On Dec. 4, 2024, the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson sparked public outrage and highlighted systemic issues within the U.S health insurance industry. When the UnitedHealth Group expressed their sadness for Thompson's death in a Facebook post, the post received 62,000 reactions--- and ironically, 57,000 of which were laughing emojis.
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| Credit: KARE 11 |
So why were people reacting the way they were? Was this a minority v elite power struggle? Though the gunman's identity and motive has not yet been identified, Thompson's widow revealed that there had been "some threats potentially related to a lack of coverage" targeted at her husband. These threats were not exclusively targeted at the CEO, but the corporation itself.
The problem
Interestingly, the bullet casting was marked with phrases like "deny" and "defend," which implies a connection to systemic issues in insurance industry. The public backlash reflects widespread frustration with the private insurance sector. These issues include insurers using practices like prior authorizations and AI-driven claim denials to control costs; and this is often at the expense of patient health, specifically those facing high-cost care. For example, the 2023 KFF survey revealed that nearly one in five insured adults experienced claim denials in a 12-month period. On top of that, 1 in 4 of these individuals faced significant delays or were ultimately unable to receive care. For UnitedHealthcare specifically, a senate report found that its denial rate for post-acute care doubled from 10.9% in 2020 to 22.7% in 2022, and while some of the increase is caused by the spike in demand due to covid, part of it can also be attributed to the company's increased reliance of automation in claims processing.
Although reports show that 81% of insured adults rate their insurance as "excellent" or "good," there's still a significant gap in consumer protection. Only 43% of adults challenged a denial of care, and 50% of which were successful in their appeal. This demonstrates the arbitrary nature of the system's algorithms and their denials. Having personally gone through the healthcare coverage registration process for myself and my family, it's definitely a hassle: making over 20 phone calls back and forth with three different corporate and governmental entities that are somehow connected to each other; registering on two different websites, and uploading a number of documents multiple times--I can see how this process can be extremely frustrating for many, especially those who are less proficient with technology. While it was a matter of whether I get cleared in time for sports tryouts, for other patients, the delay in coverage can greatly impact the decisions made by their families, especially on continuing with costly medications and medical trials for long-term treatment. In turn, this causes mental health strain among the impacted communities. For instance, 80% of adults reported anxiety or worry about delays in care, according to the Commonwealth Fund survey.
This ultimately exposes deep flaws in the US health care system. While private insurers struggle constantly with cases where clients are left with millions in unpaid medical bills, they are also blamed for prioritizing profits over patients. It's a systematic issue that private corporations cannot fix alone; and for this sector to keep running, public trust needs to be restored.
Are private insurers the ones to blame?
The underlying frustrations with the health insurance industry are also caused by market concentration issues, which are often caused by government policies/regulations. Federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid, essential for millions of Americans, unintentionally consolidate market power by favoring large insurers, which shuns out competitors and drive up costs. Some policies like restrictions on cross-state insurance sales fosters monopolistic behaviors and limits consumer choice. This can ultimately allow dominant insurers to slow down innovation/efficiencies to increase profit margin over patient care. As the social media reactions show earlier, Americans are increasingly aware of how systemic flaws in the system exacerbate their challenges with accessing accountable and affordable insurance providers. To make reforms, bureaucratic agencies have to step up and potentially deregulate the industry. Because by enabling greater participation from diverse competitors, the industry can shift toward prioritizing patient care, as more patients will be accounted for, not just by the dominant players in the market.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/05/nyregion/social-media-insurance-industry-brian-thompson.html
https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/06/business/insurance-claim-denials-unitedhealthcare-ceo/index.html
14 comments:
I think it's worrying that even such an important issue as health and healthcare is driven by money. Of course it makes sense that no company could run without making some profit, but prioritizing money over public and individual health is pretty evil. While there is no excuse to murdering someone, I think that people have a good reason to be frustrated with the current healthcare system. A semi-unregulated healthcare system that can drive up prices at their whim is troubling to consumers, especially where people can't choose whether to partake or not (just like rising food prices).
Also, the New York Times just released an article saying that the New York City Police arrested a man named Luigi Mangione (26) strongly suspected for the murder.
I find the reactions online around this assassination as very disheartening. Many online forums and profiles have even made memes out of the assassin, glorifying him and romanticizing his crime. Although this is not an outlier in the way that 'dark humor' is made around tragic events, but it is not the appropriate or even productive reaction. The main comment made out of this mess have been on our nation and the state of healthcare within it. However, violence is never the way to generate systemic changes, it just creates more tension, divisions, and creates an unsafe standard. Your statistics in the second half of the article are very compelling- and you make very astute points about the consolidation of power due to federal programs. The private sector cannot be blamed alone for the disparities in insurance + healthcare inequalities in the country, it is a complex, and multifaceted issue; and the simplification around it to blame the 'wealthy' only conflates the issue in a way that it isn't. It's a dumbed down alternative much more digestible than taking a critical look at more compounded solutions that require more resources, public+private cooperation, and further thought.
Though it is somewhat worrying that people online have been glorifying the murder of this CEO I would still say that there is a couple benefits to seeing the reaction of the people. As I've seen people from both sides of the aisle stating how they dislike the wealth gap and are ok with the murder of the CEO just because of their distain for the wealth gap I think it is important to note that even in this time of division that people on both sides can at least agree on something even if at this moment it may be something fairly grim but it is more about what this thing stands for as it stands people are upset about the wealth gap, they are upset about being screwed over by big corporations and they are upset that CEO's are making all this money off the healthcare of the working class and this combination of both sides is good for division in this country even if it is over something obviously no one condones in a vacuum.
