The shooting of Brian Thompson
Someone fatally shot Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, yesterday. The assailant, who wore a mask, demonstrated clear expertise with firearms. The 9mm pistol had a silencer, which, an NYPD Captain said, was his first time seeing one used in a shooting. He escaped on a pre-positioned E-Bike through Central Park. This was a well-planned, targeted attack.
Surveillance video shows Thompson walking toward a conference venue (Hilton hotel) when a dark-hooded figure with a gray backpack emerged behind him and shot him in the back. Thompson stumbled forward before turning to face the attacker and then collapsed to the ground. The gunman approached the CEO calmly, firing shots while seemingly clearing a jam in his firearm (possibly due to the silencer) before shooting Thompson again. The assailant crossed the street from the Hilton, fled through an alley, and hopped on an electric bike on 55th Street, heading north on 6th Avenue toward Central Park.
A shell casing from a bullet fired into the victim had the word “Depose” inscribed on it. On a live round that was ejected while the shooter appeared to be clearing a jam, the word “Delay” was written. A well-known, albeit patronizing, adage in the insurance field is “delay, deny, defend,” which reveals much about the motives behind the shooting. Insurance companies often try to delay payment of justified claims, deny payment altogether, and then defend these actions by forcing claimants to enter litigation. If big business continues to take advantage of consumers like this, they shouldn’t be surprised to see more shootings.
The lowest of the low
UnitedHealthcare has a low rating of 1.2 stars based on 2,337 reviews on Consumer Affairs. They maintain the same disappointing rating on Yelp and a marginally improved rating of 1.4 on Trustpilot. Clearly, they are unpopular—likely for valid reasons.
One insurance company auditor revealed that United receives the highest number of complaints among all providers. This implies that they seek any justification to reject health claims. Recently, they also conducted layoffs despite huge net profits. Their CEO is currently being sued for insider trading. UnitedHealthcare is the embodiment of the second deadly sin.
One man reported his experience with the company:
“My friend with UHC presented to his doctor with pain and bloody stool. UHC sent him to a chiropractor instead of a gastroenterologist or a damn x-ray. Long story short, he died 8 months later because UHC is run by criminals.”
Another left this scathing review:
“I’d leave 0 stars if I could. By far the worst experience I’ve ever had with health insurance. Their plans are filled with fine print garbage to worm themselves out of paying for literally anything. It’s no surprise this scam of a company profited over 200 BILLION in 2020. You pay them monthly for them to spit in your face anytime you need coverage.”
Here’s what one employee said about working with them.
“I worked in insurance verification, getting pre-auths and stuff for a couple of years. I did UHC for a while. Their rule was that they needed to be notified within 24 hours of admission to inpatient care. I would make sure to do that. Those authorizations still kept getting denied. Why? Because UHC would roll back to the time they entered the ER before they were admitted as inpatient and started counting from there instead of the time they were actually admitted as inpatient. My boss started almost getting me in trouble before they realized I was doing my job correctly and figured out what was happening. UHC is the worst.”
This company earned an estimated $6 billion in the third quarter of 2024 alone, while Mr. Thompson received over $10 million in total compensation. His job, of course, was to make the company profitable—and that is achieved by selling and rejecting claims—a practice that will cost some people their lives and make those left behind angry enough to shoot someone over it.
