By Gregory Laub & Gillian Booth

The video, with millions of views, reignited debate on prior authorization and insurer overreach. Elisabeth Potter, MD, is a breast reconstruction surgeon based in Austin, Texas, who's become an unexpected voice in the fight for insurance reform. In January, while performing her third breast reconstruction surgery of the day, Potter was interrupted in the operating room with a message from an insurer questioning the necessity of the patient's hospital stay.

After the surgery, she recorded a short video to share what had happened. That post went viral -- generating millions of views and ultimately a legal threat from the insurer demanding she take it down. She didn't. Instead, the response sparked a national conversation among physicians and patients about prior authorization, inadequate provider networks, and the administrative creep into clinical care.

In this video, Potter shares how that moment changed the trajectory of her advocacy and why she believes telling the truth -- even without all the answers -- is part of the job.

Following is a transcript of the video:

I was notified in the middle of a breast reconstruction surgery that an insurance company wanted to talk to me about whether or not that patient's stay should be justified. That day I did four breast reconstruction surgeries in network through insurance for women affected by breast cancer, and that was, I think, the third case of the day.

Everyone there in the hospital, the nurses who received the phone call, who brought me the message, no one could believe that this was happening.

Less than 40% of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer have access to breast reconstruction through insurance. So we have a long way to go before we're even close to meeting the need. There's not an American out there who's not affected by the current status of insurance and how difficult it is to navigate. How cruel it feels at times, whether it's a story that they know of someone else or in their own life, or just the fact that in their paychecks, these large sums of money are taken out and they see that and they want to see value for that.

And so when I left the hospital that day, I filmed a video expressing the absurdity of the moment, and it was the culmination of years of practice where the creep of insurance and administration into the practice of medicine has just become ridiculous. And in that moment, I just wanted people to know that here I am just trying to take care of patients and insurance is so ever present.

I didn't think that was going to go viral, and I was being very sincere and honest, and I think that just the honesty of it, and you could tell I was tired, and I just couldn't believe this was happening. I think those two things together led to people tuning in and listening.

But then the insurance company sent me a legal letter demanding that I remove the video, apologize, etc, and I posted that letter. But the response was actually even more viral, when members of the public got to see how an insurance company responds to a doctor taking care of women with breast cancer who's just describing the facts.

It felt wrong to me to receive that letter, and it felt wrong to Americans that I received that letter. I think in sharing their response and just being honest, sticking to the facts, letting their words speak for themselves, it opened up a different level of conversation around what navigating insurance for patients and providers is like.

I think that the recent announcement by HHS regarding the voluntary pledge from insurers around lessening the burden for prior authorization is interesting. That moment in time I think speaks to the pressures on insurance companies. So I'd say one positive would be the fact that they needed to make that statement at all. They understand that they're under the spotlight in a negative way, and the government understands that the public is watching closely.

I truly feel that an industry that has behaved in the way that the insurance industry has over the past years should not be allowed to police themselves. I do not accept the word of an insurance company that they are going to do better just because they've decided to do better.

I think that patient stories matter and that provider stories matter. I think that telling the truth about healthcare is really important, even if you don't understand the answer. You don't have to have a solution in order for what you're experiencing to be important for others to hear.

I would share honestly I don't think that this should be a partisan issue. I think that this is something that Americans can really rally around, and that's difficult in these days to say.