In Econ 101 in college, insurance is LITERALLY the textbook example of what economists call "market failure" (utilities are another example). Market failure refers to the fact that certain industries have unusual characteristics that make a competitive market impossible and they have to have government intervention on various levels. Our reality is exactly what the theory says would happen if you tried to run the insurance market with private companies competing. What this means is that our system isn't this way because of mistakes, or unforeseen problems, or because it's "broken". It's operating EXACTLY as it was set up and intended to run. They've always known it would be exactly as it is now.
You are witnessing the relief and gratitude of a population at seeing a predator, who has been terrorizing and killing them for fun and profit, brought down so that he can't harm any more of them. Brian Thompson was PERSONALLY responsible (he is the one who brought in the AI to deny claims with an error rate of 90%) for more death and torturous suffering of innocent people then all American serial killers and mass killers combined. Ossama Bin Laden had a family too. Ted Bundy was a great older brother. He forfeited his claim to "humanity" when he not only refused to stop killing us, he increased his killing. And stop shaming the public- the investors (who he defrauded billions of dollars from) went ahead and held their meeting anyway. They don't care about him any more than we do. Corporate media is spinning this story hard. The political and legal system in America has been taken over by the predator class, of who Brian Thompson was just one of them, so that those avenues are now closed for the rest of us as avenues to try to change the healthcare system. Our elected officials have almost unanimously sold us out and actively kept reforms from being undertaken. They have eliminated every peaceful, lawful means we have of protecting ourselves from their insatiable and entitled greed.
The corporate media is intentionally misrepresenting what the public is expressing to try to shame us for seeing the value of his life the same as he saw the value of our lives. The corporate media is basically telling us to go back to shooting schoolchildren, or strangers at Walmart, and don’t even think about killing another person whose life actually MATTERED EVER AGAIN. Piers Morgan and MSNBC and FOX News and the rest of the corporate media- you have spent more than a year now justifying the rampant slaughter of children with sniper rounds en masse, the bombing and burning and utter destruction of hospitals with patients inside of them including preterm infants, the genocide of tens of thousands of civilians, so don't dare to lecture us about not being horrified by murder. You are owned by the predator class and you think that if you do their bidding, that you are a member of their club. You are just as expendable to them as we are. They won’t hesitate to do to you what you are doing your best to convince us they aren’t actually doing to us.
Inside STAT's investigations of UnitedHealth Group
How UnitedHealth’s Playbook for Limiting Mental Health Coverage Puts Countless Americans’ Treatment at Risk
"Around 2016, government officials began to pry open United’s black box. They found that the nation’s largest health insurance conglomerate had been using algorithms to identify providers it determined were giving too much therapy and patients it believed were receiving too much; then, the company scrutinized their cases and cut off reimbursements.
By the end of 2021, United’s algorithm program had been deemed illegal in three states.
But that has not stopped the company from continuing to police mental health care with arbitrary thresholds and cost-driven targets, ProPublica found, after reviewing what is effectively the company’s internal playbook for limiting and cutting therapy expenses. The insurer’s strategies are still very much alive, putting countless patients at risk of losing mental health care."
Deny, Defend, Depose: UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Slaying Highlights Widespread Rage at Healthcare Industry
"there has been an outpouring of rage on social media directed at the health industry, with many sharing stories of having claims for vital care denied and losing precious time with loved ones during illness." Juan Gonzales, one of the hosts, points out that there are an average of 75 murders each day in America, but this one killing of such a wealthy and powerful person shines a light on how some of our lives are treated as much more valuable than others. One guest explains that the rage has been boiling just below the surface for many years, pointing out that "A hundred million Americans have medical — have medical debt, but most of those people have health insurance. But they can’t get their insurance companies to cover the care that they need."
"This company in particular (UHC) has a record of using prior authorization or refusing to pay for needed care far more than its competitors. But for-profit insurers, in general, have used this as a means of enriching their shareholders, of using fewer and fewer of our premium dollars to pay for the care that we need, so that more money can be made available to their shareholders." Brian Thompson ran Medicare Advantage for UHC.
Healthcare Is a Right: CEO’s Killing Ignites Calls for Reform Amid Trump’s Plan to Privatize Medicare
"Wendell Potter, now an advocate for reform, he says the murder of Thompson “was a horrible crime, but it is important to point out that violent crime is perpetuated by these companies in an anonymous way every single day when an untold number of Americans are told they are not going to get the care they need.” Some doctors have referred to this as a “moral injury” they face on the job. Potter urges lawmakers to seize the opportunity to move forward with far-reaching reforms." (This is ludicrous, lawmakers have sold us out to these health care companies. They work for the people who pay them, and that isn't us. We, The People, cna't begin to pay them what the private sector does. Reform has been proven to be no option at all.)
They discuss the case of 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan, who died when Cigna denied a necessary liver transplant. The company eventually agreed to cover it, under extreme pressure, but it was too late and Nataline died because of the delay.
Derrick Crowe, one of the guests, represents Care Over Cost (a campaign to help people get claims denials overturned). Wendell Potter, the other guest, is a former executive for the health insurance companies Cigna and Humana, executive editor of HEALTH CARE un-covered, author of the book Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans and Nation on the Take.
Denied: ProPublica Exposes UnitedHealth Profiteering OffLimiting Care for Children with Autism
Discusses ProPublica article exposing UHC/Optum for “strategically” moving to
cut off ABA therapy for kids with autism, especially those on Medicaid. UHC stands out as especially bad. Company has “secret, internal cost-cutting
strategy” – UHC/Optum calls it “the gold standard treatment”. They have developed “market plans”, “special
action plans” to limit access to care. They
are terminating contracts with existing providers and avoiding contracts with
new ones. The Mental Health Parity Act was passed in 2008 that says
that mental and behavioral health services must be offered at parity with
physical health services. This may also
violate Medicaid laws.
UHC took an old algorithm that was designed to identify patients at risk for suicide or substance abuse, they redesigned it to look for what they call “therapy overuse” and began aggressively targeting children with autism getting therapy. The providers were being aggressively questioned about the medical necessity of the therapy. They were investigated by 3 states and the Department of Labor for these practices, and told it was illegal and that they had to stop doing it in these jurisdictions. The way our healthcare system is set up, they could continue to do this in other states.
OTHER HEALTHCARE COMPANIES
Debt in the dark: UCHealth sues patients daily and some have no idea why
UC Health, a Colorado company, claims that it's practice of suing patients who it claims "don't want to pay" is the industry norm- but an investigation showed that it is virtually the only health company in CO doing this. It is suing patients who have already paid off their bills and can prove it, patients who have a zero balance on their account, and others for no reason anyone can figure out. Two state legislators passed a law to try to stop this practice.
