Torrent of hate for health insurance industry follows CEO’s killing
NYTimes News Service | Friday, December 6, 2024,
Reuters People walk next to a poster on Thursday outside the Hilton hotel near the scene where the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was shot dead in Midtown Manhattan. REUTERS/Mike Segar
The fatal shooting Wednesday of a top UnitedHealthcare executive, Brian Thompson, on a New York City sidewalk has unleashed a torrent of morbid glee from patients and others who say they have had negative experiences with health insurance companies at some of the hardest times of their lives.
It is unclear what motivated the incident or whether it was tied to Thompson’s work in the insurance industry. Police have yet to identify the shooter, who is still on the loose.
But that did not stop social media commenters from leaping to conclusions and from showing a blatant lack of sympathy over the death of a man who was a husband and father of two children.
“Thoughts and deductibles to the family,” read one comment underneath a video of the shooting posted online by CNN. “Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network.”
On TikTok, one user wrote, “I’m an ER nurse and the things I’ve seen dying patients get denied for by insurance makes me physically sick. I just can’t feel sympathy for him because of all of those patients and their families.”
The dark commentary after the death of Thompson, a 50-year-old insurance executive from Maple Grove, Minnesota, highlighted the anger and frustration over the state of health care in America, where those with private insurance often find themselves in Kafkaesque tangles while seeking reimbursement for medical treatment and are often denied.
Messages that law enforcement officials say were found on bullet casings at the scene of the shooting in front of a New York hotel — “delay” and “deny” — are two words familiar to many Americans who have interacted with insurance companies for almost anything other than routine doctor visits.
Thompson was chief executive of his company’s insurance division, which reported $281 billion in revenue last year, providing coverage to millions of Americans through the health plans it sold to individuals, employers and people under government programs like Medicare. The division employs roughly 140,000 people.
Thompson received a $10.2 million compensation package last year, a combination of $1 million in base pay and cash and stock grants. He was shot to death as he was walking toward the annual investor day for UnitedHealth Group, UnitedHealthcare’s parent company.
Stephan Meier, the chair of the management division at Columbia Business School, said the attack could send shock waves through the broader health insurance industry.
About seven CEOs of publicly traded companies die each year, he said, but almost always from health complications or accidents. A targeted attack could have much larger implications.
“The insurance industry is not the most loved, to put it mildly,” Meier said. “If you’re a C-suite executive of another insurance company, I would be thinking, what’s this mean for me? Am I next?”
A longtime employee of UnitedHealthcare said that workers at the company had been aware for years that members were unhappy. Thompson was one of the few executives who wanted to do something about it, said the employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the company does not allow workers to speak publicly without permission.
In speeches to employees, Thompson spoke about the need to change the state of health care coverage in the country and the culture of the company, topics other executives avoided, the employee said.
Already, there is heightened concern among some public-facing health care companies, said Eric Sean Clay, president of the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety. The trade group includes members that offer security to some of the largest health care companies in North America.
“The CEOs are quite often the most visible face of an organization,” he said. “Sometimes people hate on that individual and wish to do them harm.”
But few health care companies provide security for their executives, he said, in part to avoid bad optics or because it may seem unnecessary.
In the hours after the shooting early Wednesday, social media exploded with anger toward the insurance industry and Thompson.
“I pay $1,300 a month for health insurance with an $8,000 deductible. ($23,000 yearly) When I finally reached that deductible, they denied my claims. He was making a million dollars a month,” read one comment on TikTok.
Another commenter wrote, “This needs to be the new norm. EAT THE RICH.”
“The ambulance ride to the hospital probably won’t be covered,” wrote a commenter on a TikTok video in which another user featured an audio clip from the Netflix show “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.” In it, the queen makes a dramatic show of faux sorrow over a death.
The shooting prompted a wrenching outpouring of patients and family members who also posted horror stories of insurance claim reimbursement stagnation and denials.
One woman expressed frustration with trying to get a special bed for her disabled son covered by UnitedHealthcare. Another user described struggling with bills and coverage after giving birth.
“It is so stressful,” the user said in a video. “I was sick over this.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
© 2024 The New York Times Company
Reuters People walk next to a poster on Thursday outside the Hilton hotel near the scene where the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was shot dead in Midtown Manhattan. REUTERS/Mike Segar
The fatal shooting Wednesday of a top UnitedHealthcare executive, Brian Thompson, on a New York City sidewalk has unleashed a torrent of morbid glee from patients and others who say they have had negative experiences with health insurance companies at some of the hardest times of their lives.
It is unclear what motivated the incident or whether it was tied to Thompson’s work in the insurance industry. Police have yet to identify the shooter, who is still on the loose.
But that did not stop social media commenters from leaping to conclusions and from showing a blatant lack of sympathy over the death of a man who was a husband and father of two children.
