Multiply this by a million & we start to see how much doctors' time is spent on admin stuff like this when it should be dedicated to patient care. I would prefer govt. bureaucrats make healthcare decisions based upon medical standards, versus every decision being based on maximizing profits.
After reading this, I feel like a CEO getting shot ain't enough.
Just one? Nah, let the whole board of directors feel that fear, too. Dust off the French guillotines, if necessary. If the rich think they're free to do whatever they want then they might need a reminder.
One of my favorite movie quotes: “There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.”
We live in a surveillance state. Anything deemed a threat will be destroyed. Democrat leaders are effectively brain dead. Russia used coercive propaganda via Fox News, Sinclair News & certain evangelical leaders to get Trump elected. Dems did nothing about it. Their elitist bubble will burst.
I have been warning of Russia’s new form of propaganda that utilizes network enabled demographics to bind groups to Russian propaganda. For my troubles I’ve been muted & ignored. Yet, the democrat elitist leaders that don’t listen have effectively set back & possibly enabled the end of democracy.
Liberty cannot be held through ignorance & cowardice.
Understand all we have is each other, United we stand divided we fall.
Liberty or not, we must stand together, United, no matter who is president. If we do not our friends will scatter and our enemies will destroy us. We must stand together.
That said, we must also speak out against injustice. Trump has 2 paths before him. He can become a fearless warrior president like Andrew Jackson & yet retain our constitution and democratic republic. Andrew Jackson was feared by some, loved by many, respected by all.
Yes. Also, get rid of the autodenials driven by computer review/AI. And thats from a data analyst who has been in healthcare for nearly 25 years. Every denial should require common sense review by an actual, qualified, person. They autodeny and depend on people not appealing to save $$.
They also don't have Drs of the same specialty reviewing cases/appeals. My rheum had to argue with an internal med Dr at UHC over approving a new treatment for my RA a few years ago and it was infuriating.
Yup. Thus "qualified". Because so often the person (if a person sees it) isnt...either medically at all...or.for the specific subspecialty the treatment relates to. Its nuts, and should actually be illegal.
I work in out-patient physical therapy. Private insurance companies haven’t increased our pay us per service in over 20 years. Not just my clinic, all small businesses. There’s nothing we can do about it except not take insurance & charge patients out of pocket. I don’t wanna just treat the rich 😳
This is what Farage, Trice and the Tory right wing would have for this county. Why. Because you can be damn sure they will personally benefit from the transition (and be well funded to get into power to make it happen).
As an American outsider looking in on the UK, it seems like conservatives in your country are doing what they've done in mine: decimate government-run public services and then use the damage they've done to say "See? Government can't run things!"
Exactly so. If there wasn’t such emotional attachment to our health service then they would already have succeeded. It’s feels like a matter of time however, maddening when it is so obviously not in the majority of people’s interests 😞
My insurance is refusing to pay for my pain drugs. I have stage 2 rectal cancer. I really do not feel like fighting, but I will. I guess they decided it can't possibly hurt that bad? No big deal, eh? SHEEESH!!!
I am sorry you are going through that. Earlier this year I had a bad fall and could barely move without severe pain. I was traveling and the hospital gave me a rx for pain meds so I could get home. Insurance wouldn't pay for it and i also had to pay out of pocket...
The CEOs death has quickly come to resemble a Who-Killed-JR-type murder or any murder of a villainous person on a soap opera or in an Agatha Christie novel, the common thread being that it's difficult to narrow down suspects when literally the whole world hated the victim.
BTW - I’m only alive thanks to the NHS & its treatment of my cancers so I’m not blind to its value. But the current financial model for sustaining the system is untenable and unrealistic.
I'm also ex RN, (no gold braid on my cap though!) am also only alive because of the NHS, and disagree with you ABSOLUTELY. The privatisation that has taken place - too chums and donors to the Tory party, have simply hived off the easy cheap profitable bits
The point that I cannot ever see an answer to: healthcare costs money; why is it better to give some (lots?) of that pot of money to middlemen / shareholders and expect better outcomes? The NHS, though no longer the world’s best having been starved for 14y, still delivers outstanding value.
It's also, to a lesser extent, what *has* been happening over the last 2-3 decades. Privatisations and restrictions mean trusts are having to justify necessary healthcare, and what is not "profitable" at a trust level is cut back and if possible dropped.
(I say that, I've not been working in the NHS since moving to Scotland where trusts were abolished, so my expertise is in the English/Welsh NHS and I'm not sure how much of it still applies here)
At the same time, I’ve worked in many countries that have free or near free public medicine but if you expect care anywhere near the standard available in the US you either bribe someone in the system or pay for a private clinic.
Explain please. My dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer last year and his treatment was exemplary including the removal of his bladder and his week in intensive care. What’s different about the US, except shinier hospitals?
Usually not even shinier hospitals. I’m probably speaking more about other parts of Europe, Asia, and Latin America where universal free government-provided medical care sounds great in principle but screens a whole other economy of medicine for the rich and well connected.
I've been telling my thousands of friends in the UK that for a couple of decades. Healthcare in the US sucks and you should appreciate the NHS so STFU.
The major difference is that healthcare in the civilised world (i.e. anywhere outside of the USA) health care is a right not a privilege reserved for the obscenely rich. We do not have to choose between bankruptcy and death
Our American insurance model takes 40% of every health care dollar for the fraud waste and abuse of the insurance infrastructure, profit to shareholders and obscene executive bonuses.
Oh Elon and Vivek, here’s that waste you wanted to cut!!!!
Well I guess the insurance companies didn't learn anything from this. I don't have all the details but apparently Blue Cross/Blue shield is saying that anesthesiology isn't covered for surgeries over a certain amount of time. Do they expect the surgeon to wake you up and ask for a signature?
They quickly recanted that statement. That's the prob with US healthcare: the book says a "____surgery" should take 17.4 minutes, so they only want to pay for anesthesia for 17.4 mins. Anyone with a brain knows anything can happen,& cause it to go much longer. "The book" shouldn't be deciding.
A doctor of mine sent a similar letter to my insurance last year when we had to overhaul my medications because of side effects. It was infuriating but knowing he called them fking idiots made me smile. My insurance then approved the medication
Right? I know I shouldn't condone murder but if this guy needed help fleeing the country, I'll smuggle him to the airport. F#%^! The Corporate Greed in this country. ENOUGH!!! Grrr
We constantly pretend that all of us are on the same moral page, while corporations on the other hand regularly roll up that same page and shove it up our asses with greedy delight.
If the general public had the same moral compass they show time and time again, all CEOs would need protection 24/7.
Agreed. Also, you can ruin people's lives and not go to jail if it was done "on behalf" of a corporation. Despite what Romney and the rich want us to believe, corporations are NOT People.
Yes, Murder is wrong. Everyone knows it. But when people are being screwed out of their life and savings after paying for health insurance their whole life -- you better believe morality is playing second fiddle.
You are also correct to fear the future and spread of this. I don't condone it. But all of human history says this is what happens when income/power becomes this unbalanced. Want to fix this? Start by overturning Citizens United. Ban corporate lobbying and political spending.
Well, the guy is clearly mentally disturbed. Perhaps we should try reform or consumer choice before manning the barricades & calling for revolution? As a member of the party 🧢 that is generally anti-gun & suspicious of police/military power, I’d say we think long & hard about fomenting violence.
no, virtue ethics is for stupid people who cannot think. No action has moral value, an outcome has moral value. The outcome of this man dying, is good. Please try to understand.
No, it’s a perfect analogy. It just exposes the weakness of violence as the answer. As does the fact that the “alleged” gunman is quite possibly schizophrenic. I’m not going to violate my non-violent moral code & become that which I abhor. MLK & Gandhi are worth emulating, not abandoning.
Ah yes the corner grocer, a person who is definitely in the same galaxy as "Healthcare CEO who has literally killed thousands at a bare minimum to make slightly more money"
If I'm th CEO of a large bloodsucking company that's putting people's health in jeopardy, hoarding wealth or treating my employees like shit, then by all means shoot away
The insurance companies already do that. They decided what treatments you get, and they don’t care if you live or die as long as they make a profit off of you. That needs to change.
It is simply moral for some people to die, for them to be killed is simply moral. It may be illegal, but the law is an attempt to describe morality, not proscribe it. Giving the state a monopoly on violence, which they insist upon, is not in our interests as citizens at this point.
They recently stopped covering my inhalers because they “aren’t medically necessary.” Not nearly as severe as a lot of the examples in this thread but still pretty damn shitty. Did you know it’s not medically necessary to breathe?
I just got the refusal for a v ring ,it saves so many UTI s,(which are pretty expensive and painful to treat ) it is a 90 day one and done , but because some idiot thinks it might be birth control, it is not necessary . FYI it’s not the $$ here just stupidity.
