Moderators delete Reddit thread as doctors torch dead UnitedHealthcare CEO
Moderators delete Reddit thread as doctors torch dead UnitedHealthcare CEO
“When other’s human lives are deemed worthless, it is not surprising to have others view your life of no value as well,” wrote one medical doctor, whose identity the Daily Beast confirmed.
Summary
Reddit’s r/medicine moderators deleted a thread where doctors and users harshly criticized murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Comments, including satirical rejections of insurance claims for gunshot wounds, targeted UHC’s reputation for denying care to boost profits.
Despite the removal, similar discussions continue, with medical professionals condemning UHC’s business practices under Thompson’s leadership, which a Senate report recently criticized for denying post-acute care.
Thompson, shot in what appears to be a targeted attack, led a company notorious for its high claim denial rates, fueling ongoing debates about corporate ethics in healthcare.
It's kinda hilarious watching billionaire owned media try to suppress the fact that absolutely no one feels bad for the CEO. The same thing happened when some billionaires decided to visit the Titanic, and after the Trump assassination attempt. The memes afterwards were top notch
Everyone is so fed up with this country and the shit is this close 🤏🏼 to the fan
I'm still absolutely flabbergasted at how quickly we all moved on from Trump literally getting clipped in an attempt on his life.
They tried to muster some outrage and solidarity, but most of us just shrugged and went, "Damn. Oh well, maybe next time."
IIRC, the final verdict was that he smashed his ear on an agents holster. It wasn't a bullet or shards of teleprompter glass.
I both applaud the shooter for trying and am simultaneously pissed at him for not being a better shot.
Billionaires who own the means of production trying to own the means of communication as well.
When they can't, they'll own the government, and outlaw it.
It's like poetry.
Its also hilarious that lemmy.world admins/mods did the same thing with early threads about this yesterday, nuking individual comments celebrating Thompson's death and 24 hr instance wide banning the users that made those comments, then within 2 hrs they undid the bans, and by today seem to have just given up trying.
I mean it's pretty obvious most people are in favor of making yesterday a National Holiday. It's not like the more outspoken people were in the minority in their feelings.
Even the most vile MAGAs have probably been screwed over by insurance companies, or at the very least had to spend valuable hours of their life fighting for something they should have already had.
Taking a look at the recent modlog, as well as other comments around here, it looks like they're trying to find the right balance for what's okay and what has crossed the line.
There are an alarming number of comments that are actively encouraging murder and the amount of upvotes that even the worst of those comments receive is sickening.
The US mocked Trump for being shot at, then failed to keep him from being elected again.
Pretty good sign that people are not going to direct that anger towards actually fixing the problems.
My empathy for America was lost decades ago when literal children were gunned down in Sandy Hook.
We didn't collectively mourn as a nation and do anything. Instead, some went to defend guns. Others went to blame the victims, the parents who are literally holding their lifeless child in their hands.
Lol, I appreciate that final line in your comment. So many of us were that close back in 2020... Now things are slated to be worse, and I think I speak for at least millions of Americans when I say we are just fucking over it.
When we've tossed out any semblance of justice in our country at the highest levels, literally ruling that the president is immune from all prosecution (you know, like a fucking king), then asshole corpos that indirectly murder countless people getting gunned down doesn't exactly concern us. In fact, this sort of thing genuinely seems more just than what our highest courts are allowing.
Shit is fucked up in this country, and I don't think many of us want to pretend otherwise any longer. I'm not advocating violence, but I definitely don't think I'll lose sleep over this situation.
Royalty has forgotten that laws are the peaceful alternative to the guillotine. If you stop enforcing laws that protect the peasants what do you think is going to happen?
I'll quote something that I heard from someone earlier today. "I don't advocate violence, but I also can't pretend that justice was not served."
I think the only thing stopping people from posting even worse inflammatory shit about it is not wanting to show up on an FBI watchlist or something later on.
I disagree. I think it just hit it. Think about how shooters crave noteriaty. Think of how this assain is seen as a hero. No. This is just the beginning.
I think too many people saw this as a kind of justice that the courts have never and will never provide.
I don't advocate violence. I also don't think this has a different outcome.
I actually agree (with you.) This could be the start of a movement.
Hopefully this hero is protected and makes a clean escape. The response from law enforcement is disproportionate because it was a rich person that died instead of someone like us.
Remember, they wouldn't bat an eye if any of us were killed in this manner. It happens all the time and goes unsolved all the time because law enforcement primarily exists to protect rich people.
Nah dude, this shit finally hit the fan. Just wait. Terrorism works. Look at what bin Laden did to this country - is it not obvious to everyone alive before and after that he won? He wanted to destroy America and he did. What this was is an act of terrorism, and it’s going to work. Corrupt leaders all over the spectrum are getting nervous. Americans are armed to the teeth and pissed. It only takes a couple of lone wolves with intelligence and gun skills to do some major damage. And who doesn’t wanna be famous these days? I mean who doesn’t like this guy? I’d put him on the cover of time as person of the year. This is just the beginning of some very interesting times. I can’t believe it took this long.
And even more uplifting, this isn’t politically divisive. There isn’t going to be right vs left retribution over this. The entire political spectrum save for a few uppity pearl clutchers (mostly lib elites) are celebrating this.
School shootings are just a matter of course now, they're not even newsworthy anymore unless there's an Uvalde-level of utter incompetence involved. And even then, what happened? Nothing, nothing happened to the cowards who were complicit and accomplices to the murder of children by actively preventing people from around the killer. We're told to get over it.
So, you know, if I had to choose between school children being murdered as a matter of course and evil profiteers who revel and flourish on the pain and suffering of everyday people being murdered as a matter of course, I'd definitely chose the latter. I wouldn't then tell people to get over it, I'd tell people the system obviously need to be dismantled and rebuilt entirely.
