A man with a prosthetic left leg sits on a wooden chair on a patterned rug, smiling at the camera against a plain gray background.

"Not Medically Necessary"

Log Line

When a broken healthcare system denies access to crucial activity-based devices for people living with limb loss and limb difference, everyday athletes, clinicians, and advocates must compel lawmakers to turn their right to movement into law or sit on the sidelines of their own lives.

Synopsis 

Every human is built to move. For hundreds of thousands of Americans living with limb loss and limb difference, that freedom is anything but guaranteed because a broken healthcare system has decided their physical activity isn't worth paying for.

“Not Medically Necessary” weaves together intimate interviews with personal footage shared by patients, clinicians, and advocates around the country. It tells the stories of people whose lives were impacted by accident, illness, and circumstance, only to discover that a very different battle was yet to come. The technology to run, climb, swim, and play already exists, yet most insurance companies draw the line at basic mobility. Anything beyond the bare minimum — every hike, every bike ride, every game of catch with your kids — is branded a luxury and declared not medically necessary.

The film brings together patients fighting denial after denial, clinicians caught between what their patients need and what the system will allow, and the everyday athletes who refuse to be left on the sidelines. Together they are building a nationwide grassroots movement around a single idea whose time has come: that physical activity is a human right.

Millions remain uncovered. A federal bill is still a fight away. But when people show up with the truth of their own lives, systems can be moved. The next chapter of the disability rights movement is here. And it's just getting started.


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Client
  • So Every BODY Can Move
Our Role
  • Creative Strategy
  • Film Production
  • Post-Production
  • Distribution Strategy
  • Story Development
Deliverables
  • Advocacy Film & Campaign
  • Documentary Short
  • Trailers & Promos
  • Social Cutdowns

The Film

Documenting a movement

We partnered with So Every BODY Can Move to create a short documentary film that tells the story of this historic movement — its origins, its goals, and the coalition of advocates, clinicians, and lawmakers pushing for change across the country. The film is built to serve as a standalone advocacy tool: something that can educate, rally support, and put a human face on a complex policy issue.

A group of people standing in a circle show off their various prosthetic legs, feet, and a prosthetic arm, all coming together on a paved surface.
A blonde woman in a dark patterned midi dress sits on a wooden chair on an ornate rug, gesturing with her hands while speaking against a plain, light brown background.
A person wearing a helmet and sunglasses competes in a track race using a recumbent handcycle on a red running track, with another racer visible in the background.
A woman with long, dark dreadlocks and glasses with a black-and-white patterned trim on the top corners looks slightly away from the camera while wearing a blue top against a neutral gray background.
A high-angle view captures a crowd gathered in a large, marble-floored state capitol rotunda, where a woman stands at a wooden podium to address attendees while others observe from the grand staircase and surrounding balcony levels.
A young man with curly brown hair, wearing a dark suit and tie, sits at a desk with microphones, reading from a piece of paper in a wood-paneled room.
A person holds a prosthetic running blade high in the air while surrounded by teammates wearing purple "Forrest Stump" shirts at the finish line of the Hood to Coast relay race on a beach.
A black-and-white, low-angle photograph captures four protestors in wheelchairs lined up in front of an Americruiser bus, holding signs with slogans criticizing Greyhound, such as "It's a dog of a policy" and "Greyhound is a dirty dog."
A medium close-up shot of a person with short, light brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a black shirt, looking slightly away from the camera against a plain, muted background.