My health insurance will only allow me one inhaler every 50 days. I need one at least every 30. I now use GoodRX for every other Inhaler, it costs $1 more than with insurance. Breathing is over rated.
And were shedding tears for the guy who ultimately was responsible for this. I don't get it people. I think more insurance CEOs should be shot in the back as they go to investor meetings, maybe that'll finally get their fucking attention.
Not my tears. I used to work in healthcare, then for an health insurance company. I took the insurance job because I was desperate for a remote job during the pandemic. It killed me inside and I had to quit.
I learned a lot about the inner workings of the insurance industry and it’s despicable.
I still feel unclean. I thought “I can help. I can be their inside person and help them get the benefits they paid for.” Nope. There’s nothing you can do unless you’re at the top. You try and try but insurance will always have a way to slither out of it.
And that isn’t your fault. It’s built systematically to make sure that people can’t help except be a cog in the system. It’s intentionally cruel because I’m sure there’s claims you’ve heard that shouldn’t be denied, but you can’t fix it. That sucks.
Same. After a year of daily panic attacks and dry heaving from stress, my wife told me to just quit and take time to recover before starting a different career. I never looked back.
Yep. I won’t shed a tear for the CEO, I shed enough of them for the people I had to give bad news to. My husband was the same with me and I feel so lucky my partner had my back.
The insurance industry supported Ron DeSantis who also ironically used these nazi images and themes and that was the quote on quote ethical end of the industry concerning storm and fire insurance.
ALEC on the bad and Medicare for all on the good end are what the ins industry doesn’t want mentioned.
Oh, I won’t celebrate his death and I never condone murder. But I sure ain’t crying for him. As a HCW for years I’ve said, “If there is a devil incarnate, he’s the CEO of an insurance company.” So I won’t be sending the obligatory Thoughts and Prayers 🤷♀️
I'm not celebrating. I just don't think it's a bad thing compared to what this insurance company has done for years and years, making millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars by denying people who have entrusted their money to protect them medically only to get screwed and suffer.
Yep. It’s a shame people are telling you to have more compassion for that POS and his family who’s benefited from his ill-gotten gains. I’ve seen UHC denials LITERALLY ruin people’s lives.
The fact he was going to an investor meeting and not a conference about improving patient care just confirms what I already knew: for-profit insurance isn't about patient outcomes, it's about shareholder outcomes.
It's actually kinda weird reading news about this case, as they keep saying "what a horrible tragedy, here we interviewed some retired sergeant" and then the interview is like "oh it's a shame he did and that, should have really done that other thing instead, but such potential such potential"
Bless this doctor, because that is some callous shit right there. I'm a nurse; chemo is ROUGH! I thought it was bad that my insurance decided to deny my ADHD meds last year and my asthma maintenance meds this year in favor of a crappy powder inhaler. We get sicker; they get richer.
When my husband needed good inhalers, the pulmonologist sent the prescription to a Canadian pharmacy, which he advised. The inhalers were made in India and shipped to us via Hong Kong, Germany, New York, and Massachusetts before they reached us (in a remarkably timely fashion). [next rock]
I had a patient in liver failure who needed a med that cost $1000/month AFTER insurance to help keep them from ending up in the hospital with hepatic encephalopathy. They ended up getting it through Canada, too, also from India. For $150 for a 3 months' supply. Our system is so broken.
They are SO useless. And they can do horrible things to your voice. I spent most of this year chugging through my rescue inhalers and sounding like a 40 year, 3 pack a day smoker. But they prescribe them for "ease of use." Ha.
Here in the UK, the NHS have decided in their wisdom that asthma inhalers will be switched out for powder ones because the usual one's are bad for the climate apparently. Don't ask me where they come up with this. It's probably to cover the cheapening of medications for us cattle.
First line cost-effective. Says everything right there in those 4 words. It's cost effective. But is it asthma effective? You know, because we don't REALLY need to breathe.
I always told my wife that should she or my kids be denied life saving care and should they expire that I would be considering to act as this person did in NYC. I am absolutely convinced that this is what happened here.
Unfortunately this is not just UHC, but all health insurance carriers. The problem lies in doctors making decisions outside their scope of practice, for the insurance companies. In no world, should a podiatrist make determinations regarding obstetrics. Some states are finally waking up but not all.
“You put people in a pressure cooker, what do you expect to happen? WE are sick and tired of paying insurance premiums that don’t cover ANYTHING! This system has to change but now that we elected Dump, AGAIN, this will only continue to get worse.
It is horrific to see the result of not having public healthcare. It We all feel the same if we are rich or poor. Why not have everyone pay their share of healthcare for everyone. 1 - 2% of everyone’s income would cover it. Everyone pay the same % rich or poor same as in Norway. It works. Promise!
Exactly. You have to provide businesspeople that provide insurance a healthy surplus and bonuses. Then you have to provide the hospital owners and secure them an surplus and bonuses. And then comes the companies producing the medicine. The list goes on. There IS advantages to public healthcare….
Makiing poor people here pay for coverage when 44% of the workforce isn't paid a living wage would be cruel. If the wealthy paid their fair share, there would be no need to charge those making less than what they need to survive.
This is very true. And is why I’m being pushed to work even tho I have arthritis, back issues etc and of course I also want to work. It’s good to feel useful.
It's bullshit to have to go to work when you're in pain so you can keep healthcare coverage. Some of us can't work. Nobody will hire me. I'm chronically ill and don't know from day to day what I'm going to be able to do. Today I hurt like hell when I move due to fibromyalgia.
That is the same with me. Every day is different. I don’t understand in the long run how I’m gonna keep a job. But so far my employer has been extremely understanding and let me work what I can they days I can work. The day when I will have to be 100% disability is coming tho. So I understand you.
I think it's insane just to consider salary if you don't also include expenses. That's just my opinion. A single person living on $25K a year can afford to pay more than a single mom with 3 kids living on the same income.
That is also taken into account. And a single mom with 3 children get benefits for having them to pay for too. This is how it should be in the US too. But the greedy reps won’t have it.
Taxation isnt only based on salary in the UK, children are also taken into account via tax credits etc. It's kind of beside the point anyway - if everyone pays a bit towards healthcare everyone can get it for free. Same idea as taxes paying for a school system or roads or any other public service.
Same here. Children, interests you have to pay if you loan to buy a home, list is long but you can basically write off a lot of your expenses. My point was also that the amount don’t matter. The end goal does. It’s a service just like the roads being maintained.
When I worked at a large teaching hospital we used to bring chemo patients up to the roof while they smoke weed to help their nausea bc there were no good drugs. Now we have a pharm miracle & insurer wont pay! War on science gotta go.
I promise you that a lot of Trump voters were just as giddy over the CEO of a greedy ass, soul sucking, death dealing, insurance company being taken down for a change vs some innocent person at a church or a school. No remorse, no sympathy. Just like the fallen CEO after denying claims.
We’re witnessing the downfall of capitalism, those at the top fighting to get every last dollar
while dividing two political parties at the bottom before the ponzi scheme ends
It’s sad to see people writing some of these comments. This echos what is posted on X which is why I left that platform. My hope is this raises awareness for insurance policy reform vs saying CEOs should die. Society needs to come together to find real solutions.
Why are you focusing on us being too mean to the ppl murdering us?? Like for real? That's your concern here. Not that people sure being oppressed and murdered by insurance companies, but that those ppl aren't polite about being murdered and oppressed??
What are we going to do? There's no way to rein in the health insurance companies now. Nixon made this possible. Health insurance companies weren't allowed to make a profit before his administration.
Interesting(didn't know). Well,guess what, those horses left the gate a long time ago, and they want to make so much money they ain't even got time to pasture...
I'm a personal lines insurance agent in Florida & I am disgusted by the industry. But I'm not going to take anybody's life, because wtf.🤌🏽
Turns out the real solution was a CEO getting got in broad daylight. Blue anthem walked back their bs of not wanting to cover anesthesia after a certain amount of time after that guy kicked the bucket.
Maybe they should be scared. It keeps parasites like that honest. They don’t have to die too.
They don’t deserve sympathy but I can understand the sentiment of abhorring violence. On the other hand the victim was someone who definitively profited off of the death of others, soooo….
The only concern people should have surrounding this whole thing is that if it's found out this guy has an online presence that's openly leftwing or is a member of an organization that might lead to many orgs being spied on and infiltrated... More than now
I'm only saying this once because like the previous person, I came here to escape calls for violence against others. All that does is open a can of worms we do NOT want to mess with. You cannot justify the assassination of someone and not expect their peers to then consider the same tactic on you.
I'm not saying murdering a CEO was right, but are you saying murdering millions of people with greed or profit driven reasoning is?
That's the whole thing.
Waiting around for insurance company reform seems futile.
It's about the money, and they aren't going to give that up.