My real preference would be that there are no evil profiteers who revel and flourish on the pain and suffering and that systems be functioning for the people in the first place, but unfortunately that's not an option.
One medical doctor, whose identity the Daily Beast confirmed, commented with sympathy for Thompson’s family and said the killer should be charged with murder, but then wondered about the damage the CEO had done.
“I cannot even guess how many person-years UHC has taken from patients and their families through denials,” they wrote. “It has to be on the order of millions. His death won’t make that better, but it’s hard for me to sympathize when so many people have suffered because of his company.”
“What has bothered me the most is people that put «fiduciary responsibility» (eg profits) above human lives, none more so than this company as run by him," wrote another medical doctor, who also spoke to the Daily Beast to confirm their identity. “When other’s human lives are deemed worthless, it is not surprising to have others view your life of no value as well.”
These doctors know what's up.
The level of greed is so much worse than any normal person understands. They do NOTHING. They aren't medical field professionals, they don't need to ever step foot in a hospital or clinic, they only inflate the cost, catastrophelicly with no insurrection, only horribly when you're with them, create endless loopholes to deny coverage with, and use non medical, non trained or consulted opinions and reasoning to justify it, and they are all too educated to not know full well they are lying to get out of paying any bill ever.
Denying someone with crippling medical issues access to treatment with lies and misinformation to shave one more sliver of profit for a parasitic middle man is so many orders of magnitude above evil it's breath taking.
Denying someone with crippling medical issues access to treatment with lies and misinformation to shave one more sliver of profit for a parasitic middle man is so many orders of magnitude above evil it's breath taking.
Well said. Really wish people understood this better and how utterly psychopathic and heartless the entire idea of "maximizing profits" in this context is.
Put another way - a for-profit insurance firm is a weird kind of company that does better when it refuses to provide what its customers pay for. It's not some surprising or counterintuitive result, it's baked into the business model, on purpose. That's deeply malignant just at a glance, and it's all we really need to know when deciding whether it should be involved with healthcare.
Greed is common throughout history. One might say it's human.
I disagree. The worst monsters wear human faces. At the top, you have the dragons with their hoards. The billionaires. The owner class. The ones who just accumulate. Then you have the dragon's monsters. They may well be far worse than the Dragons themselves, but the dragons just demand more, they don't care how. These monsters line up to take a bit of the hoard. The more they can deliver the dragons and their fellow monsters, the more they get themselves.
And what do the monsters do? They lie. They cheat. They swindle and con. They budge their way into things in the phrase of "efficiency" and "improvement."
I'm sure quite literally in many cases
As do the nurses
Rest in piss
"Rot in poverty" -UHC policy
I was reading an article that quoted his wife about what a great guy he was. It reminded me of Ken Lay's wife talking about her families liquidity problems after the Enron collapse. Hundreds of employees lost everything and she's griping about liquidity.
We had that last year in Ohio when Householder was sentanced to 20 years prison for his roll in the bribery scandal. He cried about hard that was going to be on his family and the judge told him "you should have thought about that before accepting those bribes."
Fuck that guy. The worst part, we're still paying for his fucking corrupt bullshit.
I saw one that had a different relative say he was an honest person and hard worker.
This honest person's company had $290 billion in insurance premium revenue in 2023 and they had $22 billion in profit. I always knew insurance was a grift but holy fuck.
And the company rewarded him with a $10 million compensation package in 2023. No living person works hard enough in a single year to earn multiple lifetime's of average worker wages.
Being honest and a hard worker could be used to describe a hit man. Working hard at something unethical isn't a virtue.
I saw one that had a different relative say he was an honest person and hard worker.
CEO
Which one was it now?!
He may have been nice in some ways. She probably just wasn't aware or chose not to think about the darker aspects of health insurance corporations and what it takes to make billions at the expense of people's health care.
Also people tend to whine when their gravy train runs out of gravy.
His wife is a physical therapist so she has an intimate understanding of the health care system. I'm sure it's turning a blind eye. The article I read described their home as a $1.5 million home in an exclusive Minneapolis suburb. She knew. Cognitive dissonance can be very powerful.
I'm sure he was a swell guy, a lot of fun at barbecues, dog lover and good with kids yada yada. Plenty of awful folks in history are like that. I hear Hitler was a fun guy who liked dogs and kids too.
..well not ALL kids but still
Ken Lay who tooooootally died before being sentenced and toooootally didn't disappear into a foreign country
I see that a lot with out-of-touch folks, boomers especially.
Lets be real, one of the primary motivators for a woman to be with and stay with a man is if he can provide adequately for her offspring. I'm sure he was doing a great job at that.
one of the primary motivators for a woman to be with and stay with a man
I think you meant "female" lol.
Okay, I'll bite. The reason women end up choosing to be with a man of means, and I am in no way saying that all or even most women want this, is because we often don't/didn't have the opportunity to gain those means ourselves which thereby impacted our ability to survive and control our own lives. This is due to the oppression of the very men that you think we seek. Over the course of thousands of years, men cultivated a world where they steadily sought, gained, and ever increasingly obtained as much power as possible. In order to gain more power for yourself or your group, you have to take away power from someone else.
One of the people or groups whose power was regularly stolen is women. I'm sure this was a slow transition over a long period of time, but it ended with a world where women were rarely allowed to gain the skills or implement what skills they had in order to earn money. If you don't have the ability to earn money yourself, you are forced to be reliant on someone else who is allowed to earn money. My point being, if you want enough money for you and your children to survive, you basically had to marry as rich as you possibly could.
