Torrent of hate for health insurance industry follows CEO’s killing

The fatal shooting Wednesday of a top UnitedHealthcare executive, Brian Thompson, on a New York City sidewalk has unleashed a torrent of morbid glee from patients and others who say they have had negative experiences with health insurance companies at some of the hardest times of their lives.

It is unclear what motivated the incident or whether it was tied to Thompson's work in the insurance industry. Police have yet to identify the shooter, who is still on the loose.

But that did not stop social media commenters from leaping to conclusions and from showing a blatant lack of sympathy over the death of a man who was a husband and father of two children.

"Thoughts and deductibles to the family," read one comment underneath a video of the shooting posted online by CNN. "Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network."

On TikTok, one user wrote, "I'm an ER nurse and the things I've seen dying patients get denied for by insurance makes me physically sick. I just can't feel sympathy for him because of all of those patients and their families."

The dark commentary after the death of Thompson, a 50-year-old insurance executive from Maple Grove, Minnesota, highlighted the anger and frustration over the state of health care in America, where those with private insurance often find themselves in Kafkaesque tangles while seeking reimbursement for medical treatment and are often denied.

Messages that law enforcement officials say were found on bullet casings at the scene of the shooting in front of a New York hotel - "delay" and "deny" - are two words familiar to many Americans who have interacted with insurance companies for almost anything other than routine doctor visits.

Thompson was chief executive of his company's insurance division, which reported $281 billion in revenue last year, providing coverage to millions of Americans through the health plans it sold to individuals, employers and people under government programs like Medicare. The division employs roughly 140,000 people.

Thompson received a $10.2 million compensation package last year, a combination of $1 million in base pay and cash and stock grants. He was shot to death as he was walking toward the annual investor day for UnitedHealth Group, UnitedHealthcare's parent company.

Stephan Meier, the chair of the management division at Columbia Business School, said the attack could send shock waves through the broader health insurance industry.

About seven CEOs of publicly traded companies die each year, he said, but almost always from health complications or accidents. A targeted attack could have much larger implications.

"The insurance industry is not the most loved, to put it mildly," Meier said. "If you're a C-suite executive of another insurance company, I would be thinking, what's this mean for me? Am I next?"

A longtime employee of UnitedHealthcare said that workers at the company had been aware for years that members were unhappy. Thompson was one of the few executives who wanted to do something about it, said the employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the company does not allow workers to speak publicly without permission.

In speeches to employees, Thompson spoke about the need to change the state of health care coverage in the country and the culture of the company, topics other executives avoided, the employee said.

Already, there is heightened concern among some public-facing health care companies, said Eric Sean Clay, president of the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety. The trade group includes members that offer security to some of the largest health care companies in North America.

"The CEOs are quite often the most visible face of an organization," he said. "Sometimes people hate on that individual and wish to do them harm."

But few health care companies provide security for their executives, he said, in part to avoid bad optics or because it may seem unnecessary.

In the hours after the shooting early Wednesday, social media exploded with anger toward the insurance industry and Thompson.

"I pay $1,300 a month for health insurance with an $8,000 deductible. ($23,000 yearly) When I finally reached that deductible, they denied my claims. He was making a million dollars a month," read one comment on TikTok.

Another commenter wrote, "This needs to be the new norm. EAT THE RICH."

"The ambulance ride to the hospital probably won't be covered," wrote a commenter on a TikTok video in which another user featured an audio clip from the Netflix show "Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story." In it, the queen makes a dramatic show of faux sorrow over a death.

The shooting prompted a wrenching outpouring of patients and family members who also posted horror stories of insurance claim reimbursement stagnation and denials.

One woman expressed frustration with trying to get a special bed for her disabled son covered by UnitedHealthcare. Another user described struggling with bills and coverage after giving birth.

"It is so stressful," the user said in a video. "I was sick over this."

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.