UPDATE:A person-of-interest was arrested on December 9th (link at the end).

…and he died.

He was murdered in midtown Manhattan. Assasinated.

The killer is at large, and social media is rife with the video and alarming commentary. The commentary ranges from venting to indifference, and worse as there have also been gross celebrations of this tragic event.

I don’t agree with the dark responses, but I also cannot ignore that claim denials by health insurance companies may have been a factor inspiring this: reporting on the scene states that the words “delay” and “deny” were written on the bullet casings. That would be a clear reference to this book. It doesn’t justify what this murderer did at all, but also two terrible things can be true at the same time: this was cold blooded murder, and some activities health insurance companies engage in delaying and denyingn claims which results in disease-progression and death.

Claim denials were a fact of life for Insurance the past 30-50 years, but they only increased since the ACA became law in 2010. While the ACA ultimately failed in many areas, one big change was that Insurance companies could not deny or cancel coverage due to pre-existing conditions. So when they could no longer deny coverage, health insurance companies simply began denying claims at higher scale. The claim-denial infrastructure (now AI-driven in some insurance companies) that has arisen after Obamacare is massisve. Cutting costs is a mainstay of how companies must function, and how health insurance companies survive under our broken healthcare system in the US. It just cannot be ignored that, after ACA, healthcare companies have become more creative in the pressure to remain profitable.

I recall in 2010, a lifetime ago, insurance companies lobbied to convince Americans that socialized health care meant government “death panels” that would decide who gets treatment: in 2024, our claims-denial crisis is doing that very thing. Irony. But instead of government “death panels” it’s the insurance claims processor or an AI ruling on who gets treatment, and who doesn’t.

None of the above justifies happened this past week. By pointing out the reality of our dysfunctional health insurance system I just think it deserves thought, and merits discussion, while the authorities pursue the murderer. In observing our world as it exists, in reality, maybe it’s worth discussing a healthcare system that has actually gotten worse in the past decade…when we were told by so many politicians that getting better.

I hope they catch and punish the killer. It was an evil, horrific act. So was hearing about acts of health insurance companies and our claim-denial mini-industry, shoved into the spotlight this week. Two terrible things can be horrific, at the same time.

UPDATE:A person-of-interest was arrested on December 9th.