Enter the modern women's rights movement. This is where financial freedom became incredibly important to women. We collectively realized that we, much like any other human beings in existence ever, wanted to be able to have some control of our lives, our families, and our fates. This is why we entered the workforce in droves. Women who were suffering under the control of men who beat them and their children, potentially raped them, or demeaned them regularly with the full acceptance and support of society, wanted a way out. The available options were pretty bleak, so we worked in solidarity to find another way to survive with both our physical safety and dignity intact. Now, as an obligatory caveat, not every man was/is oppressive to women. But, since men as a whole created these arbitrary restrictions on women's lives, they are the ones who have to suffer the aftermath of this system of control that was developed, especially since they are the ones who continue to experience advantages and benefits because of those exact lingering effects.
Most women would prefer to be able to support themselves and their family while having their partner contribute equally, either through earning money or doing an equivalent share of the household/family tasks. But, since something that becomes systemic is difficult to remove, we are still trying to shake the ramifications of this exertion of control. I assure you, most women would rather have less money and more autonomy when given the option.
This brings me to the point you're trying to make. If the "primary motivator" of a woman is to choose a man who can provide adequately for her offspring, it is only because of the lingering effects of historical oppression that men created in order to exert control over women. It's very frustrating to be in a world that constantly tells you that you should be pursuing a partner with money so you can have a stable future, but then simultaneously reprimands you for actually making that choice. Just as it's difficult, but required, to acquiesce to the control of the man who holds your money.
I don't think it should be presented as though this woman is shallow or terrible for making such a choice. Who wouldn't choose a life of stability over one of chaos or continual financial stress? I know many men who would make the same choice if offered it. Like you said, I'm sure he was doing a good job of providing for their family financially, but let's not be too reductive about her choice to have him as a partner. You say it in such a way that you are not only chastising her for her choice of husbands but are chastising all women for prioritizing their and their children's survival and safety. That is something that comes across as offensive to the entirety of my gender because it implies that we shouldn't consider ourselves of value or of having worth.
You may be right that this woman chose the CEO of UHC as her husband because of his wealth and ability to support their children and family lifestyle. Most likely, she knew what her husband actually did for a living and it's effect on the lives of others and chose to ignore or not look into the deaths, horrors, and financial destruction that were created by the company her husband controlled.
But, one way or another, let's not reduce the struggle that women go through at the hands of historical, and often modern, men to blanketly imply that we are all naturally money hungry and that we are obviously all using men for our own gain. I'm going to go ahead and assume that women, including myself, disagree with such an unfair assumption.
Corporate Ethics
My fucking sides.
Is that another word for Money?
Corporate ethics definitely exists. It's just really far away from your average person's idea of ethics.
Not a great decision from the moderators.
Hopefully, it encourages more platform attrition.
"We are paid by CEOs. Better side with them."
"You're just a moderator; you don't get paid at all!"
Happens on Lemmy too.
They made it clear site wide that you can’t support/celebrate this
I have been following the news about Brian Thompson's assassination in New York, and I am astounded by the flood of sympathy the media has poured out for him. Why? This man spent his entire career working tirelessly to deny healthcare to millions of Americans, all in the name of lining his own pockets and enriching shareholders. Yet the media praises him for his "kindness" and "generosity." Let me be clear: pushing your company's claim denial rate to nearly double that of your most cold-hearted competitors, bankrupting families through deceptive fine print and delay tactics, is not kindness, and it is not generosity. No, setting up boiler-room style offices with denial scoreboards is one of the most inhuman things I can imagine.
I spent nearly a decade writing software to help hospital systems fight insurance claim denials, and I can tell you, these insurers are getting better at it every year. They deny even the most justified claims, banking on the fact that most people won't have the energy, resources, or will to fight back. And for the majority, they’re right. We had a team of a dozen nurses and PAs working alongside twice as many analysts. These were people who knew the system inside and out. We knew the deadlines, the bureaucratic jargon, the documentation required, and we tracked every claim meticulously. But even armed with all that knowledge and experience, we couldn’t win them all. On a good month, we might win two-thirds of the denials. That was considered a success.
What’s even worse is that for every claim we fought, there were countless others that never even made it that far, we only got denials on services that actually happened. A patient’s doctor tells them they need surgery, but an insurer like UnitedHealth says no and that’s it. The patient gives up and it is difficult to imagine they get better.
If you've ever had a serious medical condition—and I pray you haven't—you know how much it drains you, how it strips you of your will to do anything. When every moment is agony, you don’t have the strength to sit on hold for hours, fill out endless forms, or chase down a bureaucratic system designed to wear you down. All you want is to sleep, because that's the only place that pain can't find you. How many people have simply lacked the strength to fight back, and ultimately succumbed to their conditions? How many families have been driven into poverty, their lives torn apart by a single emergency, all because of these executives’ policies?
We all know someone who has been through a health insurance nightmare and we also know that while political changes could probably help this problem the reality now is that these people are making a choice to run their companies this way, knowing full well the impact of their greed and indifference.
Where are your tears, your headlines, for the thousands of people and families whose lives have been destroyed and whose loved ones have died because of these same executives?
I spent 37.5 hours (I document EVERYTHING) on hold with Wellcare trying to get them to pay for Narcolepsy medication I've been on since 2021... "Has the patient tried this ADHD medication, as an alternate?" "No. I prescribed my patient the only FDA approved medication, in the United States that treats Narcolepsy and Cataplexy, and she needs to stay on it". Luckily my doctor is wonderful.
It's draining, but I've learned that the trick is to tell each of the outsourced customer service reps that you have no problem staying on hold for however long it takes. I'm disabled and have that ability. My partner works from home, so I do the same for their Blue Cross. When the insurance companies realize you're willing to fill out ALL their paperwork, appeal higher and higher up, so that well-paid people get involved, clog their phone lines, and keep documenting every step of the way, they'll give you what you want... but it is a full time job. 😮💨
Why?