🇨🇦
No insurance exec should be murdered. OTOH, no insurance exec ever WOULD be murdered if we had universal health care. And, based on the experience of every single developed nation, we'd spend half as much on healthcare.
This letter could be written to every insurance company across our nation. Just change the patient's name & the drug name. Same letter to the drug companies.
I see shit like this posted and it only moves the shit attitude from X to Bluesky. CONFLICT NEWS FELLA - we can all find things to post to promote our personal agenda's or hates or dislikes can't we? Take it else where.
Thank God I live in Ireland where we never have to worry about situations like this. America is a heartless country where greed is more important than human beings.
Gee, if you had read with comprehension you would have noticed I was responding to an individual who is NOT in this country. So what the fuck is your problem?
Well if that's him in the profile pic, he's white and writes (probably also speaks English) so they'll let him in. As long as he's also not a trans-man.
The UK government over past decades have attempted to crumble our NHS in the hope people lose faith in it. That faith is shattering. We don’t seem to understand how precious it is
The UK is already well on its way to the same future as the US. Sad to see from my perspective as an American, I used to hope that we were uniquely lost.
Not that long ago, it would have been just as accurate (which is to say not very accurate) for me to describe Ireland as a poor, broken, hopeless nation owned by the Catholic Church. Writing off the Irish people as heartless would have been stupid, no?
I grew up in England. While not perfect, I’d take the NHS any day. I pay out of pocket $890 a month for healthcare I rarely use. If I don’t pay for insurance, I get dinged penalties at tax time.
Also, it's not really about escaping this place anymore because I resigned myself to that but more just because I really love Ireland and the people, culture, and accent.
It would be better if we had a true one-payer system. My GP costs €50 a visit, & despite trying several private plans to supplement, I’m still out of pocket. BUT since we have the annual cap for hospital treatment, & also for meds if you have a prescription card, at least no one goes bankrupt.
For some people that is. It’s hard for me to hear that. That’s how you view the United States of America. I’m 64 years old and there are some very very beautiful souls here in the United States. There are also some very very greedy people. It’s never a black-and-white kind of thing.
Also wanted to leave this here for Anyone that may need it now, or in the future. It works. Not saying they will overturn the denial, but this words it properly for anyone who isn't medical or legal 💙 I have a feeling we will need this more and more the next 4 years.
Husband is stage 4 lung cancer, they denied his Remron to enhance appetite so he keeps his weight and won't need a peg tube. So now he's on Megace, but for him, the Remron worked better and had other properties that made it a better option. But we know nothing.
The generic version is mirtazapine. It’s often approved by Commercial Insurance & Medicare. States rules can also affect what is covered. Def find out why he was denied
We appealed. I am a RN, we used the generic only. There were other options so they continued to deny. I finally had them write for Megace, as the whole point was for him to keep and gain weight. It's kept him above the threshold to keep him off a feed tube.
It's especially infuriating to think when you or your loved one is sick or dying they compound your hardship by making you jump through hoops, while they deny or delay life saving meds/care, causing more harm! FFS, 650,000 folks go bankrupt due to medical debt every year. It's cruel and deranged.
Yes, I simply ADORE it when a pediatrician is hired by the insurance company to which my orthopedist has to state his case for why my osteoarthritis needs to be treated a certain way. And the pediatrician is the judge and jury.
I know you are well meaning. But your response is so unacceptable (because it is right). Purchasers of health insurance should not have to go through any of that to get the medicine they and their doctor agree is best. PERIOD.
I agree with you, though she cannot change the system by herself. Right now, her husband needs a medication to fight his nausea, and I was trying to help with that
Do you really think she and all the doctors involved didn't know they could appeal?
I know you're well intentioned but when you're living this kind of situation you absolutely do not need this kind of basic advice. It comes across as condescending and wildly ignorant at best.
True but this does NOT happen in other developed countries. Socialize medicine and stop paying for departments to deny funding. Remove the department and you have enough funding.
This is true. After my mother had cataract surgery, she received a bill for $3k. Turns out the office staff had used the wrong code on the submission form.
Remeron is a psych med and UHC/health insurance literally hates Psychology and Psychiatry with a passion, they do everything in their power to not pay for it. I work in Pysch and I fight claim denials all day.
While I am all for medications that work and whose pricing is tied to its effectiveness, this discounting of medical and scientific started during the pandemic and continued with Dobbs. Next, anesthesia during surgery will be replaced by a rag and whiskey.
I was shocked to read that desk jockeys are telling anesthesiologists that meds during surgery should be based on a specific duration of time, not duration of surgery.
They did not think through what it means if you give the table. setvtime, say 1 hour, to do cardiac surgery because that's how long the anesrhesia holds. I won't mention that big guys that metabolize drugs faster need more anesthesia to hold them. Imagine if insurance people were on the table....
But probably 5-10% of society has some kind of autoimmune or inflammatory disease that would benefit from a biologic at $1 M/ year or so. We're going to have to figure out how to deal with that conundrum in the next decade or two. I think it involves reining in Big Pharma
Big pharma is developing biologics like crazy because they often work incredibly well and they can charge immense amounts. This young man's treatment was $2M/year. Yes, it's worth it to him and his family. (And yes, UHC violated their contract & cheated & lied in order to deny him).
Obviously reading this article UHC lied, cheated, broke the rules and committed fraud. Evil, evil, evil.
Something else that is true: Our society does not have enough money to pay for biologics for everyone who would benefit. I don't know the answer. I know UHC is not the answer.
I’m nauseous…daily. I vomit…a lot. My doc and I have to fight my insurance company every six months so I can have zofran. I can’t imagine what I would feel like if I couldn’t have zofran. These places are evil.
“YOU CANNOT GET A MORE RUTHLESS BUSINESSMAN THAN A AMERICAN CORPORATION BUSINESSMAN.”
“We are not honouring your claim as we firmly believe your leg will grow back in time.”
That is Medicaid. They denied a child on one of Medicaid’s Managed Care Plan’s run my UHC. That family is likely financially struggling even without medical bills.
Fucking insanity!!!!!!!!!
I went through 7 FUCKING weeks of Chemo and Radiation.
YOU PUKE ALL THE FUCKING TIME!!!!!!!
This PISSES ME OFF BEYOND EXPRESSION!!!!!!!!!
Cancer treatment sucks and I was in chemo for six months. I didn't have extreme nausea, they gave me something straightaway to combat it. The blessing, I live in Germany, but the situation that cancer patients in the US face every day makes me very sad. I had it good because of geography.
As a fellow C-Vivor I am so happy you are doing well Yvette! And wish you nothing but happy days.
And yes people that live in our respective countries just shake our heads at how the sick are treated in America.
EVERYONE has a RIGHT TO LIVE DAMMIT!!!!!
So frustrating.
Yes, absolutely. Compassion is not a hard concept, but for a lot of people (specifically the wealthy), it seems an impossible thing to offer or give to other people.
It's bloody lunacy is what it is.
A person going through such a horrendous treatment only to be told to "Suck it up" is unimaginable.
That country fucking sickens me to no end.
I have literally 6 months worth of anti nausea pills that I no longer need.
If I had a way to get this Childs address? I would fed ex the entire supply to his parents!!
They can arrest and lock my ass up for it, I COULDN'T GIVE A FUCK!!!!!
The writer Nietzsche might disagree with you about Evil in these insurance companies . They are certainly capitalist and their values lie in profit not in caring for people. The Christian value of evil may be a construct of that. They are certainly bad (UK based me) https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p00547g3
Everyday millions of people are refused the care that their doctors prescribe. How the hell are these insurance companies more educated about the needs of people they have never met! I saw this every day as a nurse. Greedy bastards have never watched a person die due to their refusals. I have.
It is scandalous. My hubby is highly specialized surgeon with 17 years of training. He is calm and super low key. I heard him explode on the phone once with a 22 year old rep at United Health care that denied a surgery for a 12 year old patient, who said he found the surgery to be unnecessary 🤯
I for one am not willing to go full Rambo on the US military under the Fuhrer. 🙄Any corrective actions will require long term strategy & subterfuge & even that’s going to be spotty.
It's far from perfect but we certainly don't have to fight this sort of shit the whole time. Doctor says you need it, it's on the list of things that are safe and not a waste of money, you get it.
this is the direction that our NHS is already heading!
GPs today in U.K. cannot refer without going through intermediary process whose unqualified assessors decide on clinical need by looking at £’s and not necessarily, effectivity nor quality of treatment!!
The right will scream that this is inciting the violence that led to death of a human being, which I don’t wish on anyone. And yet the violence they and their client press incite is immune to such scrutiny. Which leads to letters like this being necessary.
It’s not strictly necessary to wish death upon someone when one may achieve one’s ends by reminding an ever-widening array of people that such a vacancy would be reverently accepted and offered all the respect it would deserve.
You know what's weird though? Maybe it's because I am here now and not on Twitter - but I haven't seen one complaint from the general public Right. It's almost like we could all come together over this issue.
