treatments that offered Forrest VanPatten his last chance for survival. “We crossed the line,” says a former executive.

You Have a Right to Know Why a Health Insurer Denied Your Claim. Some Insurers Still Won’t Tell You.

Federal regulations require insurers to promptly hand over records to patients facing claim denials. Some insurers only turned over their files after ProPublica reached out.

Find Out Why Your Health Insurer Denied Your Claim

You likely have the right to access records that explain why your insurer denied your claim or prior authorization request. Use ProPublica’s free tool to generate a letter requesting your claim file from your health insurance company.

Do You Have Experience in or With the Plastics Industry? Tell Us About It.

Help journalists at the investigative nonprofit newsroom ProPublica examine plastics from creation to recycling and disposal. If you’ve worked in or been affected by the plastics industry, we want to hear from you.

¿Tiene experiencia con la enfermedad arterial periférica? ¿Ha tenido un procedimiento en su pierna? Cuéntenos al respecto.

Algunos médicos pueden estar abusando de un procedimiento para despejar las arterias obstruidas en las piernas, lo que podría provocar amputaciones. Necesitamos su ayuda para conectarnos con los pacientes.

Congressional Committee, Regulators Question Cigna System That Lets Its Doctors Deny Claims Without Reading Patient Files

The probes follow an investigation by ProPublica and The Capitol Forum that Cigna allows its doctors to reject hundreds of thousands of claims a month.

Health Insurance Claim Denied? See What Insurers Said Behind the Scenes

Learn how to request your health insurance claim file, which can include details about what your insurer is saying about you and your case.

EPA Proposes Major Air Pollution Reforms to Lower Residents’ Cancer Risk Near Industrial Facilities

The EPA has proposed tougher air pollution rules for chemical plants and other industrial facilities after ProPublica found an estimated 74 million Americans near those sites faced an elevated risk of cancer.

How Cigna Saves Millions by Having Its Doctors Reject Claims Without Reading Them

Internal documents and former company executives reveal how Cigna doctors reject patients’ claims without opening their files. “We literally click and submit,” one former company doctor said.

Do You Have Experience With Peripheral Artery Disease? Have You Had a Procedure on Your Leg? Tell Us About It.

Some doctors may be overusing a procedure to clear out clogged arteries in legs, potentially leading to amputations. We need your help connecting with patients, including those who may not know they have had an atherectomy.

UnitedHealthcare Tried to Deny Coverage to a Chronically Ill Patient. He Fought Back, Exposing the Insurer’s Inner Workings.

After a college student finally found a treatment that worked, the insurance giant decided it wouldn’t pay for the costly drugs. His fight to get coverage exposed the insurer’s hidden procedures for rejecting claims.

This School District Is Ground Zero for Harsh Discipline of Native Students in New Mexico

In Gallup-McKinley County Schools, wearing the wrong color shirt can get you written up for “gang-related activity.” Banging on a window is bullying. The district is responsible for most of New Mexico’s disproportionate expulsions of Native students.

Toxic Salmon Reporting “Deeply Troubling,” Lawmaker Says, Demanding Changes to Protect Pacific Northwest Tribal Health

Citing a ProPublica and Oregon Public Broadcasting investigation into toxic contamination in salmon, state and federal lawmakers across the Pacific Northwest are calling for policy changes and more funding but are lacking details on next steps.

The U.S. Promised Tribes They Would Always Have Fish, but the Fish They Have Pose Toxic Risks

For decades, the U.S. government has failed to test for chemicals and metals in fish. So, we did. What we found was alarming for tribes.

Do You Work With These Hazardous Chemicals? Tell Us About It.

Asbestos and other dangerous materials can cause serious health effects — and the U.S. hasn’t banned some substances like other countries have. Your input can help us report on the extent of this problem for American workers.

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