On the morning of December 4, Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare – the largest health insurer in the United States – was fatally shot in New York City. The suspect has yet to be apprehended and a motive has not been established, although the words “depose”, “deny”, and “delay” were found written in permanent marker on bullet casings at the crime scene – a potential allusion to manoeuvres by health insurance companies to avoid paying for the things they are supposed to pay for.
In the social media world, the tears for Thompson were few and far between, with Fox News lamenting on December 7 that a commemorative Facebook post by UnitedHealth Group – the parent company of UnitedHealthcare – had already racked up more than 77,000 laughing emoji reactions. Other social media users scattered witty counter-condolences across various online platforms, such as “My empathy is out of network” and “I’m sorry, prior authorization is required for thoughts and prayers” – a reference to another common tactic employed by UnitedHealthcare and similar firms to decline coverage and increase profit margins. . . .
[I]t’s not difficult to understand why many Americans would fail to mourn the death of a man who symbolised a willfully dysfunctional, for-profit US healthcare system that is literally deadly in itself. READ MORE AT AL JAZEERA ENGLISH.