Scott Adams, the creator of the iconic “Dilbert” comic strip, was able to call on a friend in a very high place — President Donald Trump — to intervene on his behalf get his health care provider, Kaiser of Northern California, to finally schedule an appointment so that he can receive life-extending treatment for metastasized prostate cancer.
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“Best President ever,” the famous and controversial East Bay-based cartoonist said on X early Monday, confirming that Trump took time away from running the country and “a part of the world” to help him get his appointment. “Thank you, President Trump.”
Adams didn’t specify that he had an appointment scheduled for Monday as requested, but he revealed that he was inundated by offers of help from Donald Trump Jr., Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, after he said on X the day before that he would ask the president to “help save my life.”
But Trump’s high-profile intervention on behalf of Adams sparked a range of reactions from people online. There are those who declared Adams “a national treasure” and thanked Trump for rushing in to help him. Others said that Adams’ plight was an example of how American health care system is broken or that a managed care organization like Kaiser fails its patients. They praised him for calling attention to what millions of Americans experience daily.
But others debated the point that a famous supporter of Trump was able to get immediate attention for his health care needs, at the same time the government is shut down, the Trump administration proposed cutting more than $360 million from cancer research and the Republican Party wants to slash $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
In an early morning post Sunday, Adams said that a scheduling snafu by Kaiser had prevented him from receiving “a brief IV” infusion of Pluvicto, a targeted treatment for prostate cancer. He also said that Kaiser had approved his application to receive the drug.
“I am declining fast,” Adams said. He said that receiving the treatment Monday “will give me a fighting chance to stick around on this planet a little bit longer. It is not a cure, but it does give good results to many people.”
After Trump’s intervention, Adams joked that “nobody in senior management at Kaiser, my health care company, had a good weekend.” He added: “I feel bad about it, but good about it — because it might have saved my life. I mean, there’s a very good chance.”
In a statement, Kaiser Permanente, the Oakland-based managed care organization, did not specify if or how it responded to the president’s intervention, but it said, “Mr. Adams’ oncology team is working closely with him on the next steps in his cancer care, which are already underway.”
The statement also said that Kaiser’s nuclear medicine and medical oncology experts have treated more than 150 patients with Pluvicto in Northern California alone since its approval three years ago. “We know this drug and this disease,” the statement said.
In response to Adams’ posts, even some fans expressed concerns that his fame in Trump’s MAGA political circles gave him access to the president and others in high circles who could evidently force Kaiser to act.
“First off, I’m glad that you’re getting the help that you need, Scott,” one person said “But if this was one of us normal people out here, we’d be on our deathbed. Getting the treatment that we need shouldn’t be difficult or require a phone call to the president or to Bobby Jr.”
“If you can say the president was instrumental in saving your life, I’m guessing you’re on a very short list,” someone else said. “I’m so glad to see you posting this way.”
“Aren’t you worth about $20 million?” another person replied to Adams’ initial post. “And you’re still calling in special favors to get your healthcare covered while the rest of us just suffer or sometimes die for lack of treatment? Maybe consider using your platform to call for reform for our broken for-profit healthcare system instead of just calling in favors for yourself.”
“For those of you that are upset that this seems to be somehow unfair or privilege helping the privileged, yeah… that’s true,” a user named Hans Gruber the Great said in reply to a Kennedy Jr. X post on behalf of Adams. “Our voices are whispers at best. Our voices go into the void. But I will not begrudge Scott’s will to survive. Every one of us would do the same.”
Back in May, Adams told his fans that he was dying from an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had metastasized to his bones. He said his life expectancy was “maybe this summer.” He said the pain from his disease was “already intolerable. I can tell you I don’t have good days.”
The past several years have been a challenge for Adams in other ways, as he has emerged as a divisive figure in American pop culture. His famous comic strip, long one of the most popular in the country and appearing in more than 2,000 newspapers at its peak, was dropped by hundreds of newspapers in 2023 after he called Black Americans a “hate group.”
But early Sunday, Adams was able to summon the attention from president of the United States. Within hours, Trump said on Truth Social that he was “on it” after Adams posted his plea on X.
Adams also received responses from Kennedy Jr., who said: “How do I reach you? The President wants to help.” Other Trump administration officials also jumped in to offer help, including Oz and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino Jr. who said that he, too, passed on Adams’ message on to the president.
Trump Jr. also said he “would make sure that my dad sees this. We’re all praying for you, keep fighting!” Moreover, Chamath Palihapitiya, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and Trump supporter, took the initiative to connect Kennedy Jr. and Adams via text, while Pat Soon-Shiong, a surgeon, cancer drug inventor, billionaire businessman and owner of the Los Angeles Times, also vowed to help.
