After UnitedHealthcare CEO Killing, Doctors Speak Out | WSJ

After the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, physicians offer a sober look at frustrations with the healthcare system in the U.S.

WSJ’s Anna Wilde Mathews walks through the findings of a Journal investigation exposing how private insurance companies collected billions in payments through Medicare Advantage programs.

Chapters:
0:00 Anger towards health insurance companies
0:43 Denials of care and pre-authorizations
1:49 How doctors and patients are affected
2:48 Medicare Advantage, explained
4:15 Insurance-driven diagnoses
5:11 How insurance companies see themselves

#UnitedHealth #Healthcare #WSJ

[DarkcIoud.]

If a doctor says you need a test or a medication and insurance companies are saying you don't, they are basically making medical decisions without a license.

[TwicebakedJake]

The problem is that the insurance company's goals don't align with yours. You dying before getting coverage is a huge win for them. They literally do not want you to live.

[amandacollyer]

I had no idea how bad it was until my brother was paralyzed in an accident. Surgeon, Internal MD, RNs, PT and OT were all involved in multiple calls / meetings with insurance for months to get him a WHEELCHAIR

[Macckk]

My mom died because she was denied seeing a gynecologist. She had suspicion that she had cancer and it was diagnosed at stage three cervical cancer. We had $20k of medical debt. I hope things change for the better. Medical negligence is far too common. I miss her everyday!

[amarug]

As a Swiss this sounds like a black mirror episode. Here everyone gets all the care that is necessary. Privates just have more choices about the hospital, single rooms etc. But it's never a question about suffering from a condition that needs care.

[YouCanCallMeReTro]

Prior authorization made me waste months of time spent every day in agony waiting for approval for a 30-minute treatment.

[anh]

Pharmacist here. The amount of Prior Auths we have to send to Dr's offices is ridiculous nowadays. Why does the Doctor who went through all that education and training need to explain to an insurance company why they have to be on a life-saving medication?! Their diagnosis should be enough. DELAY and DENY is right. Drug companies and therefore the FDA is most definitely in cahoots with these ins. companies.

[sw]

Profiting off of people’s illness. These people need to wake up! We are sick of insurance companies denying what we pay for!

[CanterlotCrusader]

I knew it was bad, but I had no idea that it wasn't always this bad. To hear that doctors didn't have this level of issue even ten years ago is shocking, really putting into perspective how low standards have become where everyone knows our Healthcare system is terrible and corrupt, but no idea how low it goes because it keeps getting worse every day.

[kenthompson]

Since they cannot act ethically, get rid of private health insurance companies. Outlaw the whole concept of for-profit health insurance.

[AlexanderLHawkins]

Insurance companies seeing themselves as the ones keeping down costs while PROFITING billions is absolutely unreal.

[foxylovelace]

Finally some real journalism that isn't sucking up to corporate interests.

[ishacodeh]

Im a small non emergent transport provider that got played by UHC here in CA. During the state of emergency they reached out to us begging and promising to pay for services rendered because of ambulance exhaustion but never came through. The ballpark figure is along the line of 80k taking a person to dialysis 3 times a week at 4AM for a very long time… since then ive fallen into a financial crisis and have become frustrated. Again im not a huge corporation. Im a small family business. It was literally me and my 55 year old dad doing this. What a shame. This is actually the second time we got ripped off by a third-party for profit business that is entrusted by medicare/caid to take care of people but pockets millions.

[amatoyoichi]

Killing people is bad. But dude killed a demon.

[donjosegomburza]

The biggest issue is that the USA politicians are in cohort with health care insurance companies.

[DrShonTV]

I started my dental practice in 2023 and initially accepted all insurances, including Medicaid and Medicare. However, within two months, I had to stop accepting Medicaid and Medicare due to the excessive paperwork, claims that had to be mailed, and the extremely low reimbursement rates—sometimes lower than the price of a cheeseburger.

To make matters worse, I was denied thousands of dollars in payments, and the insurance companies outright refused to pay. I faced similar issues across all insurance providers: excessive post-treatment paperwork just to beg for payments long after the work was completed, along with a tedious preauthorization process that delayed patient care.

The repeated denials and inefficiencies nearly put me out of business, forcing me to go out-of-network with all insurance plans. The entire insurance system feels like a scam, and it has significantly soured my perception of the industry.

[Lumber]

Healthcare getting put on blast since bro got killed 💀💀 all it took was a assassination

[Delphine-bk]

Our coverage being linked to employment; the deductibles, what they cover vs. what they don’t, waiting for reimbursement, a corporation deciding what is medically necessary for the patient vs. a doctor actually treating the patient— it’s wild! Life as it is, is stressful enough.

[abcdefghi]

Why are non-doctors telling doctors how to manage patients? There should be laws preventing that.

[TheJoeSwanon]

This guy Luigi is going to end up going down in history as somebody that started a movement