As they examine the area outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan where Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in New York, members of the New York police crime scene team pick up cups that indicate the locations of gunshots.AP
Patients in the U.S. healthcare system have been frustrated for years by an incomprehensible bureaucracy.
One year, a doctor may be part of an insurer’s network, but not the following. It can be nearly impossible to get someone on the phone to assist. Prescription and medical care coverage are frequently abruptly refused.
The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson this week has sparked a surge of public outrage, frustration, contempt, and helplessness as Americans share their own personal accounts of dealings with insurance firms, which are frequently viewed as anonymous corporate behemoths.
The phrases “delay, deny, and depose” that were inscribed on ammunition discovered at the shooting site, in particular, echoed a term used to explain how insurers avoid paying claims, amplifying voices that have long been critical of the sector.
Tim Anderson remarked, “All of a sudden, I am fired up again,” recalling how his wife, Mary, had to cope with UnitedHealthcare coverage denials before to her passing in 2022 from Lou Gehrig’s illness, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
In the end, Anderson claimed they were unable to obtain coverage for machinery that would have allowed his wife to breathe or speak; instead, she blinked when he showed her images. According to him, the family was forced to depend on donations from a nearby ALS organization.
“Don’t pay is the business model for insurance,” Anderson, 67, of Centerville, Ohio, stated.
He stated that Mary told me to keep battling this when she was still able to speak. It must be made public.
Thompson’s passing and the note left at the site have given Anderson and others a chance to express their dissatisfaction. The matter has become the focus of conversations at social gatherings, office water coolers, dinner tables, and on social media as police continue to search for the shooter.
“I understand why the chatter is bubbling up,” Hans Maristela added. The reputation of UnitedHealthcare for refusing coverage prompted the 54-year-old California caregiver to post a comment on Facebook. He noted that as a Catholic, he is saddened by Thompson’s passing and feels sorry for his family, particularly as the holidays draw near.
However, he observes that even his clients, who are primarily affluent elderly individuals who have not been protected from excessive out-of-pocket expenses, are frustrated with insurance.
Citing Thompson’s remuneration plan, which included basic pay and stock options, Maristela said, “And then you know the CEO of this company you pay a lot of money to get $10 million dollars a year, you won’t have much sympathy for the guy.” I recognize that the health care industry is a business, but the fixation on profit and share price needs to be reconsidered.
Michael Anne Kyle, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, stated that she is not shocked by the increase in discussion about insurers.
According to her, people frequently struggle with this alone, so when you hear someone else discuss it, you might decide to join the discussion.
According to Kyle, who studies patient access to care, she has witnessed years of dissatisfaction with the system’s design. In order to limit costs, insurers are implementing more measures including doctor networks and prior authorizations. Patients are frequently caught in the middle of disagreements between insurance and physicians.
According to her, patients are already paying a lot of money on medical care, however they continue to have issues with the service.
Insurers frequently observe that the majority of their revenue is wasted on paying claims, and they work to curb rising expenses and excessive use of certain services.
According to Anderson in Ohio, when he first heard about the CEO shooting, he wondered if it was related to a coverage denial similar to the ones he had encountered with his wife.
“I absolutely do not support the killing of human beings,” he declared. However, after reading that, I wondered whether anyone had a spouse whose insurance was rejected.
Will Flanary, a comedian and ophthalmologist from Portland who has a sizable social media following, felt it to be quite telling when he frequently saw it online in the early wake of the massacre.
“There is no sympathy,” he declared. The lesson that should be learned from that is not to shame people for joyously celebrating a murder. Instead, it’s: Take note of how angry people are with this system that exploits them, and try to do something about it.
Published under the pen name Dr. Glaucomflecken, Flanary’s work began as specialized eye doctor humor and a means of coping with his own experiences of being diagnosed with two cancers and suffering a sudden cardiac arrest. However, it has changed over time to include character skits that highlight and parody the actions of major health insurers, such as UnitedHealthcare.
He stated that discussions about health insurance policies have never taken off the way they have this week, and he believes that these fresh perspectives will contribute to reform.
I’m constantly talking about how effective social media can be for advocacy, he added, since it’s the only way to exert a lot of pressure on these companies that are harming patients.
AP Health Writers DEVI SHASTRI and TOM MURPHY
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