Is Murdering Healthcare CEOs Justified?

Leftists on social media blame the wrong culprit for healthcare dysfunction.

WSJ editorial. 

"America’s social-media culture is often debased, but it reached a new low this week with the online jubilation over the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The moral perversity is a sign of the ugly times—all the more so because it targets private insurers for problems largely caused by government. 

The unidentified shooter’s motive still isn’t known, but he may have dropped a hint with the words “deny, defend, depose” on his bullet casings. This mantra was popularized by trial lawyers suing private insurers for denying claims more than a decade ago. Social media mobs are exploiting the tragedy and proclaiming that Thompson had it coming.

“And people wonder why we want these executives dead,” former Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz wrote on Bluesky, a leftwing social-media site. “People have very justified hatred toward insurance company CEOs because these executives are responsible for an unfathomable amount of death and suffering,” she added. “As someone against death and suffering, I think it’s good to call out this broken system and the ppl in power who enable it.” Ms. Lorenz is far from alone as an apologist for targeting CEOs.

We realize that facts and reason don’t matter when a political culture descends into “Lord of the Flies.” But if fixing the system is really the goal, how about looking to Washington? Private health insurance in America is far from perfect. But the insurance problems sparking an outcry owe mainly to government policies that distort markets and force rationed care.

***

Start with the reality that Medicare and Medicaid, two government programs, cover about 36% of Americans. Both pay doctors and hospitals below the cost of providing care. As a result, many providers won’t see Medicaid patients, resulting in delayed care. A 2023 state audit of California’s Medicaid program found 43% of appointments for urgent psychiatric care for children exceeded the state’s four-day standard.

A 2019 meta-analysis of state Medicaid program audits by Yale researchers found that low-income patients were 3.3 times less likely to get an appointment to see a specialist than someone with private insurance. Another 2022 study by Yale doctors found that Medicaid patients had significantly less access to the highest performing cancer hospitals.

Patients with fee-for-service Medicare can see most providers, though it is also losing doctors amid paltry payment rates. Providers also compensate for low reimbursements by increasing charges for private insurers. Anesthesiologists receive on average 330% more from private insurers than traditional Medicare.

Some providers prescribe treatments and tests that may be medically unnecessary. Insurers have tried to clamp down on such abuse by requiring prior authorization—e.g., approval from health plans before a procedure. This can result in delayed care that is medically necessary, but it’s also how insurers control costs.

The press flogged a story this week about Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield proposing to restrict payments for anesthesiologists based on government guidelines for how long surgeries should last. Anthem said its intent was to guard against overbilling, but it dropped the proposal amid opposition by patients and doctors.

Another problem is the Biden Administration’s effort to starve Medicare Advantage plans, which are administered by private insurers and offer much lower premiums with more benefits than traditional Medicare. As the feds have slashed payments [for Medicare Advantage], insurers are requiring prior authorization for more procedures or services.

ObamaCare has also encouraged consolidation in healthcare, another reason patients may have trouble seeing doctors out of their network. The law increased funding for accountable care organizations—health provider groups that are supposed to coordinate patient care—with the goal of reducing expensive and unnecessary services.

The law’s [ObamaCare] medical-loss ratio effectively capped insurers profits, which drove insurers to acquire providers and combine with pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers. This let insurers boost profits through other avenues—for instance, by steering patients to their own providers and pharmacies. UnitedHealth Group is the most vertically integrated health firm.

Democrats sold ObamaCare as a panacea for the ills of private insurance, but the law hasn’t made healthcare more affordable or accessible. The left’s response has been to vilify private insurers and push for Medicare for all.

***

But government health care is a recipe for more care delays and denials. Witness the fiasco in the United Kingdom, where the Labour government reports that more than 120,000 people died in 2022 while on the National Health Service’s wait list for treatment. To adapt a famous Winston Churchill phrase, private insurance is the worst form of health care, except for all others."