I’m sure by now UHC executives know they’re despised by the public. They could use this moment to do the right thing and change their business model. My guess, instead they’ll just hire more security.
Of course, that is precisely what they will do. Every insurance has guarded security at their entrances... every single insurance carrier, even the personal lines carriers. That's why he was shot in the street.
They, and other insurance companies, are pulling all of the 'Leadership' pages from their websites.
But apparently the cops haven't identified a motive yet.
They all fucking know
You can tell that executives are not the smartest people when they think that corporate security could do anything about someone who engraves the bullets. Nothing short of Witness Protection, or faking your own death is going to stop that guy.
I like is to the point letter and didn't really hold back either.
Insurance is a scam and always has been that benefit the privileged and stuff the unprivileged of Society we will just take their money mayhap we will give them a crumb now and again.
It's also not efficient. A huge amount of money spent is going straight into overhead, i.e. administrative salaries. A CEO doesn't earn ten million dollars a year through what value he brings to the company.
Conservatives are trying to privatize Canada's healthcare... Liberals are refusing to fund it. Where I live nobody can get a family Dr because the gov isn't willing to pay them.
We are only a few years behind America's nightmare.
I’m sure you are. You have no idea how we feel do you so it’s interesting how there’s always that one Canadian who needs to roll in and rub it in our faces that you are so lucky and happy you aren’t here. Yeah I’d love not to be here either but here I am born and stuck. It’s not very polite of you.
We’re not the US but cancer patients facing insane prices for medications and treatments is not uncommon here. Or, like, any of the many, many other things that are not covered. There are far better health care systems to ours and saying ‘we’re not as bad as the US’ is unhelpful and rude af.
Stating facts is not flexing, we have brought this shit show on ourselves by allowing the electoral college to continue to elect losers of the popular vote. We will all suffer under this new administration, marginalized or not.
"Gerrymandering" is only part of it. Democrats are pretty lousy on healthcare too. Listen to them screech every time a candidate like Bernie seems to be getting close enough to actual power to FIX. THE. PROBLEM.
I'm glad you take the time to tell Americans that there is a better way than ours. People here can't seem to get it through their heads that the American way of healthcare is not the best way to do it, and that other, brighter, more humane countries do it better.
As a nurse for almost 50 years ,this is unacceptable. The insurance industry is in business to make a profit. Not provide care and comfort to their customers. Patients are just a stepping stone to wealth and greed. Whoever denied a sick child a little zofran better pray cancer doesn’t find them.
No one is condoning the murder as much as maybe understanding the frustration that led to it happening. And I really don't think this will be the only one.
If the company pays for it? This CEO had death threats, specific threats to this day, he did not have security. Probably denied and he could hardly pay himself on a few million salary. He was busy celebrating billions in profit of denied claims. Others call it karma
Where in this post does it say they support murder? I worked for UHC. It was clear that they put profits over the health of their customers and I think it’s good this type of info is coming out. It’s horrific that it took a murder to prompt these disclosures. Should’ve happened without the murder.
I am curious what you would call it when a company that you’ve paid money to in order to cover your healthcare takes your money, then tells your doctor they can’t treat you the way you need to be treated, then you die? That also feels murderous. No rationalizing of either thing should be acceptable.
I’d call it hideous and pursue legal recourse. Go down the civil path or find a whistleblower inside and go criminal. Those are my options. Not the murder of the chief executive. And if it occurs, I regret the loss for those he leaves behind. I don’t dance on his grave.
Personally, I don’t believe murder is an option, however, walk a mile in someone else’s moccasins that watched their loved ones, mostly elderly, see your parents, die because they were delayed or denied treatment by an insurance company that could’ve saved their life, but put profits before people.
F*ck United Health are and their garbage denials. Not surprised that the CEO was taken out. How is the parent company handling it? Getting body guards?
Which is why I think the letter is bogus. And I’ve had to fight insurers for my patients. ( as a medical office mgr). Lots of examples, but I don’t believe this one.
UHC has something like a 30% denial rate. They, I think, have the highest denial rates of all healthcare insurance in the US. So seeing this seems like it should be saved as a template for doctors.
My guess is that they are just counting the actively denied claims as a result of unmet criteria and ignoring the claims that are a result of restrictive benefits.
They deny regardless of whether "criteria" were met. UHC's CEO implemented an AI program with a 90% error rate to deny claims. UHC ties payment up in long, drawn-out appeals processes.
I feel bad in the sense that a person was killed and his family will be mourning his death. But not really more than that and most of my feelings are towards those who are actually sad about his death. I personally don’t mourn him due to how much death was caused by the company he was CEO for.
Not really. F that guy, and those like him.They've condemned millions to suffering and death by being greedy POS.But the problem with the healthcare system is systemic. Killing one person won't change that unfortunately. Now they'll just have more armed guards everywhere for the intimidation factor.
Yes. This was a human being with children. He is not the end all be all with insurance companies. The government lets this happen. Should we line up all CEOs and take them out!
Sure we can discuss if its ethical to work for evil companies in health insurance, defence
Industry,pharmacy or alchohol companies!
But at the end the politicians you and I choose are responsible for the way those companies handle their business!
Healthcare shouldn’t be part of capitalism!
I mean, the bullet said what they said. And if you look it up, there seems to be a book and it’s all about insurance companies. I have a feeling the person who did this maybe has been wronged. Or is tired of other people being wrong
Nobody should be shot. The management or whoever is responsible should be sued, fired, shamed, or whatever it takes.
My MRI and CT scan were both denied. Took me months and hours of phone calls to get it approved. The system is broken, but the solution is not to start shooting.
Good lord.
Do I feel bad? Of course. Any reasonable person should. He left behind a wife & kid. Do I think he was a blood-sucking leech was deserving of punishment, sure, but murder is never the answer, & never something we should condone. We are in this mess because VOTERS failed to fulfill their duty.
I do feel bad because he and every other CEO are pressed for "profit" and there's no balanced scorecard. I also feel bad for the doctors and patients suffering from capitalism ruling something that means life or death
Yeah, no. Neither Thompson nor any other CEO is a victim of the healthcare industry. He and his ilk are not forced to seek profit at the expense of people's lives and well-being. They are not legally mandated to cause the suffering they do.
They are specifically hired by the corporation to increase profits for shareholders and grow them. This system doesn't work in Healthcare as you pointed out, yet if CEOs don't make $$ they ate booted. So I'm saying if we don't want monsters take apart the monster machine
Probably fake. I just did a reverse google search and the earliest sources are from Reddit 3 years ago (2022). None of the posts (in Reddit or otherwhere) cites any source. But even if it's fake, I guess the sentiment is genuine among the people.
This is the earliest source I could find. It's from Jan 19, 2022 (4:24 AM EST). The OP doesn't cite any source. Again, seems fake, but people responded.
I wish this was the worst thing our healthcare system had done. There’s countless untold stories of horror from people going through Hell with insurance companies. I fight with my provider often for denial of coverage. It’s criminal what they do.
I am no fan of socialized medicine.
That said, as a physician, I would say that insurance companies are THE WORST part of American health care, and have been now, for decades.
There MUST be a better way to make healthcare affordable.
Even in a capitalist society.
ging to a Dr or hospital should be affordable, not a bankrupting experience. the cost of medical care in the US is the problem, if it was actually affordable we wouldnt need insurance, ffs.
Look at Singapore. National catastrophic health insurance which do for kidney disease already. Or look at Germany where government after hearing from both sides adjudicates universal pricing between private insurers, doctors and hospitals.
Obamacare is a variant of the Swiss system, so the only steps forward are multi-payer with a government baseline, Medicare For All, and a National Health Service.
As a physician I have to disagree with you. I AM a fan of socialized medicine in that it covers EVERYBODY. That reduces comorbidity. How many untreated diabetics with heart and kidney disease have you treated? How many would not have those complications if they’d had access to care? ALL OF THEM!
No. Not all of them. You know that. But many, yes.
And would you ration healthcare?
Who would decide what is and is not covered?
Would you allow a parallel private pay for those who wanted to pay and jump the line?
Do you know that this country has the highest health care costs in developed countries, with the lowest life expectancy of the same group? We could reduce those costs, improve the care, and improve the health of the citizens without rationing. Countries with socialized medicine don’t ration it.
Heterogeneous population, many of whom show no desire to exercise or moderate food intake, or keep it healthy - none of which can be "fixed" by medicine, only symptomatically treated. If you knew how poor patient compliance is, in the USA - I suspect, based on your comment - you'd be stunned.
You assume I don’t know about patient “compliance.” I’m a primary care doctor with hospital and ER experience. I know way more than you think. Preventative medicine doesn’t “fix” it, it prevents it. It’s in the name.