Of course that's a rhetorical question, but media has all been bought and paid for by corpos. The same corpos that now realize their lives can be easily deleted for all the evil shitty things they do, so of course all the corpo media is going to be unnecessarily biased to the positive for one of their own.
It's accurate proof that the corpo media needs to be ignored in general if it hasn't been obvious so far.
America needs real journalism, now more than ever. Sadly, it will probably be underground.
I’m with you.
Never have I needed to work so hard to advocate for myself to get the care I needed as when I was with UHC.
By comparison, this year has held two major surgeries for me, neither expected, and my current insurer just shrugged, asked ONCE for proof of medical necessity, and paid the bill.
Also, let’s not forget the breach at a UHC subsidiary in recent months that brought down pharma payment systems for weeks…
I have been following the news about Brian Thompson’s assassination in New York, and I am astounded by the flood of sympathy the media has poured out for him. Why?
Who do you think owns the media? Who's interests do they try to serve? It is not surprising at all that they would sympathize with him. We're not talking some punk zine put out by some gritty journalist. These are highly consolidated corporate news outlets, many of whom have boards of directors that share some strong similarity to UHC. It's profoundly unsurprising to me that they would sympathize with him, as they are a lot closer to a multi-million dollar CEO than your average Joe that gets their claims denied.
Insurance is irrelevant to the people that own and control much of our mass media, because they can easily pay out of pocket for any problems they have. All they see during this shooting is one of their own gunned down for "no reason".
This reminds me of Grisham's The Rainmaker
This is a really uncomfortable situation for me as a user and made me want to use Lemmy even more
I, for one, pray to be alive for the day that the French Revolution comes back to life and makes meaningful landfall on American shores.
This might just be the start!
At least one of the mods here was going heavy censorship in the initial thread here yesterday. I get it, we aren't supposed to celebrate the death or suffering of other human beings. I'm not sure that rule applied to this individual though.
Who says we're not supposed to celebrate when an asshole dies? We celebrated for Hitler and Kissinger
Don't self censor. Fuck the mods that censor us celebrating assholes who die by documenting the truth of the harm they've done on Earth
Every time I'm reminded Kissinger is dead my black, shriveled heart glows a little
Who says we’re not supposed to celebrate when an asshole dies? We celebrated for Hitler and Kissinger
I'd be more nuanced. I don't mind him being dead, but I don't celebrate it either, because it took out the public-display figure instead of the people (shareholders) that actually cause the practices.
CEOs and billionaires get their human status revoked, so the rule doesn't apply.
They don't get it revoked. They give it up when they forsake everyone else's wellbeing for the all-mighty dollar.
People always forget the second part of that rule.
We shouldn't celebrate the death or suffering of other human beings........ Unless that human being is a billionaire.
Don't like people celebrating your suffering? Give up your wealth. Easy as.
Anyone that doesn't want themselces to experience the event of "winning capitalism," and them dying should donate every single penny of their wealth over, and I'm being generous here, $100,000,000 to The Sovereign Fund for Humanity's Poor, and ensure that they are always below the $100,000,000 threshold each quarter. Anything less is admitting that you want to be a charicature of a dragon. Dragons don't amass more than $1,200,000,000 in wealth in any of High Fantasy. Other than Smaug. He might have hoarded as much as $5,000,000,000 to $10,000,000,000 in gold, and he's literally the only outlier in all of High Fantasy.
Shadowrun isn't high fantasy, that is Science Fantasy, just like Star Wars.
It's ok. They're not human.
They're parasites. And should be [redacted]
It still should. The paradox of tolerance just means you have to not tolerate the intolerant, not actively mock them. I mean sometimes that can be fun, but let's be honest, they even took out the wrong guy (they'll just get a new CEO who'll hardline the stance even more and waste money on a ton of bodyguards, hopefully at least Gaddafi-style). Should have gone after the shareholders, that'll really hurt the business model after all. The CEO is just a representative figure who puts his name under decisions that are 99,5% not driven by him.
Was is still the correct choice to take him out because he is a billionaire and a murderous asshole? I'll say no, because I don't believe in death penalty on account of it being too lenient. Should have thrown him down a well and let him starve slowly, or at least delivered death by immurement or something. Something slow, ideally decades slow. But that's besides the point, overall he also deserves fuck all sympathy because he was still a) a billionaire and b) the CEO of one of the most cruel companies around, rivaling black ops stuff and far outdoing them in the lives lost to their practices.
Speaking of the pradoxof tolerance, Karl Popper realized that intolerance often involves violence.
I, for one would argue that health insurance denying claims arbitrarily asserts violence in some way - even worse to especially vulnerable people.So how do you imagine not tolerating this kind of intolerance?
Writing stern letters and emails? That seems to have happened.
Starting a legal battle that might be decided in your favour after you've died from not receiving health care due to denied claims?
What would you suggest?Popper also draws attention to the fact that intolerance is often asserted through the use of violence [...]
Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance#Proposed_solutions
Remember if you see this guy... I mean.... No you didn't. No officer I didn't see him at all....
Edit Addendum: Deny. Defend. Depose.
From a mod of /r/medicine:
People - Please don't make the life of your mods a living hell.
Anything that is celebrating violence is going to get taken down - if not from us, then from reddit. I think all the mods understand that there is a high level of frustration and antipathy towards insurance and insurance execs, but we also understand that murdering people in the streets is not good.
We are a public group of medical professionals, we still need to act like that.
And on a practical note, this man did not create or control the fucked up insurance industry by himself. Other people will take his place and continue to do what he was doing. It's a systemic issue.
Other people will take his place and continue to do what he was doing. It's a systemic issue.
