Rage and Contempt Are Not Good for Health or Healthcare

A man was murdered this week in a manner of cold determination. As of this writing, we do not know why. But because he was the CEO of UnitedHealthcare – America’s largest health insurer – many people are interpreting this murder as an expression of rage and contempt for the health insurance industry. Some are even expressing glee.

For example, on the Reddit medicine forum for health professionals, the top post in a now closed thread mocked the business that Brian Thompson ran. It was a satirical denial of coverage for treatment of his gunshot wounds:

“Thank you for choosing United Healthcare for your healthcare needs. After a careful review of the claim submitted for emergency services on December 4, 2024, we regret to inform you that your request for coverage has been denied.”

The post goes on to list the reasons as lack of prior authorization, failure to prove medical necessity, alternatives not explored, and out-of-network care.

Very Real and Raw

We understand where these feelings are coming from. The experiences of friends and family dealing with health insurance games range from stupid, petty, and maddening to utterly devastating. Lives are at stake when a health insurer blocks access to important medical care. Those lives can be altered and even ended because of it. The feelings surfacing in the response to the cold and hateful murder of this health insurance executive are very real and raw.

More Alienation?

Obviously, the murder is sending chills through the healthcare industry in the ranks of its executives. Sociologist Zeynep Tufekci reflects on this:

“Corporate executives are already reportedly beefing up their security. I expect more of them to move to gated communities, entrenched beyond even higher walls, protected by people with even bigger guns. Calls for a higher degree of public surveillance or for integrating facial recognition algorithms into policing may well follow. Almost certainly, armed security entourages and private jets will become an even more common element of executive compensation packages, further removing routine contact between the extremely wealthy and the rest of us, except when employed to serve them.”

If the healthcare industry and the public only become more alienated because of this brutal murder, then the rage and contempt directed at health systems will only grow. We all will suffer.

These feelings, and the systems that inspire them, are not taking us to a place of better health. It is time to change course.

Click here for free access to Tufekci’s outstanding essay, here and here for further perspective.

Raging Storm on Jupiter, photograph by NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS via Wikimedia Commons

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December 8, 2024