Highest costs -much of it defensive medicine. Trust me. The protocols were written by courts from past litigations as much as by doctors.
lowest life expectancy- not due to medicine. We also have one of the highest obesity rates. Not due to medical care or lack of it. Due to population choices.
Trust you? No. Not happening. Preventative medicine is not the same as defensive medicine. If EVERYBODY had access to preventative medicine costs would be lower. But insurance companies would lose money if the population was healthier. As far as obesity goes fast food is cheap. Healthy food is not.
Surely you can’t raise those questions without a hint of the irony that right now the insurance companies are doing EXACTLY that through denials. It’s always the folks getting paid who are against it. They already decide what is and isn’t covered. It’s now several private parallel systems.
the way to make healthcare affordable is to spread the cost of the healthcare across your entire nation in the form of taxes, producing enough income to allow every person to receive free* care whenever it is needed
*obviously, it is not free, it is paid for by the nation's collectively increased tax... but most people are not breaking a limb every month, so this is overall per-person cheaper than individual insurance plans-
i do genuinely understand why some people would prefer to privatise healthcare. i do not think private healthcare should be the only (or really the main) option. free-when-needed, publicly available no-questions-asked care should be the standard worldwide and it's quite a shame this isn't the case
Not so. Medicare is socialized medicine - it is alive, but going bankrupt. So is social security. They keep raising the age of retirement. Now it is encouraged to retire at 70.
Medicaid is socialized care - but it is dismal - which is why the patients in it, cannot find anyone who will accept it.
Your article indicates it will be depleted.
SS Administration admits this in the article I posted.
Now we're asked to work til we're 70. In time, til we're 75? 80? Benefits are expected to be cut by the new president.
At some point, retiring on SS at age 90 with a $100/month paycheck, won't matter.
That's BS.
Social Security, as currently built and funded, is not going to disappear. It can't. That's because Social Security, and Medicare, are funded by payroll taxes.
"... an immediate increase in the combined payroll tax rate from 12.4 percent to 14.4 percent, or some combination of these changes, would be sufficient to allow full payment of the scheduled benefits for the next 75 years."
I have friends in Europe - doctors and non docs. Socialized medicine is not a panacea.
I work with a doctor from Europe who left his practice there to work as a tech in the USA because he made so much more money as a mere lab tech, to support his family.
England is going to privatize their insurance, so NO you cant they make sure it fails so they can hand over tax dollars to Private Companies in order to “fix” the problems USA has done it for 30 years thats why you cant have both
I'm not disagreeing.
I think Oregon is on to something.
But I DO think there needs to be firm rationing.
And that is something Americans (and their politicians who never want to say "no") aren't comfortable with.
If I get cancer, I have insurance. A high deductible plan is not unreasonably priced, & comes with tax advantage of a health savings account. In a socialized plan, you still pay for it. You realize this? This is why income tax in France is 41-45%. It isn't "free"; it is only paid for differently.
Further, you get sick, lose your job and insurance. Hey guess what, it's a "pre-existing condition" and anything even remotely related (and some not) is no longer covered.
So yep, tax me 40%, which is what I pay over a certain bit of my earnings. I am 100% good with that to keep my NHS.
I cannot argue with your first paragraph. It is all true. It is all despicable.
I'm ok with 40% as well. Yet not everyone I know from countries with socialized medicine is pleased with it. I confess, I know less of France's system, than Germany's and Eastern Europe's (former USSR).
And for fun look into the far future (if humanity survives) and picture a little girl coming home from school and saying "Dad, guess what? Did you know that they used to just let poor people die? I mean, if you didn't have money, you couldn't get help when you were sick! Isn't that crazy?!...
Good on you for having insurance. How about for those not in full time work caring for parents or family, or self-employed, or for those in school not covered by their parents (me for a number of years when I was younger) The US health system is barbaric.
A high deductible catastrophic coverage insurance plan isn't unaffordably expensive, especially for the younger in school. Most universities required such coverage, that I've attended.
How many people who go without insurance, saying it's too expensive, have smartphones for themselves & their kids?
And what happens when this insurance company, for some unknown reason, decides that sth you need is not approved treatment? As is the case here, in case you didn't realize. And you're paying to the company and STILL paying out of pocket until a limit. Like, do you hear yourself?
But that’s the problem right there. We have turned basic human rights- food, shelter, healthcare into a capitalist hellscape of greedy companies trying to suck the last dollar out of people in every way possible.
That simplifies it.
Much is greed.
Much is poor allocation of limited resources.
Much is nepotism, cronyism, and subsequent incompetence.
Much is politics. The guy who will head up our healthcare shortly, doesn't believe in fluoridation or vaccines.
I am an American living in Australia. There are workable good ways to improve healthcare that doesn’t have to be totally socialised. I am so much healthier and better taken care of here. Healthcare isn’t totally free here but there is a real working safety net.
That doesn't make any sense. UK doctors get paid properly from taxation, mostly levied by ability to pay, and don't have to rely on private patients with or without health insurance. It isn't a perfect system but people don't die because they can't pay the doctor. That was the bad old days here.
Letter was from a US doctor. My point is US doctors are wealthier than UK doctors purely because the NHS regulate what UK doctors, and not only doctors, can charge the NHS for the services they supply.
Yes. It is similar here in the USA for medicare (the elderly) and Medicaid (the poor)- they set fixed prices, and doctors cannot change it or upcharge. Most doctors accept medicare (especially those in a hospital); but most folks in Medicaid have a wretched time finding docs who accepts that plan.
Because he feels bad about what he sees in his patients but still wants to make insane amounts of money instead of merely the large amount of money that Canadian and European doctors make
You know me so well?
How much have I made?
You have no idea. You make $HIT up, and then it becomes your reality.
The average doc in Bulgaria earns about $25 k per year. That's a "large amount of money" to you? I worked with an ER doc from there, who did better working in the USA as a lab tech.
Why are you not a fan of "socialized medicine" whatever does that mean? USA has the exact same system of healthcare, except instead of paying directly to the state, they're paying to capitalist corporations whose sole objective is to maximize profit
I think Medicare is a decent model - but it's going bankrupt.
Medicaid has failed miserably.
When I speak with colleagues from countries with socialized medicine - they say it rations so egregiously, it is still people with money who get preferred treatment while others are put on wait lists.
Medicare and Medicaid aren't businesses. They don't need to make money. If they're "going bankrupt" it's because the government is choosing to spend money on other things.
Care is rationed as much or more in the US, it's just insurance companies deciding how, rather than medical professionals.
The cynic in me actually wondered if our lackadaisical approach to the pandemic was, in part, an acceptable loss to cull the herd, and the cost, of the future Babyboomers.
There are many reasons why it is going bankrupt. Among them: people are living much longer, thanks to much more advanced care that did not exist 30, or even 15 years ago.
This is not really true as I lived in 2 countries with social healthcare. In fact, in my home country where private insurance and hospitals also exist, it's actually harder for the gen pop to access good healthcare. Whereas where I live now, it's not as common and access is better
Also, if healthcare is provided by the state, it cannot really go bankrupt, cause it's not supposed to make profit. The state should allocate budget towards it, which comes from taxes paid as well as subventions
I am with you on everything - but as in Oregon, there needs to be serious and severe rationing. Cover only what is absolutely needed, in universal health care. And everyone contributes - even if you need to put in time and labor. Everyone adds to the coffer, one way or another.
Given you are a physician, why do you not want everyone to have access to health care no matter what their income level may be? You can deliver care but once they walk out the door their crippling medical debt is not something you need to be concerned about?
Insurance companies need to compete to earn the business of individuals and families. Insurance shouldn’t be tied to one’s employer; everyone sb able to go out to the market as individuals or families to purchase coverage. True competition would be a good starting point for lowering costs.
Agreed.
But the universal health care of government would helpfully increase the competitiveness, lowering prices by supply and demand, not merely by law.
I am a fan of socialized medicine. My son married an English woman. She has ITP, and it flares now and then. But they can not consider moving to the US because she would be without adequate coverage. I would gladly pay their higher taxes to get good healthcare coverage!
So you think outliers like an international in-law with a disease like ITP, would be covered by socialized medicine?
You don't see rationing as an issue?
Because usually it isn't - everything ends up covered, and that's when it goes insolvent.
I don’t have the perfect solution, but the current system seems unacceptable to me. According to Dr Google: ‘The US health care system ranked last overall among 10 other high-income countries on key issues such as equity, access to care, and outcome measures, according to a new report…
and THAT-what you just said -was the essence of my comment.
And for saying that outloud, I've been verbally accosted in this thread by people with absolutely NO experience in the healthcare, insurance, or medical billing fields.
People are as emotional on this as abortion, and even Harris vs Trump
yes, it's true. But this rule of solidarity that found public health and others stuff (like kid's lunch at school) is above governments, it's state's policy (and I really think it's beautiful)
I had had hopes for Obamacare. But without total commitment from the government, it became too costly. Plans were egregiously expensive for most working Americans. I couldn't afford the plans myself, so I stuck with a high deductible plan.