The issue will stay systematic if we dont hold the people who make the decisions in the system accountable. The CEOs decisions directly impacted people, thats not a system thats his choice. Poverty is systematic too, but when a poor person does a crime they have to suffer the consequences of it. God forbid rich criminals see consequences. Mods seem to be arguing he had no agency in his choices which is a lie especially if you compare him to other insurance CEOs
The CEO is obligated to deliver profits to the board and shareholders. If they approve everything they go out of business. I'm not defending them, but they are a for profit, capitalist business. They lack empathy fundamentally.
Healthcare should not be a for profit venture, and it's the government to blame for that.
I'm not saying this guy was clean, but he's just a cog in a fancy suit with a big paycheck.
And on a practical note, this man did not create or control the fucked up insurance industry by himself. Other people will take his place and continue to do what he was doing. It’s a systemic issue.
No, but he certainly profited of it, and made it worse for people who had the misfortune of being trapped with united.
Fuck him, and fuck that hangwringing excuse bullshit. Maybe it wont be so systemic if more heads continue to be popped.
And on a practical note, this man did not create or control the fucked up insurance industry by himself. Other people will take his place and continue to do what he was doing. It’s a systemic issue.
Sure he did. It may have only been one subsection of it, but he absolutely had blood on his hands for his decisions. You don't get to run an insurance company with one of the highest denial rates out there and not have culpability.
And even if somebody else steps up and doesn't fix it, that doesn't absolve him of the blood on his hands.
I don't see why they wouldn't just let the reddit Admins deal with it, honestly. they're unpaid workers, let the paid managers step in if they must.
they're scared of losing their tiny amount of power
Ikr?
Oh you're struggling? Lock the sub until the heat dies down, it ain't rocket science 🤷♂️
Other people will take his place and continue to do what he was doing.
Bullets outnumber CEOs, and guillotines can be resharpened
I'm pretty sure they're just purging the Ai training data to keep Gemini from suggesting capping a corpo when they won't pay for grandma's nausea medication during her chemo.
"Hey Gemini, my health insurance company has denied my claim, what are my next steps?"
I am sorry to hear you are struggling with your health insurance claim. According to Reddit[1], the best way to appeal your claim is to access the Wayback Machine or Archive Today to find out who the executives are for your insurance company and communicate with them directly about the seriousness and validity of your claim.
Here are some effective communication tips to ensure the success of your appeal:
- Volume matters - use subsonic ammunition and a suppressor. You don't want to disturb your neighbors when pleading your claim.
- Practice makes perfect - you may need to hand cycle the spent rounds. Unless tuned, the gas blow back won't be enough to eject and then chamber another round.
- Go eco - e-bikes help the planet. In a traffic packed city, e-bikes provide a great opportunity to reduce pollution.
Other people will take his place and continue to do what he was doing.
Not if this sort of thing keeps happening to them.
Maybe scaring the insurance industry ghouls to change their ways by radical actions is a systemic solution?
I'm like, oh other people will take his place? Okay, can we get those other people's names, address, and daily itinerary? Asking for a friend.
And on a practical note, this man did not create or control the fucked up insurance industry by himself. Other people will take his place and continue to do what he was doing. It’s a systemic issue.
Yeah, but he led the company that had the highest rate of coverage denial ao he was the absolute worst one in the entire industry.
And shit on the mods, cancer to all of them
Death is always tragic.... I don't care if the guy is a billionaire or not, he or she had family.
I would however agree that having such wealth is clearly perverse and clearly done at the expense of others. You don't get that rich by being kind hearted and generous....
In any case, if you become CEO of a business that has sloppy morals and essentially encourage parasitic behavior.... Don't expect to be loved... Or surprised that you may get shot....
It's like being the CEO of Blackwater.... No one that has clean hands takes that position....
No one becomes a CEO by accident, it was a choice and ambition to become that level of scum...
Now imagine if companies could only give a maximum of around 2000$
I wonder how that would change the landscape of American politics
I feel actions of CEOs and execs undo any empathy they deserve. Hitler had a wife he was loyal to, he was vegetarian as he was sympathetic towards animals and apparently was generous to those around him, but he DOES NOT deserve any empathy.
The damage they caused warrants them zero sympathy. Millions of Americans die due to lack of coverage.
Just my personal take.
The one big difference I can think of is that Hitler's death did something. This guy here, he's a CEO. Was it morally acceptable for him to die? Sure, he caused thousands and thousands of deaths by his company leadership, after all. I'd prefer something else, but I won't miss him, either.. But sadly it only frees up a marginal portion of their wealth, and that wealth just goes to other rich assholes.
To take down the corrupt part, you have to get rid of the shareholders and moneygivers, which sadly are quite a few.
eh, a CEOs family has made their peace with the blood money. like most of us would never even consider marrying someone who is blatantly responsible for thousands of not millions if deaths. so I cant feel sympathy for a partner. I could feel sympathy for young kids, but the guy was 50, so it's fair to assume any kids are at least 18, at which age you either cut contact with a parasite like that or become similar. I guess I just have a hard time feeling sympathy for people who are set for life off of the suffering of others and have never spoken up, attempted to change anything, or just left
edit: typos
It's okay to feel two things. I feel bad that something tragic happened, but also good that it couldn't have happened to a worse person. I don't know anything about his kids and I don't want to. I hope his kids leave the spotlight and have a happy, peaceful life. Of course if they choose to follow in their fathers footsteps deals off, but if they just choose to live quiet, small lives like the rest of us they should be given peace.
Social contract is broken. We're back to kings and peasants.
More heads will roll and I say good ridence!
Someone being invaded in Ukraine or someone in Gaza being bombed, I feel for them, they did nothing to deserve this. But people like him? Bottom on my care list.
Criminals on death row likely had more soul than those taking advantage of millions. French got it figured out... We should be more like French.
It can both be sad for his family in a way that everyone can recognise, and also not sad in the slightest, at the same time.
Pretty much my feelings. I won't celebrate violence and death, but I'm not gonna pretend that the world isn't a LOT better off without him. Or that there's some really funny takes floating around out there.