“Thoughts and deductibles to the family,” read one comment underneath a video of the shooting posted online by CNN. “Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network.”
On TikTok, one user wrote, “I’m an ER nurse and the things I’ve seen dying patients get denied for by insurance makes me physically sick. I just can’t feel sympathy for him because of all of those patients and their families.”
The dark commentary after the death of Thompson, a 50-year-old insurance executive from Maple Grove, Minnesota, highlighted the anger and frustration over the state of health care in America, where those with private insurance often find themselves in Kafkaesque tangles while seeking reimbursement for medical treatment and are often denied.
Messages that law enforcement officials say were found on bullet casings at the scene of the shooting in front of a New York hotel — “delay” and “deny” — are two words familiar to many Americans who have interacted with insurance companies for almost anything other than routine doctor visits.
Thompson was chief executive of his company’s insurance division, which reported $281 billion in revenue last year, providing coverage to millions of Americans through the health plans it sold to individuals, employers and people under government programs like Medicare. The division employs roughly 140,000 people.
Thompson received a $10.2 million compensation package last year, a combination of $1 million in base pay and cash and stock grants. He was shot to death as he was walking toward the annual investor day for UnitedHealth Group, UnitedHealthcare’s parent company.
Stephan Meier, the chair of the management division at Columbia Business School, said the attack could send shock waves through the broader health insurance industry.
About seven CEOs of publicly traded companies die each year, he said, but almost always from health complications or accidents. A targeted attack could have much larger implications.
“The insurance industry is not the most loved, to put it mildly,” Meier said. “If you’re a C-suite executive of another insurance company, I would be thinking, what’s this mean for me? Am I next?”
A longtime employee of UnitedHealthcare said that workers at the company had been aware for years that members were unhappy. Thompson was one of the few executives who wanted to do something about it, said the employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the company does not allow workers to speak publicly without permission.
In speeches to employees, Thompson spoke about the need to change the state of health care coverage in the country and the culture of the company, topics other executives avoided, the employee said.
Already, there is heightened concern among some public-facing health care companies, said Eric Sean Clay, president of the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety. The trade group includes members that offer security to some of the largest health care companies in North America.
“The CEOs are quite often the most visible face of an organization,” he said. “Sometimes people hate on that individual and wish to do them harm.”
But few health care companies provide security for their executives, he said, in part to avoid bad optics or because it may seem unnecessary.
In the hours after the shooting early Wednesday, social media exploded with anger toward the insurance industry and Thompson.
“I pay $1,300 a month for health insurance with an $8,000 deductible. ($23,000 yearly) When I finally reached that deductible, they denied my claims. He was making a million dollars a month,” read one comment on TikTok.
Another commenter wrote, “This needs to be the new norm. EAT THE RICH.”
“The ambulance ride to the hospital probably won’t be covered,” wrote a commenter on a TikTok video in which another user featured an audio clip from the Netflix show “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.” In it, the queen makes a dramatic show of faux sorrow over a death.
The shooting prompted a wrenching outpouring of patients and family members who also posted horror stories of insurance claim reimbursement stagnation and denials.
One woman expressed frustration with trying to get a special bed for her disabled son covered by UnitedHealthcare. Another user described struggling with bills and coverage after giving birth.
“It is so stressful,” the user said in a video. “I was sick over this.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
© 2024 The New York Times Company
Slain UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson
December 05, 2024
ALTERNET
In the early morning hours of Wednesday, December 4, 2024, UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead by a masked gunman who remains at large. On social media, his murder was met not with an outpouring of mourning, but ridicule.
In an article published by Science publication Futurism, writer Victor Tangermann explored the "incredibly dark" responses to Thompson's killing on platforms like X and Bluesky. He noted that many of the responses were "gallows humor" that were both "simultaneously ghoulish" yet also "illustrative of America's profoundly dysfunctional medical system."
"Rotating Sandwiches" meme creator Lauren Walker wrote on Bluesky: "[A]ll human life is sacred, so it's not proper to laugh when serious harm befalls someone," she wrote. "[T]he moral thing to do is instead charge them hundreds of thousands of dollars."
READ MORE: United Healthcare CEO gunned down outside Manhattan hotel: report
"Our apologies, but bullet wounds are only covered under our platinum+ package," one user wrote in response.
Many of the memes circulating in response to Thompson's murder invoke the cold nature of the private health insurance industry, in which an insured's claim can be denied even if it's for filling a prescription for medication prescribed by their doctor or for treatment necessary to save someone's life. LendingTree's ValuePenguin wrote that UnitedHealth is the worst offender, denying roughly one-third of all in-network claims (32%), which is double the industry average of 16%.
