The apparent assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on the sidewalks of midtown Manhattan on Wednesday sparked an outpouring of emotion. But the incident of a 50-year-old father of two being shot dead by a man wearing a mask in a public place was not all about fear or sadness.
Thompson’s death was an inspiration torrent of anger He talks about how his insurance company and others treat people in their moments of greatest need. Some reactions, especially on social media, were very gleeful about the killing.
It’s a striking example of how much hatred many Americans feel toward for-profit health insurance companies that make money for shareholders by withholding treatment from sick people.
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UnitedHealthcare is a particularly egregious example. It is notorious for its high rejection rates and low reimbursement levels.
UnitedHealthcare has been using seriously flawed artificial intelligence algorithms to unfairly deny health care to elderly and disabled patients, according to an investigation by medical news site Stat and a recent federal lawsuit filed in Minnesota. Stat said the company “put pressure on medical staff to stop paying for seriously ill patients … As profits soared, they denied rehabilitative care to elderly and disabled Americans.”
ProPublica reported. Last month, the company used an algorithm to identify people deemed guilty of “treatment abuse” and deny them mental health treatment. Both California and Massachusetts determined the company was violating federal laws that require insurers to cover mental health problems in the same way they cover physical illnesses. From 2013 to 2020, UnitedHealthcare denied claims for more than 34,000 therapy sessions in New York alone, saving the company nearly $8 million.
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In addition to this unpleasant situation, four top executives, including Thompson, I was investigated After notifying the company that it was the subject of a federal antitrust investigation, they made $101.5 million in stock transactions before the news became public and the stock price fell.
Perhaps all of this helps explain why, as of Friday morning, more than 85,000 people had reacted to UnitedHealthcare’s solemn Facebook statement about Thompson’s death: smiley emoticon.
People from other social media platforms also piled in.
“Every human life is sacred and it is not right to laugh when serious harm has befallen someone.” wrote one Bluesky user. “The moral thing to do is to charge them hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
“UnitedHealth CEO meets the same fate as many of our customers.” Other Bluesky users A photo shows the gunman pointing a gun at Thompson’s back before taking off on an e-bike.
Stories of terrible encounters with the country’s largest health insurance company also poured in.
Elizabeth Austin, a single mother in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, said her young daughter Carolyn had a miserable experience with UnitedHealthcare after being diagnosed with leukemia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because her chemotherapy caused nausea, Carolyn’s doctors ordered a nighttime feeding tube to supplement the small amounts she could eat while awake. She said United Healthcare would not pay for the feeding tube unless Carolyn ate no solid foods.
“I was like, ‘She’s 9! She wants to eat food!’” Austin told me. Undeterred, the insurance company forced Austin to pay $900 a month out of pocket for the device.
Later, when Carolyn developed a sensitivity to the sedatives used for her monthly lumbar punctures, her doctor switched to a different medication and the company again refused to pay, Austin said. She paid for it too.
Austin said he eventually developed a stress-related heart condition that required resection surgery. Today she and her daughter are healthy, but the scars remain. She said she was saddened but not shocked to hear the news of Thompson’s death.
“This is happening because people are really struggling,” she said. “I don’t believe the CEO is responsible for my daughter’s care issues, but it’s wise to ask, ‘Why did this happen?’ Could it be a systemic problem?’ “People are under pressure.”
At this point, Thompson’s motive for killing is a matter of speculation. However, the ammunition recovered at the scene had words engraved on it, such as ‘denial’ and ‘defense’, that are often used when explaining the insurance company’s anti-patient strategy. Associated Press And others have reported.
In the 2010 book “delay, deny, defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Your Claims and What You Can Do About It” Rutgers law professor Jay M. Feinman traces the evolution of insurance companies from generally helpful organizations held accountable by adjusters, or humans . A reward for today’s hostile, algorithm-driven behemoths.
He wrote that in the 1990s, insurance companies like Allstate turned to the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. to develop new strategies.
“McKinsey viewed insurance claims as a ‘zero-sum game,’ with policyholders and companies competing for equal amounts of money,” Feinman said. No longer will each claim be treated on its merits.” A computer determines compensation and settlements are offered on a “take it or sue basis.” Feinman wrote that McKinsey urged Allstate to move “from ‘Good Hands’ to ‘Boxing Gloves.'”
Earlier this year, insurance giant Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield presentation We will begin limiting reimbursement for anesthesia based on our own time limits for the surgery. Anthem said the idea is to prevent excessive billing. As expected, the doctors were outraged.
“This is the latest in a long line of egregious actions by commercial health insurers to increase profits at the expense of patients and doctors providing essential care,” said Donald Arnold, president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. told NPR.
Thursday, following outrage against health insurers sparked by Thompson’s killing. Anthem reverse courseIt blames “quite widespread misinformation” about the proposed policy.
In many ways, it’s no surprise that there is so little sympathy for Brian Thompson. lovely human. In death, he became an unwitting symbol of the terrible things health insurance companies do to people for money.
Blue Sky: @rabcarian.bsky.social. Thread: @Rabkarian
This story was originally Los Angeles Times.