I agree, he was not a positive contribution to our world. But I cannot condone killing as it doesn't improve the system. These people just get replaced, there is a reason they are in power it's because they have contingencies...
You're right, he did have a family. And when you think about it, his family also benefited from him killing thousands of people. Hmm...
I would also think that Americans should take a hard look at themselves as a lot of where you are is based on decisions that have been taken in the name of freedom.
I was told that in Colorado that its incredible that my wife had 12 months of paid leave and our insurance covers most of our cost (Québec Canada) and my view is that most Canadians accept to pay a higher tax to get a service in return. There is an acceptance that your neighbor should be as successful as you and even more as it benefits the society that you live in.
On the flip side you can have a self centered culture in which no one looks out for anyone else and only make sure their tummy is well rubbed. If to you freedom is had by not paying taxes well then, your doing big corporations a favor....
I understand that there are portions of politics you cannot influence but the United States of America has an incredibly strong constitution and political institution that was made for the people. You have so many rights that other countries simy do not have. Instead of dividing yourselves, you should be uniting yourself, Rep and Dem for common causes that you can agree with.
Everyone wants a cheaper health care and want their kids to have the same opportunities. You just need to ignore the extremist on both sides who are still the minorities. We just hear them because they hold the media's attention instead of the average American.
It is for you, as American to use those tools that hVe been given to you and unite and fight the mainstream media to stop showing false narrative from both sides of the spectrum. Start meeting your political representatives and let them know that you are watching and following them and will hold them accountable. Things will. Never change if you do not fight with all five of your fingers to make a fist....
Why is his death tragic? Is Hitler's death tragic? If not where is your line?
I lost my twin brother to cancer almost 15 years ago, it still hurts to speak about it today.
Even after having two children, that pain that I have in my heart will never heal and that glimmer in my parents eyes can never fully be alight as it once was. They love my children and are fully motivated by them but the pain never goes away.
As a Canadian citizen, everything was done so that we didn't have to pay for it, his chemo was covered at 95% and so we were blessed. I wish I could have a target to say my brother died because of this person or something tangible I could strangle or yell at but the reality is, it doesn't make each morning any easier to wake up in a world without my twin brother.
All those jokes we shared for years are now gone and only remembered by those that are close to me but never fully understood. He alone knew me better than anyone else and cancer robbed me of that. Such is the tragedy of death, we may scream victory one day but with time, we lose the enemy that we hated and only have ourselves to speak to as that person we hated is now gone.
That is why death is tragic, it is irreversible
I also had a father. Only mine was taken from me by this healthcare system. Fuck this guy. Fuck his family. Their lavish lifestyle is fueled by denying people like my father care. Fuck them and anyone who licks their boots.
Fair enough, there isn't much more to add to what you said.... It's a disgusting system.
I don't care about his family because his family expects my family to serve them.
Fuck that.
I made a large collection of screenshots from Facebook of people who had their claims denied by United Healthcare today if you want to really see how bad it is.
"...fueling ongoing debates about corporate ethics in healthcare."
Don't make me fucking laugh 'corporate ethics'
Corporate ethics are centered around not getting bad press. Now that the press is controlled and for sale to whoever wants to pay for an outcome, we dont need corporate ethics anymore. Its ancient history.
Absence of ethics is still on the spectrum of ethics.
There is such a thing as a non profit corporation
We need corporations. We just need to outlaw the for profit ones.
We need corporations.
I'm sure many people think the same about religion, or kings and queens
That's gonna Streisand Effect like crazy.
If Reddit mods (or lemmy mods for that matter) are overwhelmed by the workload of a thread, they should lock it, and clean it up. not delete it!
Half of the Reddit mods only act if it serves their fascist (or occasionally ancap) agenda. There needs to be a way for users to get rid of mods, both on Reddit and on Lemmy, because too many volunteer mods don't act in good faith (at least on Reddit-- for me, it hasn't been that bad so far on Lemmy).
Unfortunately the only actual requirement to be a mod is to be extremely active on the boards themselves. The loudest people aren't always the brightest, and they dont have time to reason things out in this format.
I once made a reddit comment in anger that was most certainly over the line. I don't remember the context, but someone had my blood boiling quite badly, which I voiced by wishing pain on them. However, it was a support-oriented community, and my outburst was definitely not tone-appropriate for that environment - the last thing people seeking support need is a graphic description of pain. I got a two-day (I think?) temp ban from that sub, citing that reason. First I was pissed, then reflected, acknowledged my error and didn't repeat that mistake.
In hindsight, I think that makes for a good moderation approach:
Lock an escalating thread, clean out comments that cross the line, hand out brief temporary bans to particularly excessive offenders or those continuing their venting spree in other threads after the first one was locked, give them an opportunity to step back and reflect.
Of course, there's still the question of "what do the mods consider excessive?" But that's a question you'd have either way.
Lemmy seems to have done the same. At least .world, I dunno about other instances, but I'm looking for a new community.
Dbzer0. There's a reason it's become the central location calling out abuse of power on the fediverse
They do often go far past the mark though. Feels very libertarian over there sometimes.
Lots of mods on lemmy.world are assholes that dont know how to do their job
They know how. They just have an agenda and serve that rather than doing their job.
Sh.itjust.works is pretty nice.
I came here to post, not that anyone cares, that this is the straw that broke this pathetic camel's back for me with Lemmy. The limited user base and incredibly reduce quality and quantity, clunky tech...I was willing and happy to bear it all thinking I was getting out from under the thumb of fucking corporate censorship and bullshit mod oversimplification. Instead the locked the News thread on the assassination https://lemmy.world/post/22761236 and deleted my comment that said "can't imagine why" without explanation, ostensibly as it "encouraged or celebrated violence"(https://lemmy.world/comment/13794258).