We have a good system here in Australia too! If we didn’t, we’d be working forever & not own our home - chronic diseases would not just affect one of us, the whole family would be suffering.
I had a friend from the internet, from Germany. He complained about the access there. He had a job that gave him private insurance, and said most Germans with means, prefer the private insurance. That's not been your experience?
The problem is that private insurance exists for those who earn well enough, otherwise everyone would have to pay into the public system and there wouldn't be any issue with it. So, yes, private insurance pays more but will also make you pay more once you get older and need more help. They'll also~
~refuse to take you in if you have certain health issues already. It's only good for Beamte and the rich (if they're VERY confident that they'll remain rich in old age). But after I've learned how it works in the US, I appreciate how well our public system works. I've experienced both, btw. With~
I have public insurance. I was just diagnosed with cancer and from diagnosis to chemo, everything has been very fast and I feel super supported. Maybe it depends on if you are rural or city, east or west. West has more doctors than east, for example.
Australian here, healthcare shouldn’t be run for profit. Surely the beneficiaries should be the patients, not the shareholders.
Stop paying insurance companies, pool those funds instead and put it towards providing healthcare, not shareholder profits & CEO salaries,
And waving my Medicare Card from Australia.
I spent 11 days in hospital in September. I had 2 CTs, daily antibiotics and multiple X-rays and blood tests. Everyday they feed me three meals & at night gave me a Valium to help me sleep. Plus they gave me my regular medicines. It cost me zero dollars.
And further to this …. I am now in New Zealand where I’m in Auckland City Hospital with second degree burns on my shins after a kayak mishap in the Northlands. Lucky NZ and Australia have reciprocal medical agreements! I’ll report back but expecting to pay (based on my googling) next to nothing!
The best Craig! I’m a big fan of NZ even with this hiccup (it’s my first visit). The nurses have been wonderful! And very informative. They just explained today is “crate day”…
So they apologised for being a little preoccupied.
And ladies, gents and them,
I confirm - hours in a bed, pain relief, a delicate procedure including bandages plus pain relief and extra bandages to take with me for my 7am flight back to Australia. Zero dollars requested in payment. God Bless Aotearoa!
well you can search for SUS in Brazil. Its recognized as the largest public health system. It serves brazilian , migrants and refugees. For free. Of course, it doesnt offer luxury, but many services can be done quickly and at NO cost. Its beatiful :)
If you’re no fan of “socialized” medicine, I say while we’re waiting for a better healthcare system, let’s do universal healthcare. It’s better than the dismembered, dehumanized, money grabbing system we have now.
You can’t with these fascists we’re forced to live with. I was just commenting on your statement that you’re not a fan of socialized medicine. I have no hope we will ever have anything good because of these f*cking bullies we have to live with because the Dems won’t fight them. That’s all.
And, BYW, Obamacare has helped me a lot in affording a decent healthcare plan. It’s a huge improvement over the catastrophic plans I had to buy that offered nothing. What a scam. So I wouldn’t categorize it as a failure. Not what we need but better than what we had.
You simple cannot have a capitalist solution when a product has infinite value. If my child has cancer, there is no price I would not pay for their treatment. Thus, there is no limit to how much heathcare companies can charge.
Car insurance companies are only permitted to make a certain percentage profit in a year. Excess must be returned to clients. At least that is the case in Illinois.
My mom’s insurance wouldn’t pay for her nausea medication when she was going through chemo. I was blessed to be able to pay for it out of pocket. But they didn’t even help her so the medication is probably a scam to make money like the chemo they gave her knowing it wasn’t going to help her
This is some sick shit right here. It’s so disgusting 🤢 that people don’t have any insurance. I’m in the process of finding out if I have cancer on Tuesday. I’m grateful for the fact that I do have insurance but what about everyone else who can’t afford it. They are literally killing patients.
I totally agree that I don’t have any assurances that they will pay. I have heard so many stories of people who are drowning in debt. I know a lot of people don’t agree with me about universal healthcare but think of how many people who have debilitating diseases. Go to other countries and ask them.
I think wealthy inequality is a big problem. We pay about scale because we have so many amazing people who do the work. We are well known in the rebar field. My husband and I took work during the 08 recession that we didn’t take hardly any money just so we could keep our men working. We lived on $45
My husband went through it in 22 and they paid for everything. I’m also lucky enough that my husband and I have worked very hard and have made a lot of money but we take great care for the people that work for us. I’m more worried about our fellow Americans who don’t have the advantages that I do.
We have done 0% interest loans to our employees and they do have health insurance. We are a union company and we take care of our own. I do donate to a lot of health charities and I give everything I can. I’m not someone who can stand by and do nothing. I appreciate your views and knowledge.
I wish I remembered who published the article, but in the last year I saw and article. It talked about the devastating affects, with statistics, of having to fight insurance for treatments for children on both the kids and their parents. To no surprise it led to deaths because of refusal or meds etc
It was a WaPo article from January 30, 2023 I think but I can’t get past the paywall to check and I refuse to give that paper my money after their refusal to endorse
When my mom was in chemotherapy that was one of the most comforting things for both of us: the nurse said "while she's here, we can do practically anything to keep her comfortable" as long as it wouldn't harm the patient whether it was snacks, pain meds, anti-nausea, or a sedative to nap through it.
You wouldn’t believe how horrific it is. My best friend is a nurse and was diagnosed with cancer 11 months ago. I am also a nurse. We have seen a lot. Yet, we are consistently horrified with what she’s had to go through. It’s immoral at best.
Insurance companies are awful places. We need to take away their powers of deciding on care. It should not be some random person in a cubicle at an insurer, looking at statistics and deciding "no, this boy doesn't get this nausea medication" because statistics say nausea is a rare complication.
They deny diabetic kids insulin bro. I have a coworker who has to cry to Blue Cross Blue Shield over the phone to get them to approve it for her 4 year old.
I had to have my surgeon personally write them. Hopefully it will be resolved now. But imagine you have major surgery, are at home trying to recover and within a week get letters denying u coverage for stuff that IS COVERED. For insurance I've paid into for 40 years and almost never used.
There aren't any details except that I've learned that, yes, there are Americans who can shoot straight, after all.
My only wish is that there are more.
In all honesty, I'm shocked that it doesn't happen all the time. When a family member suffers and dies because of their policies it's incredible that there aren't more people that resort to vigilante justice. I'm not advocating for it, just surprised by the lack of it.
I think we’re moving into a time when it will happen more often. Since government and the state no longer appear interested in holding up their share of the social contract they shouldn’t be surprised when more and more of the population feel disinclined to hold up their share.
Yes that's the thing. If even a few of these CEO's are "removed" the rest will always think, "well, it won't happen to me", and just carry on with business as usual.
Unfortunately, the alternative option went from supporting Medicare for All in 2017 to just a public option in 2020 to only tax credits for insurance premiums in 2024. Yay #democracy. 🙄
The problem w/ medicare 4 all is medicare sucks. Just look @ all those effin parts! What we need is an american nhs like what they have in britain that tories r in the process of trying 2 destroy.
Satisfaction ratings from who? I live w/ some1 on medicare. As soon as she got on it, she lost all of her regular drs cause a sizable chunk of the medical profession refuses 2 take it cause it pays so bad.
Bernie ran on trying to do something about this mess. He was a juggernaut until Democrat "leadership" circled the wagons and screwed him. Polls at the time indicated he would've won. Instead, they ran neocon HRC, and the rest is history.🤷
This makes me so sad, really wanted to vote for Bernie. The DNC really should have backed off and let voters decide. Corps have too much power within both parties. I feel like one of our bigger goals should be to overturn Citizens United.
I wanted to also. I knocked doors & sent postcards for him in 2020. After they screwed him (again), I was done with the Democrat party at the federal level. Then they doubled down by installing Harris as the nom with 0 votes. They're actively destroying their party, just throwing away their base.
Who can say? I do think we'd be in a different and better place had Bernie won the White House rather than Trump. He galvanized people in a good way. Trump galvanizes people in a bad one.
I saw the shameful way Democratic leadership treated Bernie in NV. He had a very popular message and it upset the leaders. So the rigged the system just like Repugs do.
Bernie would not have won. Polls aren’t votes. Neither are rallies. Just ask Kamala Harris.
BTW, he’s actually an Independent but Democrats included him in Democratic debates and also for committees in the Senate a still do because he caucuses with Democrats.
Bernie would've had a better chance than the despicable neocon, HRC. And the only people who thought Harris had a prayer of winning are #BlueMAGA. She was among the most unpopular VPs in decades & she ran as a neocon.
You know those already shitty barriers that barely keep them somewhat in check? They (along with the most accessible healthcare option) are about to be gutted by the future president.
