Boy, what a week for lessons in revolt.
First, we got to see the actions of Korean people and their parliament after President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in an attempted coup d’etat. In six short hours, the coup was over. Rumor is that he might try again but he does so at the risk of his freedom, if not worse.
Then, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, the United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed on the streets of Manhattan.
After the killing, a crazy thing happened. Very few people responded to the event with any sympathy for the CEO but turned that sympathy on their fellow Americans who have been denied claims for necessary procedures and medications for years. United Healthcare being the number one company that denies medical claims.
That shot was “heard” throughout the medical world, and it was a rare moment of American unity.
America has spent too many years facing the collapse of our medical systems due to a complicated and disjointed system of insurance. Doctors give medical advice. They also perform procedures, but these often need approval from insurance companies. Can you imagine that your treatment has to be approved by suits at a table with no, or less, medical training than your physician who spent years studying to treat patients?
This situation has been deadly and continues to be.
Medicines that doctors recommend for their patients are ignored by insurers or influenced by pharmaceutical companies looking to sell products. If these pharmaceutical companies offer better drug prices to insurers, and sometimes doctors, patients are very often being directed away from medications that could have better outcomes.
This isn’t health nor care. It’s commerce.
In my own life, a medicine that used to cost me less than four dollars is now almost $80. Insurance seems to have decided that it isn’t going to pay for it anymore.
I’m lucky that I can afford it but I’m still angry that I have to.
Another thing also happened after the shooting. It seems that the event rattled the nerves of a few folks in power. Imagine that.
France taught this lesson in 1793. And, here in Louisville, the statue of King Louis XVI that previously stood in front of the courthouses should be a reminder of what happens when you ignore the needs of your people.
Maybe if Louis’ head was where his hand used to be, local people might remember a bit better how history has dealt with greed and tyrants. It certainly wasn’t by asking them nicely to be more fair.
On the same day as Thompson’s killing, another U.S. healthcare company had threatened to limit anesthesia during surgery to the amount of time that they felt was necessary for procedures, regardless of what doctors performing the surgeries allocated as the actual necessary time. They said they would not pay if surgeries went beyond their allotted time, and the patient would be left with the cost of the overage.
The blowback from medical professionals, and the public was swift. The company abandoned the policy.
The lesson here is an old one. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.
The moment Thompson was gunned down was perhaps the loudest a “squeak” has been from the public regarding healthcare, but one that got the attention of CEOs, Investors, politicians and other direct stakeholders in these greedy, healthcare companies that rake in billions each year.
Carved into the bullets the shooter used were the words: Delay, Deny, Depose. It was a message and a possibly an allusion to the book “Delay, Deny, Depose: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It” by Rutgers law professor Jay Feinman. The motive for this killing seems pretty clear.
I’m not writing this to debate the morality of this killing. The morality of healthcare companies feels much more distasteful in this situation.
What I do see as a positive is that the public has continued to squeak, and it is time to turn the cacophony of voices into direct actions that puts pressure on the people who can improve healthcare costs and access for the American people.
These companies have gathered more profit than is needed for a thousand lifetimes. It’s time to have a universal payer system with these companies only able to offer supplemental plans at FAR lower rates than we’ve been paying. You know like medicare does with our elders.
No one should lose their livelihood to save their health, nor should Americans have to travel overseas for medical procedures, eye care, and dental care. See medical tourism.
Right now because of the action of Thompson’s killer, the people have the microphone. Keep “squeaking,” but know that it’s time for a full court press into real healthcare that works for America, and these companies better be ready.
This article appears in Dec 4-17, 2024.