Two years before Brian Thompson was shot dead on the streets of New York, a post by the health insurance executives received a string of anguished, angry responses.
“Making health care more affordable means more money in people’s pockets,” Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance unit, had written on LinkedIn. “That’s more important than ever right now. Reducing drug prices and improving price transparency are two ways we are working to lower costs for UnitedHealthcare members.”
Underneath the post, there were few who praised the sentiment. “I’m curious, money in whose pockets?” wrote one user. “It seems members are not the primary recipients when the ratio of CEO to median employee pay is 30:1 and revenue increases over 10pc in a year.”
Another spoke of how her 86-year-old mother’s healthcare plan had been terminated with no notice.
“Do better,” said a woman who said she had been diagnosed with stage four cancer, but had been forced to end her insurance coverage after UnitedHealth denied her medications. “Every month there is a different reason for the denial. As of today, we are well over our max out of pocket for the year, having spent well over $20,000 [£16,000]. Since we are in our 60s – we don’t have time to recoup that.”
Now, Thompson’s murder at the hands of a masked assassin has unleashed a further torrent of public anger in the US about the state of the country’s healthcare system.
There is speculation that the motive behind Brian Thompson’s killing is tied to his work at UnitedHealthcare – NYPD News/Handout via Reuters
For some, sympathy appears to be in short supply. Within hours of the killing, videos appeared online in which nurses and patients posted horror stories of when they have had to deal with healthcare insurers. Under a video on CNN of the shooting, one commenter said: “Thoughts and deductibles to the family. Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network.”
A manhunt is still under way for the assailant in Thompson’s attack and their motive is unknown. However, speculation has been mounting that he was targeted because of his work in the health insurance industry. Speaking to reporters this week, Thompson’s estranged wife suggested he had been the victim of threats in the past. She said these might have been over healthcare “coverage”.
Evidence discovered on Thursday only added fuel to the theory that Thompson’s job has played a role in the attack. Law enforcement officials revealed that shell casings had been found at the crime scene emblazoned with the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose”.
Some suggested this could be a reference to the tactics used by insurers to avoid paying out claims to patients, with a book published in 2010 titled Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.
In the book, author Jay Feinman writes: “All insurance companies have an incentive to chisel their customers in order to increase profits.”
Frustration with the state of the US healthcare system has been building for years. Speaking in April, Democratic senator Bernie Sanders said: “It is a system not designed to provide health care to all people in a cost-effective way. It is a system designed to make huge profits for the insurance companies, the drug companies, and many other industries within the system.” He claimed this system was “totally broken”.
Insurers argue that it is drug makers who are raking in the profits, not them. However, there are clear problems at play. Across America, 85m people are either uninsured or underinsured. For those who do pay for insurance, it is a significant chunk of their pay packet.
By 2022, health insurance was second only to wages as part of employee compensation, at 7.9pc of their pay packet. The costs of family health insurance plans offered through employers have only risen since, up 7pc this year to $25,572.
Many of those who are covered claim that they are being overcharged for services that they believed should be covered by their insurance.
Research by the Commonwealth Fund earlier this year found that more than two of five working-age adults had received a bill or been charged a co-payment – a fixed amount patients must pay before insurers offer coverage – for a health care service that they thought should have been covered by insurance.
It has led to growing resentment for health insurers. According to a survey from Gallup, less than a third of Americans have a positive view of the healthcare industry. Only oil and gas, the federal government and drug companies came out worse.
A particular gripe by those dealing with insurers has been “denial rates”. Although companies are not required to publish how often they are denying claims, official studies have claimed the issue is significant.
A Senate committee investigation earlier this year claimed that the three largest companies in the space – UnitedHealthcare, Humana and CVS – were all denying nursing care to people who had suffered from falls and strokes. It accused UnitedHealthcare of denying requests for nursing stays three times more often than it did for other services. The companies refuted the report.
For now, all UnitedHealthcare executives can do is mourn their colleague. Andrew Witty, the chief executive of parent company UnitedHealth Group, said the case was a “terrible tragedy”.
“Our hearts are with his family, especially his mom, his wife Paulie, his brother and his two boys, who lost a father today,” he said.
Yet not everyone can appreciate the human tragedy of the case. As one nurse on TikTok said: “I just can’t feel sympathy for him because of all of those patients and their families.”
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