UnitedHealth has also been accused in a lawsuit of using artificial intelligence (AI) to deny claims filed by Medicare Advantage patients. The plaintiffs claim that the company had knowledge that the AI it was using "had a high potential for error," and that UnitedHealth employees were pressured by supervisors to use the algorithm to issue denials. They were also reportedly told to keep patient stays within 1% of the length of stay predicted by the AI.
The New York Post recently reported that Thompson and several UnitedHealth executives were under investigation by the Department of Justice for alleged insider trading. Thompson and three others allegedly sold more than $101 million in shares before news of the investigation was announced, which resulted in the company's stock price declining. Thompson himself reportedly made $15 million on the sale.
In the early morning hours of Wednesday, December 4, 2024, UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead by a masked gunman who remains at large. On social media, his murder was met not with an outpouring of mourning, but ridicule.
In an article published by Science publication Futurism, writer Victor Tangermann explored the "incredibly dark" responses to Thompson's killing on platforms like X and Bluesky. He noted that many of the responses were "gallows humor" that were both "simultaneously ghoulish" yet also "illustrative of America's profoundly dysfunctional medical system."
"Rotating Sandwiches" meme creator Lauren Walker wrote on Bluesky: "[A]ll human life is sacred, so it's not proper to laugh when serious harm befalls someone," she wrote. "[T]he moral thing to do is instead charge them hundreds of thousands of dollars."
READ MORE: United Healthcare CEO gunned down outside Manhattan hotel: report
"Our apologies, but bullet wounds are only covered under our platinum+ package," one user wrote in response.
Many of the memes circulating in response to Thompson's murder invoke the cold nature of the private health insurance industry, in which an insured's claim can be denied even if it's for filling a prescription for medication prescribed by their doctor or for treatment necessary to save someone's life. LendingTree's ValuePenguin wrote that UnitedHealth is the worst offender, denying roughly one-third of all in-network claims (32%), which is double the industry average of 16%.
UnitedHealth has also been accused in a lawsuit of using artificial intelligence (AI) to deny claims filed by Medicare Advantage patients. The plaintiffs claim that the company had knowledge that the AI it was using "had a high potential for error," and that UnitedHealth employees were pressured by supervisors to use the algorithm to issue denials. They were also reportedly told to keep patient stays within 1% of the length of stay predicted by the AI.
The New York Post recently reported that Thompson and several UnitedHealth executives were under investigation by the Department of Justice for alleged insider trading. Thompson and three others allegedly sold more than $101 million in shares before news of the investigation was announced, which resulted in the company's stock price declining. Thompson himself reportedly made $15 million on the sale.
"deny," "defend," and "depose"
Police find words on shell casings at scene of UnitedHealthcare CEO's killing
As the manhunt for the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson continued Thursday, law enforcement said the words "deny," "defend,"and "depose" were found on shell casings left at the scene of Thompson's midtown Manhattan murder. NYPD police officers investigate the crime scene around the New York Midtown Hilton following Thompsn's murder in New York City on Wednesday.
As the manhunt for the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson continued Thursday, law enforcement said the words "deny," "defend,"and "depose" were found on shell casings left at the scene of Thompson's midtown Manhattan murder. NYPD police officers investigate the crime scene around the New York Midtown Hilton following Thompsn's murder in New York City on Wednesday.
Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Law enforcement on Thursday said that words were found on shell casings left at the scene of UnitedHealthcare CEO BrianThompson's midtown Manhattan killing as a manhunt for the suspect continued.
The words "deny," "defend" and "depose" were found on the cases, ABC News, NBC News and CNN reported, citing law enforcement sources.
The words may be a message from the gunman and police investigators are looking at whether they may indicate a motive in the killing.
The similar words " "delay, deny, defend" are commonly known as the three D's of the insurance industry.
As police search for the killer and investigate to determine the motive, bounty hunter and liaison to the U.S. Marshals Zeke Unger told CNN the killer didn't appear to be a professional hitman.
"I believe that the individual, by looking at the footage, had some psychological issues. That this is a revenge shooting," Unger said. "This is not a professional killer, a contract killer by his mannerisms and by the failure of the weapon."
Unger was referring to the gun appearing to jam temporarily during the shooting.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Thompson was targeted in a premeditated, preplanned targeted attack.
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Security video of the killing showed Thompson walking toward the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan early Wednesday morning when a hooded and masked gunman walked up behind him, pointed a silenced pistol at Thompson and fired multiple times before fleeing on a bike.
CBS News, citing a police source, said "forensic evidence" was found at the Starbucks the gunman visited before the shooting. A cellphone was also recovered in an alleyway near the shooting site that police said had investigative value.
Paulette Thompson, wife of the slain CEO, told NBC News Wednesday there had been threats against her husband.
"Basically, I don't know, a lack of coverage? I don't know details. I just know there were some people that had been threatening him," she said.
The killer was described as a 6'1" tall skinny White man dressed in all black with a hoodie and a mask.
A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the suspect's arrest and conviction.
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