Who is to blame for Brian Thompson's murder?

Police closing in on Brian Thompson shooter

First up would be the shooter, whom authorities believe they have found. You might think that is sufficient to explain the taking of a person's life but you would be wrong. Remember, this person had positioned him or herself in wait for Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, for the purpose of killing him. It would appear that the shooter didn't know Thompson, thus, there was some other objective in what he did. The people have spoken in social media with an opinion that Thompson deserved what he got.

Vox says it all in its headline, "The deep roots of Americans’ hatred of their health care system." The article by Dylan Scott reports there is significant evidence of the fact that the way the country provides medical services is costly in both money and human life. Not only the lives of patients but now a life of the CEO of the largest health insurer in the U.S., UnitedHealthcare. The public is more than justified in its anger when a company who could save your life uses AI for a reason to let you die. Vox goes on...

"On the same day as the shooting, news that a different insurer would restrict coverage for anesthesia during surgeries went viral, serving as a kind of cosmic confirmation of this line of thinking."

This was withdrawn almost immediately with the murder of Brian Thompson. It was a stupid decision to arbitrarily restrict anesthesia time in surgeries, to save money, of course, with no consideration whatsoever for the needs of the anesthesiologist, who, in fact, has the responsibility for the patient. Here's another blunt comment from Vox...

"Put every aspect of this tragic episode together and you have the rotten core of American health care. The cruelties of the US medical system and the ongoing blame game between the private industries that profit from it have left patients angry and confused — and looking for someone, anyone, to blame, fairly or not."

Luigi Mangione, suspected
Brian Thompson murderer

Scott thinks the only way to solve the problem is to confront all the industry offenders who are responsible for this aggregate of failures. The author also harks back to the days when medicine was much simpler. The participants were allies, not fighting each other constantly for profits. He also explains, "prices have continued to spiral upward, accelerated by the aging of the baby boomers and by important but costly advancements in medical science." Conversely, guess we couldn't do without any of this.

Obamacare was a strike against the private insurance industry, but since its enactment, Republicans have tried non-stop to kill the program. With only a mention now, but worth considerable coverage in the future, big pharma was caught off-guard by Biden's recent Inflation Reduction Act. We'll see the full effect in 2025....

"a provision allowing for Medicare to negotiate prices with drugmakers, which would lower costs and allow the program to cap seniors’ out-of-pocket costs."

And I have never seen a blame game carried out with the intensity of that in the medical insurance industry. Here are the sordid facts...

• Hospitals blame drug companies (for charging high prices that they must pass on to payers) and insurers (for restricting benefits and leaving patients exposed to uncovered bills)
• Drug companies blame insurers (for charging patients high out-of-pocket costs for medications) and hospitals (for exploiting technical programs like 340B to artificially boost their profits); they also blame the pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) who coordinate among drug manufacturers, plans, and pharmacies
• Insurers blame hospitals and drug companies (for charging too much money for their services and products, which patients bear through higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs)
• Patients blame everybody (for the high costs they face and the hassles of navigating this complicated system).

I can only hope that this murder will not take the same course as does those in gun violence...here today, gone tomorrow.

 

Will Brian Thompson's murder end a corrupt insurance industry practice?

Doctors without authority

Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare was murdered and drew headlines like this on WGTC...

"‘He was a serial killer’: Americans have no tears to shed for murdered CEO who denied patients life-saving care."

This may seem callous to some but it is a pent-up feeling for years of those deprived of their rightful medical care. WGTC continues...

"UnitedHealthcare is the kind of insurance company that scams people, but we hardly ever hold it accountable. Well, some people on the internet haven’t forgotten about the company’s past."

Social media is screaming how UnitedHealth has the most denied claims in the industry and they do it by using AI. The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reported, "the nation’s insurers have been using AI-powered tools to deny some claims from Medicare Advantage plan subscribers," according to YahooNews.

There's more...

"The report found that UnitedHealthcare’s denial rate for post-acute care — health care needed to transition people out of hospitals and back into their homes — for people with Medicare Advantage plans rose to 22.7% in 2022, from 10.9% in 2020."

There is also a lawsuit accusing Brian Thompson and other executives of UnitedHealth of insider trading related to an ongoing Justice Department investigation, according to YahooNews. Here's the scenario...

"Thompson, 50, was one of three UnitedHealth Group executives named in a class action lawsuit filed in May that accused them of dumping millions of dollars worth of stock while the company was the subject of a federal antitrust investigation, which investors say wasn’t immediately disclosed to shareholders."

Taking advantage of this privileged access to inside information is considered a breach of the individual's fiduciary duty. And if you're willing to break one rule, why not another, which, of course, was Thompson's initiation of the use of AI for the purpose of denying claims. A move that ranks UnitedHealth the frontrunner in that process. 

Neiscope says the public's reaction is incredibly dark, with one person cracking the following remark, "Our apologies, but bullet wounds are only covered under our Platinum+ package." Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch commented...

"Let's be clear: any act of violence or loss of life is a tragedy. But the internet's indifference to Thompson's passing — and gallows humor about the notorious deficiencies of the private insurance industry — are simultaneously ghoulish and illustrative of America's profoundly dysfunctional medical system."

The cost of medical care has gone up while the quality of care has gone down. But the epitome of it all this is there is now a company "whose business model depends on turning down payments for care recommended by doctors for their patients," according to ProPublica.org. (They sell this software to insurance companies). The name of the company is EviCore by Evernorth and they are owned by the insurance giant Cigna. Here's the scenario...

"A ProPublica and Capitol Forum investigation found that EviCore uses an algorithm backed by artificial intelligence, which some insiders call “the dial,” that it can adjust to lead to higher denials. Some contracts ensure the [insurance] company makes more money the more it cuts health spending. And it issues medical guidelines that doctors have said delay and deny care for patients."

There is no wonder the American people are furious over being conned out of the healthcare that is rightfully theirs. But when will the masses revolt against this wrong and others perpetrated by Donald Trump?