The Times, which is nothing if not reliably deferential to their betters, spends a lot of time describing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s private funeral and how much people loved him. How much the “vitriol” from the general public stunned the people closest to him, who describe him as someone who attended his sons’ lacrosse games and loved golf. Via the New York Times:
He became chief executive of the insurance division, UnitedHealthcare, in April 2021, leading a unit that employs about 140,000 people and reported $281 billion in revenue last year. Under his leadership, the company’s profits rose to more than $16 billion last year from $12 billion in 2021.
And how exactly did that happen, New York Times? Anything to do with the astounding increase in denied claims under his leadership by more than 300%? Even people who love their children and are pleasant to their peers can be indifferent to human suffering if it pays off.
Nice guys don’t deny claims from people recovering from strokes, is how I’d judge him.
UnitedHealth Group was the subject of a blistering report by a Senate panel this year that documented insurers’ refusal to pay for the care of older people recovering from falls or strokes. Mr. Thompson’s company was cited for a surge in denial rates of post-acute care for people on private Medicare Advantage plans, which increased to 22.7 percent in 2022 from 10.9 percent in 2020.
Earlier this year, Mr. Thompson and two other UnitedHealth Group executives were accused of insider trading and fraud in a lawsuit filed by the Hollywood Firefighters’ Pension Fund.
The lawsuit claimed Mr. Thompson sold $15 million in personally held company stock while the Justice Department was starting an antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth Group, an inquiry that he and other executives had failed to disclose. When news of the investigation became public, the price of the company’s stock plunged, erasing nearly $25 billion in shareholder value, according to the lawsuit. On Tuesday, officials from UnitedHealth Group declined to comment on the matter.
A way of life is dying, I think. People’s eyes are open, and the day when you can make millions from exploiting working people but paradoxically live in a bubble and enjoy a life where you’re considered a pillar of the community, when your spare time includes putting on a tuxedo and going to glittering charity events where you’re honored for your contributions (that were funded by your exploitation) — I think maybe this is the beginning of the end.
There’s been a paradigm shift that won’t be easily reversed.