Twice in my life I needed real pain killers. Unfortunately, I also needed anti nausea meds to go with. Both times, I was prescribed 60 Oxy with 2 refills, and 3 anti nausea pills. Refills of those were denied.
Unfortunately this kind of letter occasionally leads to the insurance company throwing the doctor out of their plan. The MD no longer gets paid directly by the insurance. He is free to ask the patients to pay. They may receive lower benefits.
I feel the horror of that doctor at the daft insurance response. My personal insurance horror story is that I'm paying almost $16000/year for health coverage. For just me.
Is there a place where we can get reviews of the different insurance companies? I just started a Medicare advantage plan which seems good, but I’m healthy. I want to know if there’s a better one for when I get sick.
Dump your medicare advantage plan and get on actual medicare.
Read about the differences.
Medicare advantage will screw you every chance they get.
Get medicare & a supplemental.
My experience as a physician is to stick with traditional Medicare. Medicare advantage plans lure you in with a grocery coupon, but are nightmares when you actually get sick and need expensive care. Their business model is deny, deny, deny. If you can afford it stick with trad Medicare. YMMV
My belief is that Health care should be a right for all people. Health care should never be a business for which the owners get richer. In Scandinavian countries the Health care does not and should not be for profits. Everybody in our countries pay taxes for free. It's fine, even if over budget.
Not just Scandinavia. The entire developed world cares for its citizens. But in the US, universal healthcare is evil, it's communism, it's nearly 1% less for the military, can't have that.And at least 50-80 ppl lose out on billions. 600k going bankrupt, 60k die, good compromise
They’re absolutely right. The majority of comments I e seen online have expressed little to no sympathy. Rather, they’ve highlighted UHC’s 32% claims denial rate and the CEO’s $10 million salary.
I agree, the denial rate and salary and salary are shocking and unacceptable but advocating murder to deal with it is a primitive approach. It's not how a civilised society works. Should the rest of the directors also be murdered? Should we do the same to heads of pharma companies, banks, etc?
I don’t think anyone is advocating for murder. They simply don’t have any sympathy for the guy getting murdered. It’s a narrow distinction but there is a difference.
the drugs in question are NOT expensive, ($11 and $24 respectively via GoodRX) so the denial was likely clinically driven by the fact that the manufacturer of Scolpodine suggests it is NOT to be used for those under 18.
having watched my best friend deal with the effects of chemo over the past two years, this makes me so furious i could do damage just with the power of rage emitting from my eyes.
what a repugnant, repulsive abuse of power to allow business exec’s to deny nausea meds to this child or deny any medically necessary care, omg
(and if Project 2025 has its way, this is only the beginning)
They reversed that after they shockingly read the room. However, I am sure some new and horrible bullshit will await us after Fanta Felon takes office regarding health care.
Zofran was a lifesaver! It’s inexcusable to pull this 🐂💩on a child going through chemo. Regardless if it would be approved on appeal, denying in the first place is flat out heartless and disgraceful.
United Healthcare like MAGA/GOP think they know more than highly educated & experienced medical providers & researchers..Forcing Dr's by fear & $ to stand-by & deny the treatments & life saving healthcare that their years of experience & education says patients require & deserve...
#Project2025
💙🇺🇲
We have them for our Medicare advantage plan and love them. My spouse has been going thru cancer treatments for the last 6 months and we've never had them refuse to pay anything.
Basic Universal Health Care isn’t just morally right, it is pro-innovation and pro-business. Employer-based health insurance, inferior as it is in many cases, is a killer of risk taking and anti-freedom. #universal #healthcare #united #ceo #delaydenydefend
Our government thinks that crappying on the American citizens is ok...
It's breaks my heart to hear this type of BS is happening, especially to children.
Everyone write the congress and let them know this bs is Unacceptablewould. Smh.
My heart is so broken.
Smh..is all I can say.. my mother has to have medications because she just did her the last of her radiation for breath cancer.
The insurance company now is saying the biggest health care company in Iowa will be out of network as of January 2025.
Comments
Just one? Nah, let the whole board of directors feel that fear, too. Dust off the French guillotines, if necessary. If the rich think they're free to do whatever they want then they might need a reminder.
Understand all we have is each other, United we stand divided we fall.
Liberty or not, we must stand together, United, no matter who is president. If we do not our friends will scatter and our enemies will destroy us. We must stand together.
Or, he can be hated by all.
A badge of honour opening hospitals, schools, universities, orphanages...
Now they just hoard wealth and live lives of absurd luxury.
Pathetic
Y'know, coming from someone that was still on Twitter like last month, I keep on expecting death threats inside of those warnings.
Love it. 🥰
11 months.
Get rid of the middlemen. Health insurance is just a bunch of parasitical gatekeepers.
It’s absolutely inhuman
Facts... that's what we want.
Reforming nhs to improve service would be very good for everyone
So what’s the nonsense?
https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/12/film-nigel-farage-insurance-based-nhs-private-companies
That manifesto?
Well if you insist.
Nowhere does it say uk will.move to insurance based system.
Merly optimsed capacity...
Perhaps you realise we already have a private healthcare model 😂
A badge of honour opening hospitals, schools, universities, orphanages...
Now they just hoard wealth and live lives of absurd luxury.
Pathetic
A badge of honour opening hospitals, schools, universities, orphanages...
Now they just hoard wealth and live lives of absurd luxury.
Pathetic
Our American insurance model takes 40% of every health care dollar for the fraud waste and abuse of the insurance infrastructure, profit to shareholders and obscene executive bonuses.
Oh Elon and Vivek, here’s that waste you wanted to cut!!!!
A badge of honour opening hospitals, schools, universities, orphanages...
Now they just hoard wealth and live lives of absurd luxury.
Pathetic
If the general public had the same moral compass they show time and time again, all CEOs would need protection 24/7.
Murder is wrong. Full stop. The fact that people need to be reminded of this …
A badge of honour opening hospitals, schools, universities, orphanages...
Now they just hoard wealth and live lives of absurd luxury.
Pathetic
#LilyTomlin🫶
https://youtu.be/ax1DO1we3ZM?si=8OsjgwiotKYp3PFO
https://youtu.be/Ss6kOXXGIUg?si=mqsSbI3IBv2Ej3dl
#UniversalHealthcareForAll
https://bsky.app/profile/shragytzin.bsky.social/post/3lmht3u27f22n
"Make it easier for your citizens to be healthy and smart and they will save you in ways you have yet to imagine."--Rob Delaney
I learned a lot about the inner workings of the insurance industry and it’s despicable.
ALEC on the bad and Medicare for all on the good end are what the ins industry doesn’t want mentioned.
A badge of honour opening hospitals, schools, universities, orphanages...
Now they just hoard wealth and live lives of absurd luxury.
Pathetic
Good for that doctor!!
They should all be doing that!
It's stupid.
We need them to appropriate the wealth, however that is managed, I don't know, but it needs to happen.
Someone needs to make something like this for UHC xD
Of course, the scolding and pearl-clutching we are receiving from the “media” makes it even funnier
while dividing two political parties at the bottom before the ponzi scheme ends
A badge of honour opening hospitals, schools, universities, orphanages...
Now they just hoard wealth and live lives of absurd luxury.
Pathetic
I'm a personal lines insurance agent in Florida & I am disgusted by the industry. But I'm not going to take anybody's life, because wtf.🤌🏽
Maybe they should be scared. It keeps parasites like that honest. They don’t have to die too.
That's the whole thing.
Waiting around for insurance company reform seems futile.
It's about the money, and they aren't going to give that up.
🇨🇦
Sincerely, get fucked
Appeal Appeal Appeal!
Also certain treatments are denied, tho a different brand gets approved
Sometimes claims are denied due to insufficient info sent in with the authorization
I am so sorry this is happening
I know you're well intentioned but when you're living this kind of situation you absolutely do not need this kind of basic advice. It comes across as condescending and wildly ignorant at best.
https://www.asahq.org/about-asa/newsroom/news-releases/2024/11/anthem-blue-cross-blue-shield-will-not-pay-complete-duration-of-anesthesia-for-surgical-procedures
A badge of honour opening hospitals, schools, universities, orphanages...
Now they just hoard wealth and live lives of absurd luxury.
Pathetic
Something else that is true: Our society does not have enough money to pay for biologics for everyone who would benefit. I don't know the answer. I know UHC is not the answer.
“We are not honouring your claim as we firmly believe your leg will grow back in time.”
I went through 7 FUCKING weeks of Chemo and Radiation.
YOU PUKE ALL THE FUCKING TIME!!!!!!!
This PISSES ME OFF BEYOND EXPRESSION!!!!!!!!!
And yes people that live in our respective countries just shake our heads at how the sick are treated in America.
EVERYONE has a RIGHT TO LIVE DAMMIT!!!!!
So frustrating.
WTF is wrong with them?????
