Brian Thompson Paid Price For Profiting From An Immoral Business
Americans ID with alleged gunman’s frustration
Several years ago, I was in a Yahoo group geared around African-Americans. We discussed an incident that happened in one of the group members’ neighborhood. A local drug dealer was killed in his home alongside his girlfriend. The general consensus was this was the price she paid for being affiliated with the drug game.
This is how I view the recent death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. On “Saturday Night Live,” legendary comic Chris Rock made the same observation, and quipped “Sometimes drug dealers get shot.”
Thompson’s death has become a headline news story because of the pointed reason for his assassination. The photogenic alleged killer Luigi Mangione, an Ivy League grad, who suffered a debilitating back injury and battled the infernal American for-profit health-care system killed Thompson. He also left bullets marked with the words, “delay, defend, depose.”
A Healthcare-System Designed By Satan
I often say the American healthcare system looks like it was designed by Satan. It’s expensive and inefficient. Several years ago, a doctor friend sat me down and explained how the system works.
He told me you pay your premium every month and the minute you need an expensive health care procedure, the health insurance company denies you. They make money by denying people healthcare, thus creating a dysfunctional system. However, it’s a profitable system. Last year, UnitedHealthcare made about $16 billion in revenue, according to The New York Times. United Healthcare had a 40% denial rate. So almost half of their paying customers were denied healthcare!
Health insurance is the only industry that prides itself on being bad at customer service. Have you ever tried to get through to them? Everyone has a health insurance horror story.
A few years ago I was on Obamacare and it was still expensive. It cost me about $400 a month. I fell behind in my premiums and tried to get caught up. I spent almost a month trying to get someone to answer my phone call. I finally wrote an angry letter and got a response. I tried to give them money and couldn’t even get through!
My doctor friend told me another health care horror story. He briefly worked for an HMO. His final straw was when he watched the HMO CEO scream at a doctor, “When is your patient going to die? He’s already cost us $3 million!”
Denial=Profit
This is how the system works; the more healthcare they deny you, the more money they make. Thompson was paid $10 million a year to oversee his healthcare-denial company, according to The Times. But this is a central part of the problem. The primary goal of these companies is to return profit to their shareholders, not take care of sick people.
That’s why I don’t think anybody who works in the industry is moral. It’s an industry that profits from people’s pain and misery. I once wrote a joke about a health insurance worker who got into the adult entertainment business because she wanted to do something more moral.
My doctor friend also made another valid point about the health insurance industry. He pointed out that one of the most frustrating things about the medical field is that you can prescribe the patient care, then the health insurance company tells you no.
The most galling part is the person making the decision isn’t a trained medical professional. Chances are they’re someone with a business degree, much like Thompson. He came from the financial sector and yet he ran a company tasked with overseeing people’s health!
Many articles written about Thompson’s death decry the fact that Mangione is seen as a folk hero. Some commentators say it marks a sign that America’s making a dangerous turn. Left-wing activist Michael Moore isn’t one of those people. He understands the rage, and urged Americans to channel it more effectively.
“No other industrialized country on Earth so willingly and heartlessly lets a few large corporations literally decide who shall live and who shall die — a decision that is based solely on profit motive,” said Moore in a Substack article. Moore has covered the ills of the American healthcare system in his movie “Sicko.”
More Copycat Attackers?
Floridian Briana Boston was recently arrested for a copycat incident. She told a Blue Shield representative, “delay, deny, depose, you people are next.”
But this rage is inevitable. Americans are frustrated with a healthcare industry that doesn’t provide health care. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) stated health insurance is a scam. Warren said if you pay for insurance, why are you still stuck with a huge bill when you get sick? The insurance was supposed to cover that.
Warren says medical bills are the no. 1 cause for people to file for bankruptcy. This is an experience Warren went through growing up and it inspired her to become a bankruptcy lawyer. Medical bills are the no. 1 reason for Gofundme drives.
“We are paying twice as much as any other major nation for care — even as tens of millions lack coverage, and even as family after family sees its finances destroyed by a health issue. And the American people know that in the long-term, a simple system that covers everybody, provides the care they need when they need it,” said Warren in an article on her website.
Martin Luther King once said a riot is the voice of the unheard. I’m sure the health insurance industry hears Americans now.
