On social networks, many Americans strongly criticize American health insurance programs and their logic deemed excessively lucrative after the murder of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.
Jokes, ironic, even hateful comments: the death of a big boss in the health insurance sector in the United States, killed by gunfire, provoked a surge of acerbic publications on social networks, proof of deep anger at with regard to a lucrative system, accused of enriching itself at the expense of patients.
Brian Thompson, boss of UnitedHealthcare, the country’s leading health insurer, was shot dead at dawn last Wednesday by a gunman in the center of Manhattan, in the heart of the world financial capital. A 26-year-old suspect, Luigi Mangione, has just been arrested. The latter had on him a handwritten text mentioning his anger against this sector, revealed a police official. “I was able to read this manifesto (…) It’s a manuscript. It suggests that he is frustrated with the health system of the United States”, explained the head of investigators of the New York police , Joseph Kenny, on ABC’s Good Morning America.
“More specifically,” Luigi Mangione, 26, “explains that our health care system is the most expensive in the world, while the life expectancy of an American is ranked 42nd in the world. He has written extensively about his contempt for American businesses and in particular for the healthcare industry,” he added.
“This system is extremely violent, insists Mélanie Heard, head of the health division of the Terra Nova think-tank. There are many people who are prescribed care by a doctor who is subsequently refused them by their insurance and whose They ultimately cannot benefit. It is a situation that occurs regularly and it can happen to sell your house to care for your child who is suffering from a serious illness. It is a reality that Americans live with.
Targeted American health insurance programs
The death of Brian Thompson, in this visibly premeditated assassination in the middle of the street, caused a strong stir, but it was also accompanied by hateful comments on social networks against American health insurance programs. “I submitted a request for support for my condolences, but it was refused, too sad,” asserts, full of irony, an Internet user on TikTok.
“Thoughts and prayers for all the patients who have been refused care,” comments another.
“My thoughts and prayers are not included in my health coverage”: this comment, recurrent on the networks since the tragedy, echoes a frequent practice of American health insurance to refuse coverage for a medical procedure.
The publication on Facebook of condolences from the United Health group – the parent company of UnitedHealthcare – provoked a strong reaction from Internet users, the vast majority of reactions being “laughing” Emojis. On Friday, it was no longer possible to know their precise number. Network Contagion Research Institute, a research center specializing in digital issues, recorded “a surge of highly engaged posts across social media glorifying the event, some even calling for additional acts of violence, sparking tens of millions of views”.
“When we arrive at the hospital, we are afraid of not being reimbursed”
This lack of empathy, even this rage, illustrates the population’s disavowal of the private health insurance sector in general, and UnitedHealthcare in particular. “United refused to pay for my medication when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis,” says a user on TikTok. “I hope his family gets a bill,” she says, about Brian Thompson.
Reactions which provoked the Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, who condemned them: “We do not kill people in cold blood for political questions or to express a point of view, this killer is hailed as a hero. Listen to me carefully, he’s not a hero,” he insisted.
UnitedHealthcare covers about 50 million people in the United States and made $16.4 billion in profits in 2023. The same year, the compensation of its boss, Brian Thompson, was more than $10 million.
“It is the largest private for-profit insurer in the United States and is in the majority of markets,” says Victor Rodwin, professor of health management and policy at the University’s Wagner School of Public Service. from New York, interviewed by BFM Business.
“All the jokes, all the sarcasm about the killing, it’s a defense mechanism for a population who feels powerless in the face of our health system,” says, in a TikTok video, the ophthalmologist and comedian “Dr Glaucomflecken”, real name William Flanary, known for his satirical medical videos.
“Private and publicly traded insurers like United Health play a very active role in setting rules and requesting prior authorization before reimbursing very expensive care,” explains Victor Rodwin. And often, if doctors continue to provide care without it prior authorization, these insurance companies refuse to reimburse. A lot of Americans have experienced this private bureaucracy to get reimbursed. When we arrive at the hospital, we are afraid of not being reimbursed.
Nearly $1.3 billion spent on private health insurance in 2022
The “Obamacare” law, adopted more than ten years ago, made it possible to cover tens of millions of Americans without health insurance. But the cost of health and disparities in care remain high in the United States for a good considered universal in other countries. According to government figures, American residents spent $1.29 trillion on private health insurance in 2022. In the United States, 216.5 million residents were covered by private health insurance in 2023 (out of more than 330 million inhabitants). This lucrative sector also manages public insurance Medicare (for the elderly) and Medicaid (for the very poor), under mandate from the government which subsidizes it.
“In Europe, we tend to think that everyone is insured in the United States since Obamacare, but there is not this public insurance on one side and private insurance on the other,” underlines Mélanie Heard. Obamacare does not create a public health insurance fund and the risk remains insured by private insurance companies.
For Victor Rodwin, the recent election of Donald Trump is synonymous with “less coverage and more privatization”: “There is not a majority that agrees to have a single payer like in France. The corporatism of private insurance is extremely strong. Obamacare has not at all called into question the power of private insurance which remains considerable in the American system.”
A rate of refusal of support twice as high as the sector average
If the police have, for the moment, not determined the motive behind the murder of the 50-year-old boss of UnitedHealthcare, speculation is rife as to the possibility that the suspect wanted revenge for a dispute with this insurance . According to the New York Times, the words “delay” and “deny” were found written on shell casings at the scene of the tragedy, recalling controversial practices in the sector. According to ValuePenguin, an analyst group, UnitedHealthcare denies about a third of its policyholders’ medical claims, the highest rate of any insurance company and double the industry average.
“Approximately 40% of the American population has debts due to non-payment of medical expenses, observes Victor Rodwin. And for 12%, these debts exceed $10,000.”
According to Mélanie Heard, the increase in legal actions against private health insurance companies which refuse to cover health care could increase their regulation in the coming years. “This is a particularly intense legal activity, if only for United Healthcare: seeing itself accused of inventing false diagnoses for its policyholders in order to receive more subsidies under Medicare without reimbursing, and for good reason, the company is taking legal action to avoid having to repay the overpayment. Likewise, it is in court that the company is contesting the criticisms made against its risk calculation algorithm, the subject of a class action. in 2023”, specifies the head of the Terra Nova Health division.
