Anti-Debt Heroes: Marshall Allen, Journalist
Marshall Allen, a ProPublica investigative reporter who fought for the rights of patients facing unfair medical bills, died last May at age 52 from a heart attack.
Allen approached his stories with the moral conviction that doctors, hospitals, drugmakers and insurers could be more transparent and humane.
He first showed how a hospital system refused to cover the care of an employee’s premature baby, leaving her with a bill for $898,984.57.
Within days of Allen calling the system’s media representative, the hospital promised to cover the bill.
“He would be our tour guide to things that were incredibly enraging,” said Tracy Weber, a ProPublica managing editor “He would walk us through it, and then he’d show us how it didn’t have to be that way.”
Allen published a book, “Never Pay the First Bill: And Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win,” which showed consumers how to advocate for themselves.
His stories exposing medical scams, waste in the health care system and hidden incentives in the insurance industry steadily achieved impact and motivated people in power to make changes.
Allen came to journalism through his work as a Christian missionary. He spent five years as evangelical minister, including three in Kenya, and earned a master’s degree in theology
“I explained what I saw as a natural progression from the ministry to muckraking, pointing out that both are valid ways of serving a higher cause,” Allen wrote.
Marshall Allen reporting from a hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, in 2014 Daymon Hartley for ProPublica
Farley Chase, Allen’s literary agent, described him in almost identical terms: “He was insulted by the inscrutability of the health care system but had this kind of like just roll-up-your-sleeves, undaunted-by-any-kind-of-challenge attitude.”
In addition to his steadfastness, Allen was known in the newsroom for his generosity, especially as a mentor to younger reporters.
Caroline Chen, who covers health care, said that when she moved across the country to New York, Allen immediately invited her and her husband over for dinner.
“He was just generous in every way, like talking over stories,” she said. “He sent me sources. I’d send him sources. We would sometimes take a peek at each other’s drafts.”
When COVID-19 hit, Allen, Chen and others raced to pursue stories in a stressful environment. But no matter how late it was, Chen said, he kept his cool as a team player with no ego.
Allen’s passion for mentoring others extended into teaching at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. In 2020, he edited a project for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, showing how New Jersey police unions had cut deals to shield cops from accountability while increasing their benefits.
Sonja Allen said. He never charged anyone and used any money he received from his newsletter to hire patient advocates for people who needed additional help, she said.
To extend his reach further, Allen had recently created an AI clone of himself, she said, training it on all his articles, his book and podcasts and teaching it to mimic his own voice, so that more people could tap into his knowledge.
At home, Allen was deeply involved in his church, teaching Sunday school and leading a group of men, encouraging them to be good husbands and fathers, his wife said. He was a coffee connoisseur and roasted his own beans. “You could smell it when you drove up because the whole neighborhood smelled like coffee,” she said.