Doctor Conflicted About UHC Killing

[somarco]

On the one hand, I shed no tears for Thompson. The man made millions off the suffering of others. More than $10 millionopens in a new tab or window last year, in fact. Likewise, every penny of the $22 billion in profitopens in a new tab or window made by parent company UnitedHealth Group in 2023 was at the expense of the suffering of others.

I have no small amount of schadenfreudeopens in a new tab or window for what has happened to him. Sometimes, I even find myself wanting to crack jokes at his expense. Is Hell going to require a 2-night qualifying stay prior to admission? Does he have a skilled demonic need that would merit admission to Hell? Others have had similar reactions, posting online comments like, "Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network," and "Prior authorization is needed for thoughts and prayers."

As physicians, I understand how easy it is to sit back and take some pleasure in the death of a man whose leadership of an insurance company led to the untold suffering of hundreds of thousands of our patients. Patients we care for every day.

Opinion | I Am Torn: Grappling With the Killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO

I detest everything Thompson stood for, yet I am troubled by thoughts of hate

www.medpagetoday.com

This is sickly disturbing on so many levels

 

[rmhaire]

Is Hell going to require a 2-night qualifying stay prior to admission?

With my luck I'll probably be admitted Under Observation.

 

[HealthGuy]

A physician wrote this?! He writes as if hes Thompson's judge and jury. Makes me puke. Wonder how much money this hack Dr. made off the backs of his clients this last year?

 

[sshafran]

On the one hand, I shed no tears for Thompson. The man made millions off the suffering of others. More than $10 millionopens in a new tab or window last year, in fact. Likewise, every penny of the $22 billion in profitopens in a new tab or window made by parent company UnitedHealth Group in 2023 was at the expense of the suffering of others.

I have no small amount of schadenfreudeopens in a new tab or window for what has happened to him. Sometimes, I even find myself wanting to crack jokes at his expense. Is Hell going to require a 2-night qualifying stay prior to admission? Does he have a skilled demonic need that would merit admission to Hell? Others have had similar reactions, posting online comments like, "Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network," and "Prior authorization is needed for thoughts and prayers."

As physicians, I understand how easy it is to sit back and take some pleasure in the death of a man whose leadership of an insurance company led to the untold suffering of hundreds of thousands of our patients. Patients we care for every day.

Opinion | I Am Torn: Grappling With the Killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO

I detest everything Thompson stood for, yet I am troubled by thoughts of hate

www.medpagetoday.com

This is sickly disturbing on so many levels

On CNN right now the headline is:

Her insurer wanted her to pay $13,000 a month for leukemia treatment

Why is there no outrage over the drug manufacturer's or provider's pricing? Why is it always the insurance carrier's fault?

 

[sshafran]

This is sickly disturbing on so many levels

This doctor should be fired. What an idio.t.

Can't say I'm shocked. I've even seen some friends on Facebook posting things sounding similar. It's the cool thing to do right now I guess.

 

[vic120]

On CNN right now the headline is:

Her insurer wanted her to pay $13,000 a month for leukemia treatment

Why is there no outrage over the drug manufacturer's or provider's pricing? Why is it always the insurance carrier's fault?

It is interesting

What else is interesting is this killer went to a 40K a year school and Family is super wealthy

So I highly doubt he was the victim of a denied claim as so many news organizations had originally insinuated

as his family clearly could have afforded to pay out of pocket if that were the case

and all these reports of his debilitating back injury running his life seems like a stretch too, looks like he had no issues getting around and even working out regularly

 

[vic120]

Jacket worn by alleged UnitedHealthcare shooter Luigi Mangione is flying off shelves

A sherpa-lined, hooded jacket from Levi’s, which rings in at $225, was dubbed “killer fashion” by one Reddit commenter.

nypost.com

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5034916-populist-rage-inequality-discourse/

McDonald's workers who identified Luigi Mangione get private security

Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and charged in connection with the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

www.newsweek.com

Altoona McDonald's visited by Luigi Mangione is flooded with negative reviews after his arrest

Google said it has removed the disparaging comments because they violate its content policies.

www.cbsnews.com

Jimmy Kimmel outs his staff being hot for suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO killer

During a recent monologue, ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel joked about some of his staff being "horny" for the man who is suspected of murdering health care CEO Brian Thompson.

www.foxnews.com

CEO murder suspect garners ‘hot assassin’ fandom - Washington Examiner

Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused in the slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has captivated the attention of social media, late-night shows, and online commentators as a "smouldering Italian American" sex symbol.

www.washingtonexaminer.com

 

[annon123]

On CNN right now the headline is:

Her insurer wanted her to pay $13,000 a month for leukemia treatment

Why is there no outrage over the drug manufacturer's or provider's pricing? Why is it always the insurance carrier's fault?

As I see it the problem lies with both the drug companies and the insurance companies.

Drug companies: only about 10/100 potential drugs make it to clinical trial. Of those 10-15% of the drugs in the trials get FDA approval. Of that group 3/10 drugs with FDA approval are big money hits, some barely break even (factoring in all the costs to get to that point for break even). Some of the don't break even or barely break even are the drugs for rare diseases (eg often called orphaned diseases). A couple of years ago one phara had a late stage 3 (last stage of the trials) clinical trial failure that caused a 1.2 billion dollar loss for them. Developing drugs is incredibly expensive and the "success rate" is pretty low. Of course they price the drugs that do make it to cover all development costs of that drug and a proportion of the "failed" drugs plus a profit. One could argue about the profit portion of the pricing, whether or not they are more likely to over price popular drugs to make more money, etc.

Insurance companies: negotiate drug costs with insurance companies (well except medicare and 99.9% of those drugs). In the USA we typically pay more for the same drug in other companies (so we, and especially medicare, is subsidizing the rest of the world). If insurance companies would use their clout collectively this could change. While I have not independently confirmed this, two credible sources in the pharma industry have told me that with many drugs (not all and obviously not with $0 drugs although the actual cost of those generics can be approaching zero) many insurance companies set the copays to cover their actual cost of the drug. If actually true this would reduce the incentive to negotiate to lower drug costs.

 

[scagnt83]

If actually true this would reduce the incentive to negotiate to lower drug costs.

Carriers have zero incentive to negotiate any price.

Not at one point in the history of health insurance in the last 30 years, has an insurer meaningfully negotiated prices with providers.

They have no incentive to do so. They preach that as being the value to society... but the evidence says otherwise.

And the publicly traded carriers have even argued at times that it would be illegal for them to do so, since they have a legal duty to shareholders to maximize profits.

Negotiating prices lower, does not increase long term profits when profit margins are capped.

What are they going to do, negotiate lower prices just to give policy owners a refund at the end of the year like my groups get sometimes? That means they cant increase premiums as much the following year... which means they dont get the growth in profits that shareholders demand.

Higher premiums increase long term profits for carriers. And they are excellent at creating higher premiums.

 

[somarco]

It's the cool thing to do right now I guess.

Cool to want someone murdered?

@annon123 most of the drugs, including high priced meds for cancer, COPD, etc do not cure anything, but they do make it possible to extend your life by 30 to maybe 180 days. There is something really morbid about that and probably unethical as well.