Anger toward health insurers reflects people's 'pent-up pain'
In the aftermath of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's fatal shooting, an outpouring of rage at the U.S. health care system has risen to the surface.
Social media posts have ranged from mournful to apathetic to joyful, including morbid celebrations of Thompson’s death. That deluge has forced people across the country to grapple with two heavy subjects at once: the callousness of a slaying, and an undercurrent of deep-seated anger at a health care industry that makes a lot of money by exploiting Americans.
“People feel there is an inherent unfairness in the way that the system works,” one advocate said. “That someone who has health insurance gets sick and then it’s a company, a business, that can be the barrier to them accessing the care they need to sometimes save their lives.”
New clinical trial results on the diabetes and obesity drug tirzepatide have doctors buzzing about its potential to treat heart failure, keep weight off and prevent type 2 diabetes.
The current 44% of U.S. adults who say the quality of healthcare is excellent (11%) or good (33%) is down by a total of 10 percentage points since 2020 after steadily eroding each year. Between 2001 and 2020, majorities ranging from 52% to 62% rated U.S. healthcare quality positively; now, 54% say it is only fair (38%) or poor (16%).
Eighteen months after residents and fellows at Mass General Brigham voted to unionize, about 400 doctors in training protested outside the health system's flagship hospitals Thursday and accused their employer of bargaining in bad faith as the union seeks its first contract. Shouting "shame" and "union power," members of the Committee of Interns and Residents, or CIR, of the Service Employees International Union said MGB has offered raises that fail to keep pace with inflation. Meanwhile, they said, Dr. Anne Klibanski, MGB's president and chief executive officer, earned $6 million in the fiscal year that ended in September 2023, a nearly 12 percent jump over the previous year. Dr. Chris Schenck, a second-year resident at Massachusetts General Hospital and member of the union's bargaining committee, said he sold his plasma to a blood bank for $100 at least half a dozen times last year to help pay his bills. He earned $88,000 in 2023 while working 65-hour weeks, he said. "We chose this work. We love our patients. We love doing this. But frankly it's hard to make ends meet," said Schenck, 26, who lives with his girlfriend in a $3,500-a-month rented apartment in Watertown and is paying off more than $150,000 in loans from medical school and college. Another member of the union's negotiating committee, Dr. Madison Masters, said that after about 20 bargaining sessions, hospital leaders have offered a raise of 2.25 percent for the first year of a contract, less than the rate of inflation. MGB spokesperson Jessica Pastore said the health system is "committed to bargaining in good faith" and that "we have the highest respect for our trainees and value the many contributions they make in the care of our patients." She said the system has actually offered a 2.5% raise in the first year of a contract but that the proposed increases in the following two years would be 2.25%. The union is seeking a raise of almost 20% over three years, retroactive to July 2023, according to Pastore.
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield said Thursday that the health insurance provider is reversing a policy that was set to go into effect in February of that would have limited anesthesia coverage during surgeries and other procedures, a change that had prompted an outcry from some physicians and lawmakers. The policy, which would have covered Anthem's plans in Connecticut, New York and Missouri, was disclosed in recent weeks, with the company's New York unit posting a notice on Dec. 1. The policy would have excluded people under 22 years old and maternity care. According to the original policy statement, Anthem had said it would pay only for anesthesia treatments for the length of time that a procedure or surgery is estimated to require based on CMS's physician work time values. The insurer noted that claims for anesthesia "above the established number of minutes will be denied." Anthem said it was backing away from the policy, and added there had been "widespread misinformation about an update to our anesthesia policy."
UnitedHealthcare, whose chief executive Brian Thompson was gunned down in Manhattan Wednesday, has come under scrutiny for its high rate of claim denials in recent years. While the motive for the shooting remains under investigation, NYPD officials say the attack was "targeted" and "premeditated." The Associated Press reported that law enforcement found messages on the ammunition the gunman used — "deny," "defend," and "depose" — which may be referring to tactics the insurance industry uses to avoid paying claims. The company dismissed about one in every three claims in 2023 — the most of any major insurer. That's twice the industry average of 16%, according to data from ValuePenguin, a consumer research site owned by LendingTree that specializes in insurance. The group's analysis is based on in-network claims data from CMS.
