In a public response to the outpouring of rage against health insurance companies following the murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare’s parent company admited America’s health care system “is flawed” as he mourned the loss of a “brilliant, kind man.”
In an op-ed titled “The health care system is flawed. Let’s fix it,” published in the New York Times on Friday, Andrew Witty, chief executive officer of UnitedHealth Group, wrote that he “understands people’s frustrations.”
The shocking case has prompted a wave of support for the suspect, Luigi Mangione, who has been charged with Thompson’s murder and is fighting extradition to New York, as Americans vent their frustrations with the state of health care.
“We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it,” Witty said. “No one would design a system like the one we have.”
Witty insisted that the company’s “mission” is to help make health coverage better and bring costs down. “We are willing to partner with anyone, as we always have — health care providers, employers, patients, pharmaceutical companies, governments and others — to find ways to deliver high-quality care and lower costs,” he said.
However, in the op-ed he acknowledges: “Clearly, we are not there yet.”
“Together with employers, governments and others who pay for care, we need to improve how we explain what insurance covers and how decisions are made,” he wrote. “Behind each decision lies a comprehensive and continually updated body of clinical evidence focused on achieving the best health outcomes and ensuring patient safety.”
Witty also paid tribute to Thompson and his Iowa roots, adding that the late CEO wanted to make health care “better for everyone.”
“As Brian Thompson’s family, friends and colleagues mourn his killing, we are bearing a grief and sadness we will carry for the rest of our lives,” Witty said. “Grief for the family he leaves behind. And grief for a brilliant, kind man who was working to make health care better for everyone.”
He continued: “Brian was never content with the status quo. That’s why he pushed us to build dedicated teams to help the sickest people navigate the health system.”
The health care boss also decried the “threats” employees at the company have faced since Thompson’s shocking execution on a New York City street.
“No employees — be they the people who answer customer calls or nurses who visit patients in their homes — should have to fear for their and their loved ones’ safety,” he said.
Meanwhile, the NYPD’s Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny has revealed that there is “no indication” that the 26-year-old suspect, who is believed to have undergone major back surgery last year, was ever a client of UnitedHealthcare. Mangione left behind a three-page note that expressed “an ill will towards corporate America,” investigators have said.
“We have no indication that he ever was a client of UnitedHealthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest healthcare organization in America,” Kenny said.
An NYPD assessment obtained by CNN states that Mangione “appeared to view the targeted killing of the company’s highest-ranking representative as a symbolic takedown and a direct challenge to its alleged corruption and ‘power games.’”