I think the comments and the laughing emojis tell most of the story about our health care and how people think of it. It is simply unacceptable that private insurers slow down processes of innovation for the companies own benefit over the people of Americas health. Most are upset about how they are getting screwed over for their healthcare while the big CEO's are making all the money off of working class, and even though people are stating how they are ok with the CEO being murdered and no one seems too concerned with the CEO of their healthcare plans being killed. It is still important to remember that in this division people still have to come to agreement on something at this time and try to make change.
What stands out to me is the amount of media coverage this is assassination is getting -- I can't help but think of how this overshadows the suffering who were harmed or killed by Universal Healthcare itself, those who were denied insurance claims. It shifts the attention towards the elite/capital class rather than the systemic issues that are harming everyday citizens. The real problem is that healthcare is market-driven and for-profit, meaning that denying care brings more profit to insurance companies. It's important to address the idea that healthcare needs major reform, and it needs bipartisan cooperation to get it done. Instead of using healthcare as a political weapon (i.e. Trump cutting Medicare and trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act), it is important to address the inequalities in the system and prioritize public health.
The reality of healthcare in the United States at the current moment seems bleak, with private insurance companies like United Health Care being able to outright deny coverage that so many Americans need. There’s also concern about other companies like Anthem Blue Cross recently proposing changes to how anesthesia, a necessity for surgery, is covered under their policies. While they ultimately did not go through with the decision, it's still concerning to think that insurance companies and their ceos would even think about such a policy being possible in the first place. The fate of many insurance companies and government-backed programs like medicare and medicaid seems uncertain when we have a president elect who wants to cut down on government spending, and these programs can seem like easy targets to restore budget deficits. It feels slimy that America's healthcare system has ultimately become intertwined with the economy in the way that it has. The issue is deeper than just who the ceo of a company is though. While this tragic death has been a chance for many Americans to vent their frustrations about insurance companies, it hasn’t seemed to bring any new talking points for the discussion around health care coverage.
Regardless of the situation, murder is always immoral. Placing all frustration of the healthcare system on one person and then killing this person, leaving behind clues to motive such as the monopoly money found in his bag and the words on the shell casings, is not a rational solution to a problem. I sure hope the insurance companies do not adjust policies to side with the protesters because that sets a precedent for Americans that being violent leads to getting their way.
Obviously murder is terrible, however whats worse is that it is actually working exactly how the murderer wanted it too. It is sparking a conversation around healthcare. While having these discussions is very necessary and as it stands right now many parts of healthcare are still messed up, I believe that the publics reaction and conversations around healthcare like this one just promote resorting to violence even more. It is sad that the only way our country investigates and talks about problems is when their is violence associated with them, but that is the reality right now. I think that in order to solve this problem, we need to be able to get the publics attention in ways that don't involve violence, setting examples for everyone that sees a problem and wants to highlight it to the country. It is hard to decide whether we should reward this kind of violence by having discussions and finding solutions to this problem, because on one hand this problem is one that effects a large part of our population and directly impacts peoples well being, but on the other hand the only reason why we would be talking about it was because someone got murdered. It is a tough situation for the american public to be in, but I think that this is such a major problem that needs to be solved that something needs to be changed.
The outrage over Brian Thompson’s death shows just how fed up people are with the U.S. healthcare system. The whole private insurance industry feels like it’s more about making money than actually helping people. Denying claims, delaying care, and relying on cold, impersonal algorithms is a huge problem. And when you throw in market monopolies, it’s like the system is set up to screw over patients. The fact that this isn’t getting fixed is wild. We need more competition and real reforms so that insurance companies actually care about patients instead of just making a profit off of them.
Following the murder of Brian Thompson, highlights the deep frustration that many Americans have with the healthcare system, especially regarding the insurance industry's involvement in preventing access to healthcare. Although the motives of the shooter are unknown, it is clear to be a sign of a public outcry due to the evident systemic problems within public healthcare. A majority of the public worry is towards the idea that insurance companies are putting cost control over patient care. The system can be extremely frustrating, as 1 in 5 insured individuals have had their claims denied. It is important to gain trust within citizens, and the insurance system is doing the exact opposite. It is important to treat patients with accessible care in order to keep a trustworthy nation.
Above all else, Brian Thompson was human. Regardless of his actions, many of the comments surrounding his death, such as laughing emojis, are incredibly insensitive and dehumanizing. That being said, I do think this event should serve as a reminder of the broader issues at play. It is a clear outcry that a serious conversation about healthcare is necessary at this time. I completely understand the arguments for change, but to do it in this manner is concerning. We as a country should be able to have tough conversations, disagree, and fight for what we believe in, but in a civilized manner. Disagreement is inevitable, but how we approach these disagreements defines who we are as a nation.
The death of Thompson is saddening — yes the private health insurance program is deeply flawed and unfair, but that can't all be put on one person. There certainly needs to be reform, as we can see with the reactions of Americans, and this reform should come quickly before something tragic such as the murder of Thompson happens again. However, with all the checks in the government, it is hard to pass policies efficiently.
The reactions of Americans reveals the lack of empathy, especially politically. Now, people don't really care or think about the life of others. They just hate, and many of them do this without doing any research, unlike in this article where evidence demonstrates that private insurers aren't all to blame.
The public’s reaction to the death really highlights the deep resentment people have towards insurance practices and the profit driven priorities that often harm patients. I think the issue here isn’t just corporate greed, government policies also do consolidate power among a few different insurers, which limits competition. Fixing this problem requires private as well as public sectors. To restore the trust they would need to prioritize the people over profitability and reduce the barriers to provide accessible healthcare for all.
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