I provided a response and then they locked the thread. If we can't even have a discussion about the world why the fuck would I be on fucking Lemmy instead of another shite censored, billionaire-owned platform that at least has user & content depth?
1.5 years, 1300 comments, fuck Lemmy.world and the mod @JonsJava who understands his position in facilitating respectful dialogue that conform to rules to be "overbroadly apply them and pretend it's something that needs censoring so I can get my jollies" and then say "I don't have time to deal with this" when you get blowback and lock a thread with tons of engagement. LOL talk about shooting yourself in the foot Lemmy.
I'm debating on lemm.ee or sh.itjust.works or however you spell the second
let me know if you find a good one (good chance it won't federate with .world)
I heard good things about lemmus.org
Join me on BlueSky. It's reached critical mass. It's great.
Bluesky is just as corporately owned as Facebook. Why the fuck would anyone join another corporate controlled Twitter alternative?
join lemmy.ml, the politics here are way more sane
I will have to agree to disagree. I'm not interested in joining an authoritarian instance, which .ml is.
I haven't really had any good experiences with ml and politics.
ah yes nothing says sane politics like fascism and censorship
Ah yes, the epicenter of sanity is the tankie circlejerk
LOL
I was kinda disappointed I couldn't find anything with .ml when all the .world mod drama was going on. Plenty of meme's but nothing in the news and politics communities when I checked at the time.
Fuck censorship.
I just got banned on r/technology because someone was ranting about Trump in a tech sub, completely unrelated to the topic, and I said "Rent. Free." and the mods immediately permbanned me. It's amazing how little it takes.
At risk of being berrated by fediverse purists, ive actually been having the best discussions around this on bluesky of all places.
Reddit has had entertaining, informative, and thoroughly enjoyable discussions in this event. It's nice to see.
I'll confess I still go to reddit but I've purged all news and politics from my account there and if anything I'm trying to distance myself more from these things without not being informed. I'm not succeeding yet, but im trying XD
Addressed to an unnamed applicant—following “a careful review of the claim submitted for emergency services on December 4, 2024″—it informs them they are being rejected for coverage because “you failed to obtain prior authorization before seeking care for the gunshot wound to your chest.” “If you would like to appeal the fatal gunshot, please call 1-800-555-1234 with case # 123456789P to initiate a peer to peer within 48 hours of the fatal gun shot,” wrote one user.
Does this sound LLM generated to anyone else? I mean I've seen other LLM generated articles summarizing top Reddit posts, and this reads a lot like that.
standard fill-in-the-blank forms, auto-filled in by the computer. could even be something automatically sent on all new incoming claims.
Reddit is a piece of shit platform, people who use it deserve the poor treatment they sign up for
Earth is a shit platform. How do I unsubscribe?!
Just be a CEO of a large corrupt corporation and someone will be along shortly to process your request.
Easy, just start a new instance and leave this one.
Oh don't worry, earth will handle that for us.
Deemed unprofitable...
Fuck Reddit and the life is cheap US healthcare system.
Is it hypocritical that the "suits" in the LinkedIn posts using the "laugh" emoji are probably some of the same ones making decisions as to which minimum of health care they can get by with to least impact the bottom line of their company? How much cost should be pushed to the employee? The ones that fire an ill employee for missing too much work?
It isn't just scammer CEO's that are worried.
Even if they do manage to catch the guy that did it, good luck finding a jury that'll convict him.
Even threads here on Lemmy got locked.
If you're a moderator that locks threads: fuck you and stop abusing your power.
here on Lemmy
Is there really a "here on Lemmy" though? The main point of Lemmy is that it's decentralized, so if you don't like how a moderator on one server moderates, you can use a different one.
Unfortunately there's too many very large instances, which isn't ideal for a decentralized service since you end up with some of the downsides of a centralized one.
Relax different communities and servers want to have different styles of moderation. That is good.
I think he should have and we shouldn't be afraid to praise him for it.
Rich people and the culture they perpetuate results in way more death and suffering than we give them credit for. It's about time they get a little bit of payback for the generations of woe they benefit from.
Remember, they expect our children to serve their children. Fuck that shit.
Inb4 comment removed by moderators
Well to be fair when someone speaks in such a polite manner I tend to assume the worst of them.
As a French Canadian I do not support capitalism in its current form. I think we need to abandon our capitalist roots and create a new hybrid system which makes it more balanced but also, I would say I am. Living in a country where corporations don't have as much power. You are right, I am not an American so I haven't live what you have however I know that it's current system is bull.
As a personal note I have always supported Bernie Sanders however there is a huge portion of Americans who chose to close their eyes one hat is going on. I tend to follow the George Carlin philosophy to doubt my leaders good intentions while also taking personal responsibilities for the leader we have.
It's very easy to say that politics is shit but hard to actual do something about it.
How many time has Senator Sanders been rejected and yet he still comes back and I respect him for that, always will be user he is the type of leader America needs if the democratic party wasn't as broken.... I don't care for the republicans either as they have become a religious cult......
Anyway, sorry if I became personal, it was not justified. All the best to you and your family. Quebec and Vermont have always shared similar vakurdt
Pussies.
Lol of I was with that CEO in the trolley I would have probably pushed him off a long time ago, sticks or not....
I do believe that billionaires are evidence of abuse to the extreme.
I do not see the difference between a billionaire and a slave owner because in actuality as most people have said previously, they have gained their wealth through the suffering of others.
I wish the government would tax them for at least a fifth of there salary considering no one needs a billion dollar to live, it's pure fantasy
And yet, for someone who is so enlightened you lash out and name call me instead of actually debating with me.
That is on you, I did not personally attack you until you did.
That is as far as I well go on this discussion.
