Special Reports > > Features– Posts reveal aggravations with the U.S. medical insurance market
by Kristina Fiore, Director of Enterprise & & Investigative Reporting, MedPage Today December 5, 2024
In the wake of the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, some commenters on social networks published savage replies– a signal of the contempt lots of hold for America’s medical insurance market.
“Unfortunately my acknowledgements are out-of-network,” checked out one remark. Others consisted of, “Thoughts and deductibles to the household,” and “Prior permission is required for ideas and prayers.”
Even on r/medicine, mediators supposedly needed to erase a thread on the murder.
The very first action to the post is a mock protection rejection letter for treatment for a gunshot injury. Right away following is a mock reply to an appeal, that checks out, in part, “Your strategy clearly omits protection for injuries arising from ‘unapproved usage of guns.’ As no proof was offered to validate the shooting was unintentional or inevitable, we are not able to reverse this element of the rejection.”
Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, published on X that individuals were retweeting a satirical video made by medical web character Dr. Glaucomflecken about how to ace an interview with UnitedHealthcare. It paints medical professionals who use to work for the business as being encouraged by cash, and making the most of individuals to get it.
Prasad recommended Glaucomflecken’s criticism “might have gotten somebody killed”– to which Glaucomflecken responded, “I do not get upset quickly, however suggesting that my material is accountable for someone’s murder is quite offending … and unsavory.”
Couple of posts on X when looking for “Thompson” attempt to temper the profusion of hatred. “Brian was a truly good guy with a household,” one read. “Celebrating the death of a male since he heads a company you do not like is disgraceful.”
Another read, “Just a suggestion that Thompson … was a human being with a household. Numerous of the remarks on his murder are despicable.”
Gushing such hatred in the wake of a death might be a sign of simply how annoyed Americans have actually ended up being with the health care system, and health insurance companies in specific.
In a current KFF survey, about two-thirds of Americans stated medical insurance business are worthy of “a great deal of blame” for high health care expenses. A KFF survey from in 2015 discovered that while many people provided their medical insurance a general score of “outstanding” or “great,” the bulk likewise stated they experienced an issue utilizing their insurance coverage in the previous year, consisting of rejected claims and pre-authorization issues.
Protection rejections and aggravations come as health insurance companies draw in considerable quantities of cash. UnitedHealthcare generated more than $281 billion in earnings in 2015, and Thompson got more than $10 million in settlement in 2015, according to the New York City TimesThat consisted of $1 million in base pay, in addition to money and stock grants.
Thompson was shot Wednesday early morning in midtown Manhattan as he was strolling to the yearly financier day for moms and dad business UnitedHealth Group.
