I’ve been thinking a lot about the state of healthcare in America in light of the murder of the United Healthcare CEO. I have hesitated writing about how I feel about this situation, but this morning, I read Dave Rogers, Nice Marmot blog post about this very subject, so I thought I would say what I’m thinking.
Dave:
I hadn’t given a great deal of thought to how I feel about the murder of that CEO. (I’m not mentioning his name mostly because I can’t recall it at the moment; but also because I don’t think he’s worthy of _“Say his name!”_respect.)
Trae Crowder is a stand-up comedian who has a YouTube channel called Liberal Redneck. I watch his videos because I need a laugh, and his are funny but also intelligent. I found this one particularly thought provoking, which is significant because I’d been kind of going out of my way not to think about it. My reaction is that I don’t find much to disagree with in his comments.
Before reading Dave’s post, I read a New Yorker article by Jia Tolentino, “What the Murder of the United Healthcare C.E.O. Means to America" and I wanted to point out that United Healthcare denies 32% of insurance claims. Yep, nearly a third of claims submitted to this company are denied. That’s double the industry average, according to The New Yorker.
The New Yorker quoted a person who posted on Reddit’s r/nurses forum, whose profile describes her as an I.C.U. nurse, wrote, "Honestly, I’m not wishing anyone harm, but when you’ve spent so much time and made so much money by increasing the suffering of the humanity around you, it’s hard for me to summon empathy that you died”. Thompson, who became C.E.O. in 2021, had raised annual profits from twelve billion dollars to sixteen billion dollars during his tenure. He received more than ten million dollars in compensation last year.
Denying people the care they desperately need is fucking wrong and cruel. Yet, this level of corporate-driven harm has become so normalized in America that we barely blink at it.
I'm conflicted about the whole thing.
Back to Blog