What is a man’s life worth?
That’s the question on my mind since the murder of Brian Thompson, which could be the name of any man in America, but who happened to be the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, ranked fourth in the country and eighth in the world in the Fortune 500, an annual list of the largest companies by revenue.
Thompson was head of the largest private payer of health insurance benefits in the U.S.
This should be a compliment, but it’s not.
That’s because health care is a mess in this country. We pay more for health care as a percentage of our GDP than any industrialized country, yet we receive far less. Somehow, universal health care coverage is seen as “socialist,” which is what people used to think about the fire department, until they realized that not putting out a fire in an uninsured building affected the insured buildings.
In light of what regular people already know, the apathy that came after Thompson’s death wasn’t a surprise. There were comments like, “My empathy is out of network,” and “A man is dead, and no one really cares. Huh. Sounds like business as usual for UnitedHealth, doesn’t it?”
While harsh, there are even harsher realities behind them.
UnitedHealthCare denies almost a third of all medical claims, the highest in the industry. The truth is, Thompson made millions, and his company made billions, from the effects of their policies.
“His company put multiple of my family members in debt they will be paying for the rest of their lives and denied care for my uncle which led to his death. Brian Thompson killed people. Full stop.” posted one person.
“Remembering the day United Healthcare denied a one-night hospital stay for my 12-year-old child as ‘medically unnecessary’ following ASD heart repair surgery,” one user wrote.
“Today I’m thinking about the time United Healthcare suddenly decided to stop paying for my chemotherapy and didn’t bother telling me, so the nurses had to tell me when I checked in at the cancer center for my next treatment,” another posted.
“Currently, over 1,000 people go bankrupt daily, solely due to personal medical bills. Anyone who can make millions of dollars overseeing a system like this, and sleep well at night doesn’t deserve my sympathy,” Beau Forte, a former Green Party candidate for Congress in New Jersey who ran on a platform calling for universal healthcare, told The Independent.
There were a reported 42,000 laugh emojis to UnitedHealth Group’s announcement of Thompson’s death on Facebook. (The count is not visible on their page currently.)
These reactions highlight an interesting dynamic when it comes to death- the homage to someone that achieved greatness, but in this case, did Thompson achieve greatness?
If not homage, how about just plain empathy? Is the head of a company that denies a third of medical care claims deserving of empathy?
Thompson was very successful in this life. He met all the markers, and his family has and will be well taken care of financially.
I find calls for increased empathy odd in light of the myriad other people that die without a safety net for their loved ones. Whether they weren’t ambitious or simply didn’t work hard enough, it’s not for me to judge.
What I do believe is that with power comes responsibility.
Thompson wasn’t able to do it in his lifetime, but his death refocused attention on the very real and dire problems with health coverage in this country. Perhaps his death could affect more change than his life ever did.
So, while Brian Thompson’s life was worth a literal fortune on this earth, the vitriol toward his industry leaves him a pauper in terms of empathy.
And I can empathize with that.