In fact, it was a both-ends "twist and shout", as we call it here...
After that, yes I felt like crap but didn't vomit again.
A person going through such a horrendous treatment only to be told to "Suck it up" is unimaginable.
That country fucking sickens me to no end.
Shit like that ^ is why the shooter is being lauded over here by a lot of people as some sort of modern-day Robin Hood.
If I had a way to get this Childs address? I would fed ex the entire supply to his parents!!
They can arrest and lock my ass up for it, I COULDN'T GIVE A FUCK!!!!!
My husband and I own a small pharmacy.
Insurance companies are an obscenity.
Eh, isn’t that right Wes Streeting?
this is the direction that our NHS is already heading!
GPs today in U.K. cannot refer without going through intermediary process whose unqualified assessors decide on clinical need by looking at £’s and not necessarily, effectivity nor quality of treatment!!
But apparently the cops haven't identified a motive yet.
They all fucking know
Insurance is a scam and always has been that benefit the privileged and stuff the unprivileged of Society we will just take their money mayhap we will give them a crumb now and again.
As for the CEO, I don’t wish anyone death, but it will happen again. You can’t play with people’s grief like this and expect no consequences.
Rather than coming to their defense, the world is calling out power for pushing desperate people to the edge.
If you kick me enough, I'll kick back. I won't stay your humble punching bag forever.
Conservatives are trying to privatize Canada's healthcare... Liberals are refusing to fund it. Where I live nobody can get a family Dr because the gov isn't willing to pay them.
We are only a few years behind America's nightmare.
A badge of honour opening hospitals, schools, universities, orphanages...
Now they just hoard wealth and live lives of absurd luxury.
Pathetic
I don't.
Their victims have family
Obvs we need to line them up
CEOs with armed security….
A badge of honour opening hospitals, schools, universities, orphanages...
Now they just hoard wealth and live lives of absurd luxury.
Pathetic
As the gap between our American oligarchs and We The People widen, you have to expect desperate people to perform desperate acts.
Also, if this becomes a trend will the gun laws change then?
Sure we can discuss if its ethical to work for evil companies in health insurance, defence
Industry,pharmacy or alchohol companies!
But at the end the politicians you and I choose are responsible for the way those companies handle their business!
Healthcare shouldn’t be part of capitalism!
My MRI and CT scan were both denied. Took me months and hours of phone calls to get it approved. The system is broken, but the solution is not to start shooting.
Good lord.
It figures.
The AI is 90% wrong. The AI sees it first.
https://x.com/lougarza86/status/1483807604463882241
That said, as a physician, I would say that insurance companies are THE WORST part of American health care, and have been now, for decades.
There MUST be a better way to make healthcare affordable.
Even in a capitalist society.
It’s a scam
They add nothing
They just take
And would you ration healthcare?
Who would decide what is and is not covered?
Would you allow a parallel private pay for those who wanted to pay and jump the line?
lowest life expectancy- not due to medicine. We also have one of the highest obesity rates. Not due to medical care or lack of it. Due to population choices.
I won't waste my time to ask why. But I know the word "socialized" is poison pure in american society. Laughably so.
Medicaid is socialized care - but it is dismal - which is why the patients in it, cannot find anyone who will accept it.
SS Administration admits this in the article I posted.
Now we're asked to work til we're 70. In time, til we're 75? 80? Benefits are expected to be cut by the new president.
At some point, retiring on SS at age 90 with a $100/month paycheck, won't matter.
...if nothing gets done about it. Brainy.
Social Security, as currently built and funded, is not going to disappear. It can't. That's because Social Security, and Medicare, are funded by payroll taxes.
https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v70n3/v70n3p111.html
"...Thus, the Congress will need to make changes to the scheduled benefits and revenue sources for the program in the future....."
I work with a doctor from Europe who left his practice there to work as a tech in the USA because he made so much more money as a mere lab tech, to support his family.
Reality shows that it is.
Hard to believe. What country exactly did he/she come from?
Only in America... jfc
I think Oregon is on to something.
But I DO think there needs to be firm rationing.
And that is something Americans (and their politicians who never want to say "no") aren't comfortable with.
So yep, tax me 40%, which is what I pay over a certain bit of my earnings. I am 100% good with that to keep my NHS.
I'm ok with 40% as well. Yet not everyone I know from countries with socialized medicine is pleased with it. I confess, I know less of France's system, than Germany's and Eastern Europe's (former USSR).
You can still go bankrupt pretty quick too
How many people who go without insurance, saying it's too expensive, have smartphones for themselves & their kids?
Much is greed.
Much is poor allocation of limited resources.
Much is nepotism, cronyism, and subsequent incompetence.
Much is politics. The guy who will head up our healthcare shortly, doesn't believe in fluoridation or vaccines.
That was the point of my comment - to encourage an international dialogue of what works.
The doctors I met in Eastern Europe, after communism fell, were those who couldn't arrange to be driving taxis.
How much have I made?
You have no idea. You make $HIT up, and then it becomes your reality.
The average doc in Bulgaria earns about $25 k per year. That's a "large amount of money" to you? I worked with an ER doc from there, who did better working in the USA as a lab tech.
Grateful that we do not have to think about whether we can afford healthcare - please explain why you consider universal healthcare such a bad thing.
Medicaid has failed miserably.
When I speak with colleagues from countries with socialized medicine - they say it rations so egregiously, it is still people with money who get preferred treatment while others are put on wait lists.
Care is rationed as much or more in the US, it's just insurance companies deciding how, rather than medical professionals.
2) get the insurance companies and for-profit providers OUT of healthcare. Completely.
IOW, Universal Health Care.
It’s much cheaper and has better outcomes.
Who is better equipped to make such decisions? Doctors or insurance companies whose SOLE purpose is to make money by stealing yours?
But I DO agree - doctors (and nurses and Pharm D's) should be in the decision making roles.
Was it a HORRIBLE idea in the first place? Yep.
We can UNDO horrible ideas. We’re not stuck with them.
But the universal health care of government would helpfully increase the competitiveness, lowering prices by supply and demand, not merely by law.
You don't see rationing as an issue?
Because usually it isn't - everything ends up covered, and that's when it goes insolvent.
And for saying that outloud, I've been verbally accosted in this thread by people with absolutely NO experience in the healthcare, insurance, or medical billing fields.
People are as emotional on this as abortion, and even Harris vs Trump
/Sincerily Europe
To have a single room on top of your social securety.
Stop paying insurance companies, pool those funds instead and put it towards providing healthcare, not shareholder profits & CEO salaries,
I spent 11 days in hospital in September. I had 2 CTs, daily antibiotics and multiple X-rays and blood tests. Everyday they feed me three meals & at night gave me a Valium to help me sleep. Plus they gave me my regular medicines. It cost me zero dollars.
So they apologised for being a little preoccupied.
I confirm - hours in a bed, pain relief, a delicate procedure including bandages plus pain relief and extra bandages to take with me for my 7am flight back to Australia. Zero dollars requested in payment. God Bless Aotearoa!
Almost like there is too much money to be made for things people can’t live without.
I always imagine how much labor is lost to disabilities that could be prevented with a better system.
It failed.
Not his fault - but it still failed. What would you do differently, so that the next incoming party wouldn't dismantle it?
would you be comfortable answering what your annual gross income is?
They already are in the US: Roads. Fire departments. Police. Military.
The question becomes, is a healthy population a public good? I believe it to be true.
Stop worrying for them and do something.
Chip from your own gold leaf ceiling to help them.
https://www.axios.com/2024/12/05/blue-cross-blue-shield-anesthesia-anthem-connecticut-new-york
A badge of honour opening hospitals, schools, universities, orphanages...
Now they just hoard wealth and live lives of absurd luxury.
Pathetic
My only wish is that there are more.
Medicare sucks.
BTW, he’s actually an Independent but Democrats included him in Democratic debates and also for committees in the Senate a still do because he caucuses with Democrats.
You know those already shitty barriers that barely keep them somewhat in check? They (along with the most accessible healthcare option) are about to be gutted by the future president.
Keep them coming! Make them scared!
Read about the differences.
Medicare advantage will screw you every chance they get.
Get medicare & a supplemental.
A badge of honour opening hospitals, schools, universities, orphanages...
Now they just hoard wealth and live lives of absurd luxury.
Pathetic
I agree with you. Art in the 1500-1600s was mostly commissioned by the rich.
Which is what I’d write at the top if I were grading it.
(and if Project 2025 has its way, this is only the beginning)
#Project2025
💙🇺🇲
Spartacus! No, I am Spartacus! No, I am Spartacus!
It's breaks my heart to hear this type of BS is happening, especially to children.
Everyone write the congress and let them know this bs is Unacceptablewould. Smh.
My heart is so broken.
The insurance company now is saying the biggest health care company in Iowa will be out of network as of January 2025.