When and why did the United States turn into such a cesspool of hatred?
Some people may disagree with that characterization. But events last week have or should put those questions front and center because the kind of cold-hearted reaction we have witnessed is disgusting.
See what you think: About 6:45 a.m. on December 4, as sunrise drew near in New York City, a hooded man stepped from between two parked cars outside a Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan and gunned down the chief executive of United Healthcare as he walked to a company meeting.
Brian Thompson fell to the ground, mortally wounded. The killer fled down a pedestrian walkway and disappeared. Left behind on the sidewalk were bullet casings marked with the words “Delay” and “Deny.” The death of Thompson, 50, the chief executive of the nation’s largest health insurance company, would be shocking by itself. But the morbid glee that a troubling number of Americans voiced on social media in the wake of the murder is disturbing on many levels.
The lack of sympathy and the glorification of Thompson’s death is deeply concerning. The sympathy *for* the murder grows from the anger many people have toward Thompson’s employer.
UnitedHealthcare insures 49 million Americans through health plans sold to employers and individuals. Its annual revenues, about $280 billion, are 30 times larger than Iowa collects in state taxes each year.
The anger aimed at United Healthcare is so sharp because the company’s decisions to delay paying many claims and to deny coverage for many others have left countless families with enormous medical bills. But those are the company’s decisions. Brian Thompson did not have unilateral authority to decide these matters himself.
Regardless of the reasons, the dark comments on social media have been repulsive. For example:
“When you shoot one man in the street it’s murder,” one person wrote. “When you kill thousands of people in hospitals by taking away their ability to get treatment you’re an entrepreneur.”
Another commenter wrote, “Thoughts and deductibles to the family.”
Said another post, “Unfortunately, my condolences are out-of-network.”
One more post was especially blunt: “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.”
Lisa Jarvis, a health-care columnist for Bloomberg News, winced at the harsh comments, writing: “We can’t ignore the ferocity of the response — or the fact that no one’s gut told them to check it. If there’s one thing our fractured country seems to agree on, it’s that the health care system is tragically broken and the companies profiting from it are morally bankrupt.”
Stephan Meier, the management division chair at the Columbia Business School in New York City, told reporters, “The insurance industry is not the most loved, to put it mildly.” A Gallup Poll last week found that 54 percent of Americans believe health care coverage in the United States is fair or poor.
The hatred spewed through social media did not begin with Thompson’s killing. Such bile has become all too common. We have become inured when we hear people in positions of prominence or authority refer to those with whom they disagree as morons, deplorable, despicable, or low IQ.
We should not lose sight of this painful fact: The killer’s actions last week came at a terrible price for Thompson’s family, who have no say at all in United Healthcare’s corporate decisions.
This CEO is an Iowa farm boy. The 1993 graduate of South Hamilton High School grew up between Jewell and Stanhope. His wife is a Webster City native. They have two teenage sons.
Thompson’s path to the suburban Minneapolis headquarters of UnitedHealthcare began at the University of Iowa, where he received an accounting degree. He worked for the international accounting firm PwC before joining UnitedHealthcare 20 years ago.
Bloomberg News columnist Tobin Harshaw wrote last week, “We need better and cheaper and fairer health care. But not at the cost of CEOs’ lives.”
Can’t everyone in a civilized society agree on that?
Randy Evans can be reached at [email protected].