Anger over the country’s lack of medical care is justified. It’s no good supporting murder.
Two very ugly and uniquely American things happened yesterday. An executive at a medical institution was shot dead. People cheered because he was a healthcare executive.
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered by an unknown assailant yesterday outside a midtown Manhattan hotel. In response, a post by X, who hopes the killer will never be caught, garnered 95,000 likes. Social media was filled with jokes about Thompson’s unpaid hospital bills and the tragedy of his not returning to the McMansion. Journalist Ken Krippenstein summed up the atmosphere in this post: Chart on X This shows that UnitedHealthcare refuses to pay patients’ medical bills at a higher rate than other major insurance companies. “Today we remember the legacy of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson,” he wrote.
There is no excuse to root for murder. But Americans’ enthusiasm for the insurance executive’s death is indicative of both the shoddy public debate and the extent of Americans’ anger at the flaws in America’s health care system. According to a Gallup poll, only 31 percent of Americans have a positive view of the healthcare industry. Of the 25 industries surveyed by Gallup, only oil and gas, the federal government, and pharmaceutical companies have been more adversely affected.
The entire American health care system is designed to make some level of outrage inevitable. Although the governments of most wealthy developed countries provide some level of insurance to all citizens, the vast majority of Americans are completely dependent on the whims of private health insurance companies. The system is supposed to keep costs down enough to make it profitable. It is a feature, not a bug, of this country’s system that the insurance industry tries to save money by denying people care. In their anger at Mr. Thompson and other health care CEOs, Americans are expressing their dissatisfaction with a system that causes real, preventable harm. Supporters of Thompson’s death say that depriving sick Americans of their medicine or denying them necessary surgery is immoral and should be punishable by death.
That logic is indefensible, but there are certainly reasons for people to be angry. About half of Americans report having difficulty paying their medical bills. Once a claim is denied, patients can be financially ruined, and health insurance companies are getting smarter at finding ways to deny claims. Until Congress intervened in 2020, patients were often left with unexpected medical bills for hospital visits because, without their knowledge, certain doctors who took turns This is because it was not covered by insurance. Additionally, less egregious practices, such as step therapy, which lets patients try cheaper drugs before insurance companies pay higher prices, can delay treatment needed to avoid suffering.
UnitedHealthcare is particularly notorious for aggressively using these tactics. health publication reporter status (I worked there until September of this year) I’ve spent the past year documenting the countless ways United Healthcare has squeezed profits at the expense of patients’ lives. they are FoundFor example, the company claimed to use AI algorithms to justify kicking elderly patients out of nursing homes, despite evidence that some patients still require 24-hour care. Doctors who worked for United Airlines (United Airlines also buy clinic) said status pressured the company to see more patients; and diagnose them Perhaps with additional conditions to increase the company’s profits. United Airlines also faces lawsuits from patients and the federal government over its aggressive business strategies. (United Airlines refutes claims that it relies solely on AI to deny care, statusreported that they trusted their physicians to “make independent clinical decisions”).
But the problem is the health insurance system, not the CEO. Insurance will function according to this logic as long as the majority of American health care is run as a private company. UnitedHealthcare’s aggressiveness is the very reason its parent company is now America’s largest health insurance company. The company’s primary business goal of delivering profits to shareholders has undoubtedly been successful.
This country has operated on the assumption that compassion and capitalism can coexist, and that the government’s job is to mediate between corporate profiteering and the irresistible needs of the people. Insuring people with high medical costs is not just a matter of profit. That’s why the Affordable Care Act requires companies like United Healthcare to insure people with pre-existing conditions. The options for dissatisfied Americans should be to either switch insurance companies or elect politicians who will reform the current system. The ugly reaction to Thompson’s death shows that many clearly feel that neither option meets the country’s real needs.
The identity and motive of Thompson’s killer remains unknown. His death should have nothing to do with the US healthcare system. (However, shell casings found at the scene were reportedly inscribed with the words “denial,” “defense,” and “exile,” which would seem to suggest otherwise.) Even though the killer targeted Thompson for reasons unrelated to his job, the act exposed Americans so angry about their health care that they would publicly celebrate the man’s death. . Supporting vigilante groups may be cathartic for people fed up with the corruption in America’s current health care system, but it doesn’t solve anything.
