The brazen slay of the UnitedHealthcare CEO
According to New York City Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Jessica Tisch, the gunman was masked in freezing temperatures and was 'lying in wait' before pulling the trigger and opening fire on Thompson.
“Many people passed the suspect, but he appeared to wait for his intended target...I want to be clear: At this time, every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack,” she said.
NBC News reported that the shell casing and live rounds were written with the words 'deny,' 'defend,' and 'depose,' which police tried to investigate an indicated motive, pointing to a popular phrase in the insurance industry: “delay, deny, defend.'
Who was Brian Thompson?
Brian Thompson was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UnitedHealthcare, an appointed chief executive of the company in 2021, and was part of the company since 2004. He also worked as CEO of the company’s government programs business (Medicare).
He also became a manager and practiced as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) at PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited (PwC) for nearly 7 years.
According to Thompson's LinkedIn profile, he graduated from the University of Iowa in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in business administration and a major in accounting.
Delayed Accountability
For some, his death is his repaying and 'holding accountable for all the country's healthcare problems,' especially as a company that implemented prior-authorization.
UnitedHealthcare is one of the insurance providers that have faced lawsuits, media investigations, and government inquiries over alleged unethical practices.
In 2023, UnitedHealthcare settled a lawsuit brought by a chronically ill college student, citing he was saddled with $800,000 of medical bills when the institution denied his doctor-prescribed drugs.
A series from Stat News covered one class-action lawsuit against the company, claiming it uses artificial intelligence in its health services, particularly in curing patients, to end the treatments early.
Denying Healthcare
The words 'Delay Deny Defend' were an echo of a 2010 book title with subtitles, “Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.”
UnitedHealthcare is the largest private health insurance payer in the United States and has been one of the primary subjects of heated controversy due to their high rates of denial of healthcare claims and services, mostly brought by prior-authorization.
In a BBC news interview, one woman responded to a post about the firm's work on making drugs more affordable, "I have stage 4 metastatic lung cancer," she wrote. "We've just left [UnitedHealthcare] because of all the denials for my meds. Every month there is a different reason for the denial."
A Recent Commonwealth Fund research revealed that:
45% of insured working-age adults were charged for something they thought should have been free or covered by insurance
Less than 50% have suspected billing errors
17% of insurers denied coverage for care that was recommended by their doctor
Sara Collins, a senior scholar at The Commonwealth Fund, stated that not only is the US health system 'complicated,' but it is also 'expensive' and these huge costs most of the time fall directly on insurance payers.