Best of luck
Meddit is pretty high quality so it doesn't surprise me. They don't like too much shit posting by people without flair.
Good choice by the mods to lock that first thread.
Life is short and filled with potential that sometimes met and other times robbed.
Having lost many members of my family, I don't wish it on others.
Edit--------
So I would suggest that anyone actually learn to read what is written. It's like taking to 5 year old that jump to conclusions..... Seriously people, I don't care about this Billionaire, I won't be someone who will sya that murder is good and let's purge all rich people. That is not constructive and I value life, not death. So many of you suffered from health insurance but when you come to vote you vote like most Americans do, not in my backyard. I don't want socialism, governments not coming to take my money or guns....
No offence but private health care didn't happen over night. You live in one of the greatest democratic institutions but simy chose not to use your tools. That is why corruption runs amok, none of you want to stand up and unite yourself with other Americans because you are all so bloody individualist. All other countries with universal healthcare didn't just get it by miracle, it was work and commitment to the greater good which means not getting into hissy fights for every little thing.
How about listening to George Carlin to. Illuminate your minds... Seriously America, everyone in the world has been telling you that you have a problem, stop gaslighting us.
And yet he not only wished it, but CAUSED it, for thousands upon thousands in the name of shareholder profits.
Life is short and filled with potential that sometimes met and other times robbed.
Having lost many members of my family, I don't wish it on others.
Surely you're talking about the people who died due to a lack of coverage or denied claims, right?
...oh.
Both mate, I don't glorify murderers.
I try to stay consistent on that principle. The CEO of Health United deserved it, but that regardless of the fact that vigilante murder is illegal for a good reason.
And it should equally be illegal for United Health to commit these atrocities they are doing...
Where are the millions of Americans in the street yelling for justice!? This is the problem when your society favor individualism to the extreme.
Hell you can see people walk in the streets of New York while a homeless person is unconscious and what do people say? It's not my problem, someone else should call the cops...
I would also strong recommend people listen TO George Carlin speaking about how Politicians suck.... Well guess what maybe it's the people voting for them that suck because these politicians are not aliens. They are Americans...
So you're insured with Blue Cross?
In Canada yes, but then again my taxes pay for my health care and also there are rules for insurance that are different because we are evil socialist based on most Americans... 🙄
OH FUCK RIGHT OFF. “We don’t use our institutions” no moron, our institutions are designed to be a facade of representative democracy when in reality any type of progressive pushback against our healthcare system gets tanked intentionally by well placed spoilers such as joe Lieberman.
They made peaceful change impossible so violence is what they’re getting and what they fucking DESERVE. They’re committing social murder and profiting!! off of it living lavish lives of luxury while my family suffers - I lost my dad and my house. These people deserve to die.
We tried the nice way. Now it’s time they find out what the second amendment really stands for. Bunch of fucking tyrants and pearl clutching bootlickers carrying the water for them. Do better.
I find some comments here disturbing. The man may have been not the best example of ethical behavior, but he is still a murder victim with a family who will no doubt miss him. No one deserves to be shot in the back on a city street. If that was true, it's not long until your number comes up.
The internet is full of false bravado, and few morals.
I have no sympathy for people who are responsible for and profit from killing people. All the people who died preventable deaths because insurance wouldn't pay to save their lives had family too. I'm not about to go out and shoot people but I'll damn well cheer for someone killing an evil bastard.
The man was a mass murderer. But because he wore a suit and did it from an office it was OK. If a gunman put down any other mass murderer noone would complain.
I agree, but seeing someone committing that crime for personal retribution and/or as a symbolic gesture in this literally crippling, nightmarish private health insurance hell, all I can muster is, "This is perfectly normal in this moment." This rant isn't specifically directed at you, but just to elaborate:
He probably is a very nice person when you talk to him, and he is probably a caring husband and father. He probably has complex ways of resolving the cognitive dissonance between who he felt he was and what UHC is doing. But it's hard to deny he was in a position with decision-making power to make millions of lives substantially better or worse, to enable or disable the worst excesses of private insurance, and the buck stops there if anywhere. This chart has made the rounds including on Lemmy, showing a 32% denial rate for claims, which is astounding.
Frankly, we all have had so many moments with health insurance where we're basically told they cannot help us, given arcane and pretextual reasons, and given a silent ultimatum of "you want us to honor our agreement? Make us." Then we waste so many unpaid hours of our dwindling or nonexistent free time creating paperwork pointing out the obvious injustice, and eventually they may honor a claim without admitting fault or changing their practice. Mostly they probably just ignore us and we go away, or respond with the same Kafka-esque administrative slop until we can't eat any more. It was built that way, and who but the CEO is responsible?
This is not a situation entirely created by him, but most of us are collectively cooking on a stove and none of us have access to the controls. He did, and he turned up the temperature. Not at all surprising, and it's very hard to have sympathy for him. I have plenty of sympathy for his kids.
He's a merchant of death. Just like a weapons dealer. Possibly even worse, because his company has the power to prevent suffering, and explicitly chooses not to. Morally, I'd say that is worse than selling weapons.
They deny claims at twice the industry average, so clearly they don't need to, they choose to. There is zero chance he was unaware how many denials his company was sending out, and the only way a rate double his competition could be achieved was by purposely denying things that should be covered.
Extrajudicial killings are of course not good, but I don't really care about objectively bad people getting what's coming to them.
This was front side of a city street if that makes you feel any better. Pretty sure his family can dry their tears with their millions in inheritance achieved through their sweet daddykins turning so many other children who will grow up a fuckton less well off into orphans.
Or Alex Jones goes on a podcast to call her a crisis actor.
I find some comments here disturbing.
He wasn't declared dead by the ICC, so he's still alive.
I also believe, that if given the chance to work for the same paycheck, lots of loud lemmings would hush up about their position real quick. Money corrupts