Poet and performer Scott Raven found an unexpected source of inspiration for his art: choosing a new health plan.
When poet and performer Scott Raven (opens in new tab) recently took the stage at a Miami poetry night, the theme was “lovers and friends." Most performers focused on romance. Scott, instead, reached for health insurance.
In the middle of his set, he read a piece about “sneaking around with another provider,” confessing that he’d fallen for someone new. “My wife was beside herself,” he told the audience. “I was sneaking around with Oscar Health.”
The room laughed, but the feeling behind the joke was real. Scott, who describes himself as a “stay-at-poem dad,” often pulls fatherhood, family, and the messier corners of life into his work. So it was telling that his experience with health insurance felt personal enough to earn a place in his poetry.
The story behind the poem began months earlier. Already parents to one child, he and his wife had just welcomed their second. At the time his wife, a medical professional and the family’s primary breadwinner, had a fellowship that provided the family’s health insurance, a detail he worked into his material often. “I like to refer to her as 'my best friend with benefits',” he joked.
Then everything suddenly changed. The fellowship ended, and with it, so did the family’s coverage. With two young children and multiple appointments on the calendar, Scott started looking for a marketplace plan that mirrored what they had before. Staying with their existing pediatrician was non-negotiable. Luckily, that doctor already had Oscar Health listed on their site, giving Scott an immediate sense of continuity and relief.
Scott recalled his thought process at the time. “We waited a little longer to have kids, my wife and I, so it's important to stay on top of appointments, keep our doctor, and have insurance that doctors of quality will accept.”