Jigsaw
[flashback scene when John questions William about being denied coverage for his cancer treatment]
I came to talk to you Will, because I've found a treatment for my cancer that I think holds a lot of promise, but my requests for coverage have all been turned down.
William
Yeah...
Jigsaw
So, I was hoping that if I came and explained it to you that you might be able to get that overturned for me.
William
[smiles doubtfully]
Well, the buck stops here, John. Fire away.
Jigsaw
Okay.
[John hands William a brochure]
Jigsaw
This is a doctor in Norway. He's got a 30 to 40% success rate with gene therapy. He injects what he calls suicide genes into cancerous tumor cells; then an inactive form of a toxic drug is administered...
William
Yes. I'm familiar with the therapy you're talking about.
Jigsaw
Right. And a new trial's starting. He's looking for new patients and he seems to think that I'm the perfect candidate...
William
John, if your primary physician, Dr. Gordon, thought you were a suitable candidate, he would have pursued it.
Jigsaw
No. Dr. Gordon is a specialist. You know, he's making money on his specialty. He's not a thinker. I mean, the man has his hand on the doorknob half the time that I'm there.
William
I'm gonna be straight with you. At your age and with the development of your cancer, it's simply not feasible for Umbrella Health...
Jigsaw
Wait, wait, wait, wait. What's not feasible? By whose mathematical equation is this not feasible?
William
It's policy, John. It's policy.
[pause]
William
And if you go outside the system and seek out this treatment, which has been deemed ineffective, you will be in breach of policy and you will be dropped from coverage completely.
[pause]
William
I'm sorry.
Jigsaw
[gets up from his chair and paces around William's office]
Did you know that in the Far East, people pay their doctors when they're healthy? When they're sick, they don't have to pay them. So basically, they end up paying for what they want, not what they don't want.
[pause]
Jigsaw
We got it all ass-backwards here. These politicians, they say the same thing over and over and over again; "Healthcare decisions should be made by doctors and their patients, not by the government." Well, now I know they're not made by doctors and their patients or by the government. They're made by the fucking insurance companies.