America’s Violent Health System

An unknown assailant killed the UnitedHealth CEO in broad daylight—and the majority of people watching laughed. Why?

"Kill a man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror." — Jean Rostand

This week’s headlines report that the CEO of UnitedHealth was killed in broad daylight, the assailant escaping on what appeared to be an e-bike. While this shocking incident grabs the headlines, the deeper, quieter violence perpetrated by America’s health scam system remains largely ignored. Let’s Address This.

Creator: Ronen Tivony | Credit: NurPhoto via Getty ImagesCopyright: Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto

Let’s Start With a Question

Can we agree that in the wealthiest country on Earth, no parent should have to watch their severely asthmatic child gasp for air because health insurance corporations deny them care? In 2017 I received a call from my wife Ayesha, frantic as she drove our then 4-year-old son to his doctor as he suffered an asthma attack. I was out of state and felt helpless but knew Ayesha would not relent until our son was safe.

Horrifyingly, our son’s doctor would not see him because our insurance company declined coverage on the spot. My wife offered to pay out of pocket (by clearing out what little we had in our savings). The doctor explained that they also could not accept cash payments as our insurance company had a provision restricting cash payments when they were our insurer. Ridiculously, our insurance company was simultaneously denying us coverage, while preventing our doctor from treating us because, perhaps because they did not want to lose the revenue of a cash payment.

Finally, Ayesha rushed our son to the emergency room, where they were able to treat him and alleviate his asthma attack. It took us more than a year to pay the several thousand dollar emergency room bill.

Our health insurance company, the one who denied us care, was UnitedHealth.

Unfortunately, our story is not unique and the consequences are staggering. According to The Lancet, at least 68,000 Americans die preventable deaths every year because they are denied care or can’t afford it. That’s 68,000 people—grandparents, children, and loved ones—lost because healthcare in America is treated as a commodity rather than a basic human right.

And while we express disgust at the reckless killing of the UnitedHealth CEO, why stop there? Where is the outrage at UnitedHealth for perpetually being the worst offender and rejecting more insurance claims than any other company—rejections that cost countless lives annually?

My child was among the 32% of patients suffering a medical emergency, denied care because UnitedHealth felt their right to make money was more important than my child’s right to live. And my son is not alone. Last year UnitedHealth fired its intake team and implemented AI technology to process insurance claims for senior citizens. This decision resulted in the rejection of more than 90% of claims for senior citizens, leaving many without the critical medications they needed to survive, and killing them. This isn’t just negligence—it’s a system designed to prioritize profits over human lives.

Why Are People Laughing At A Killing?

In response to the killing of their CEO, UnitedHealth posted the below message on Facebook. Shortly after posting, they closed the comments section. Pay close attention to the makeup of the 42,000 reactions to the bottom left of their post.

Of the 42,000+ reactions, 37,000 of them—nearly 90%—are people laughing in the face of UnitedHealth Group. Why?

I do not believe people are naturally cynical or evil minded. I do believe people see the horrible hypocrisy in lamenting the preventable death of one CEO worth tens of millions of dollars, while ignoring the annual preventable deaths of 70,000 Americans who are not worth tens of millions of dollars. Those upset about the 37,000 people laughing can either feel offended and (wrongly) assume 90% of Americans are evil, or they can reflect and realize the cruelty of the for-profit healthcare system is a daily torture for hundreds of millions of Americans—and people are tired of it. They are tired of an exploitative system that asks barbaric questions like, “Is curing patients a sustainable business model?”

The corporate for profit grip on our healthcare system has pushed millions into financial ruin—with estimates of 500,000 annual medical bankruptcies. That financial ruin comes not just from major illnesses, but even from every day medications. For example, insulin, a life-saving medication that costs about $70 a year to produce, now costs $18,000 annually for many Americans. This is not inflation—it is exploitation—especially given that the scientists who discovered insulin sold its patent for $1 to ensure it would remain accessible to everyone.

Let’s Conclude With An Answer

It does not have to be this way. Countries around the world have proven that universal healthcare is possible and effective. They prioritize human dignity over corporate profits, while Americans are forced to fund a healthcare racket that leaves us sicker, poorer, and desperate. In fact, every single developed nation on Earth guarantees healthcare to its residents—except the United States.

A universal healthcare model would not only save thousands of precious lives, it would cost us $450 billion less annually. Yet, this violence against human life, perpetrated by corporate greed, doesn’t spark the outrage it deserves.

Study after study, including from prestigious outlets like The Lancet, prove that universal healthcare costs half per capita as the current exploitative for profit model, results in higher life expectancy, lower maternal mortality, lower infant mortality, and notably zero medical bankruptcies.

And to those who allege that a universal healthcare model will “result in long lines,” I ask you to consider this. However those lines may be, keep in mind that already nearly 70,000 Americans die annually waiting in long American lines. Meanwhile, every developed nation that has universal healthcare has a higher life expectancy, lower maternal mortality, and lower infant mortality. This is not accident, it is the result of accessible healthcare. So however “long” those lines are in nations that guarantee healthcare, they are all shorter than the waiting lines in the United States that ultimately deny healthcare.

And finally, while Republicans are the worst offenders in working to strip away healthcare after taking corporate money from Big Pharma, too many Democrats buy into the corporate greed as well.

For example, last year I ran for U.S. Congress on the platform of guaranteed universal healthcare. My opponent, a Democrat named Bill Foster, has voted three separate times with Republicans to gut the ACA, including to strip away protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Had he been successful it would have been a literal death sentence for two of my children, both of whom have chronic health conditions with preexisting conditions that are fatal if not immediately treated. I did not win the primary election, in significant part because the same corporate money used to buy Bill Foster’s vote to try to strip our healthcare, was then spent to ensure he stayed in office, lest a new representative emerge who is focused on people’s health, not personal profit.

Conclusion

The struggle is ongoing, and we cannot relent. This same day the assailant killed the UnitedHealth CEO, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield announced that patients will have to pay out of pocket for anesthesia if their surgical procedure goes longer than expected. To call this dystopian is an understatement. And in case you were wondering, anesthesia typically costs $400 for the first 30 minutes and then $600 an hour after that.

The point of the Jean Rostand quote at the top of this article thus becomes clear. The man responsible for the UnitedHealth CEO’s death is ostensibly a murderer. Meanwhile, UnitedHealth and the for profit health insurance industry that has enabled the deaths of more than a million people in the 21st century alone, are on the cover of Fortune, Forbes, and Wall Street Journal, hailed as corporate conquerors.

Change will not come until we recognize that each of the nearly 70,000 lives annually lost due to denied healthcare, is as preventable and as cruel as the UnitedHealth CEO’s targeted death. Because whether you are pulling a trigger in broad daylight, or denying life saving medication to an innocent 4-year-old child, the end result is the same preventable death.

This is a fight for human rights that we must win. It is a fight for our children, for the 70,000 Americans who die needlessly every year, for the 500,000 Americans who file medical bankruptcy annually, and for the tens of millions of families trapped in the cruel cycle of profit-driven exploitation. Let us demand better. Let us demand guaranteed universal healthcare—because our lives literally depend on it.