Dead CEOs Won’t Fix America’s Healthcare System

A health insurance CEO is murdered in the streets. The media is scrambling to figure out how the killer escaped. The government is hunting the fugitive. American citizens? Many are celebrating. Whether publicly or privately. Never seen anything like it. We’re so broken as a society. Our morality has almost completely eroded. A global pandemic couldn’t unite our country, but the execution of a health insurance executive is bringing together both sides of the aisle.

Violence isn’t the way to solve problems. It’s got people talking, though. There’s no argument there. It’s a shame our national conversation isn’t talking about what we should be.

Corporate America’s response to the murder didn’t surprise me. Suits clutching their pearls and taking our more robust life insurance polices instead of reflecting on how they are contributing to the death of Americans. Healthcare organizations are scrubbing photos of their executives off the internet and beefing up security. Those uncivilized, poor people are out of their minds. It’s nothing but knee-jerk reactions from stupid, scared, and weak leaders who lack understanding, empathy, or self-awareness.

The media isn’t helping the American people, either. The narrative is focusing on the killer, the search for him, and his motive. That, or they’re scolding the American public for condoning this type of violence. “People are messed up, look how they’re reacting to the death of a husband and father.” That’s a painfully lazy analysis. Things are a lot more complex. Do you know the number one reason Americans go bankrupt? Medical debt. Why aren’t reporters focusing on why someone would want to kill Brian Thompson? A scorned lover? A disgruntled employee? A pissed off American? Why not scold or investigate healthcare insurance companies instead of Americans aka reporters’ readers and viewers? Their policies harm American every day.

Now, to be fair, some journalists have attacked health insurance companies in the past, but it hasn’t done shit. Corporate fines and slaps on the wrist. How are these death factories allowed to remain in business? Executives’ pockets are never touched, while mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters are dying.

Over the past few days, I’ve heard dozens of stories from people losing loved ones because they couldn’t afford treatment or were denied care. Americans blaming themselves for not making enough money to afford something that shouldn’t cost a thing. Unless of course, you believe every life has a price. It’s abhorrent to deny life saving treatments or care to someone in need. How many people are gone forever because they couldn’t afford or were denied care?

One of my best friends had a lump on her leg for a long time but had no health insurance. Her parents couldn’t afford it. It wasn’t their fault. Or hers. The lump wasn’t painful or anything. When did she go to the doctor months later? Cancer. The treatments and care bankrupted the family. She got the disease three times before she passed away. Lost daughter and friend while bankrupting the family. The American Nightmare. Could an earlier intervention have saved her life? What about more expensive or experimental treatments? Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll never know because she’s dead. Maybe she didn’t have to be.

I swear we’re less human than we’ve ever been. Money over everything. We literally have the resources to prevent people from dying, but they’re hoarded for profits. Getting sick in America is like playing a game of Russian Roulette. May it never be you and yours’ turn.

This isn’t easy to write about. A father of two was killed. But was this a man with thousands of Americans’ deaths on his hands? Some Americans feel that way, but most are just fed up with predatory health insurance companies.

This isn’t a call for violence. We need real, honest conversations about our society. The world is changing. The media and those in positions of power need to have a hard look in the mirror. There’s no reason for things to continue to deteriorate. Things are only going to get worse if we continue to “delay, deny, and defend.”

I don’t want to see anymore dead CEOs, but I don’t want to see anymore denied claims for Americans, either. Brian Thompson decided who lived and died with a pen and a tie. He may not have pulled the trigger, but his company’s policies directly led to American deaths. Thousands of them. Maybe more. His company also played a major role in bankrupting Americans who were sick and vulnerable. Our current system rewarded this behavior by paying executives like Brian Thompson bonuses and million-dollar salaries. Meanwhile, Americans with United Healthcare are going broke or dying because of healthcare costs. How is that any different than the murder of Brian Thompson? No one deserved to die. But where is justice for these dead and financially ruined Americans and their loved ones?

So, what can we do? Demand better. Tell your health insurance tragedies to everyone. Post online. Make TikTok dances (before it’s banned). Contact politicians. Spam health insurance companies’ social media with stories of how their policies caused someone you love to not receive life saving care. Email customer service. Clog up phone lines. This might not feel like enough for many. I understand the blood thirst many Americans feel. We’re sick and tired of being fucked over and killed so sociopaths can rot on a yacht. But more death isn’t the way. Violence will detract from the real issues. We have to do this the right way. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.”

We have to make this right. If not for us, for those lives that ended too soon and/or were ruined by America’s healthcare system. No one else needs to die. More violence will only impede progress. Let’s heal America before more savable lives are lost.