Full disclosure: I’m satisfied with my health insurance, and 81% of insured Americans say the same. But at the same time, less than 30% of Americans rate their health insurance as excellent.
The contradiction between personal satisfaction and disdain for the health insurance industry shows that even though many people have yet to face a dispute with an insurance company over life-or-death medical insurance, those who have been denied insurance This can be partially explained by the fact that almost everyone knows Full coverage for treatment of serious concerns, serious medical treatment postponed, or legitimate claims denied. These issues can dramatically alter an individual’s financial stability, and only the wealthy who can afford concierge medical care appear to be spared the trauma of forgoing needed treatment.
Channeling these grievances against the huge profits of the healthcare industry (for example, UnitedHealthcare alone made $23 billion in profits in 2023, and its CEO received more than $10 million in compensation) is met with anger and resentment. An explosive mixture is created.
Patients are not the only ones who are dissatisfied. Doctors are also dissatisfied. According to a 2023 study conducted by the AMA, the prior authorization process “continues to have a devastating impact on patient outcomes, physician burnout, and employee productivity. In addition to stressing patients,[prior approvals]can also lead to unnecessary expenses (e.g., additional office visits, unplanned hospitalizations, and patients regularly paying out-of-pocket medical costs.) etc.). ”
Even within the medical industry, some see the system as failing or corrupt. Wendell Potter, Cigna’s vice president of corporate communications, resigned as a matter of conscience, telling the New York Times that the “uncomfortable truth” about our nation’s health care system is that “shareholders make decisions, not patient outcomes.” “There is a tendency to influence the At a for-profit health insurance company. ”
Few realized how deep and widespread that anger was. That was until UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed on a Manhattan street just before dawn on December 4th. His alleged killer, Luigi Mangione, quickly became a folk hero on social media as soon as he was identified. Spontaneous and wide-ranging. Similarly, there has been widespread public support for Daniel Penny, who strangled a homeless man in a New York City subway car earlier this year, causing his death. (I wrote about this incident in a previous article.)
Sociologist Paul Kooistra describes the conditions under which a murderer can become a folk hero: Their criminality, at least initially, is thought to have political meaning. Such symbols emerge when the state’s rational, formal, and bureaucratic justice fails to reflect the prevailing concept of justice. ”
Heroic lawbreakers can be seen as a type of jury nullification in society, where juries return a verdict of not guilty even though the jury believes the defendant has broken the law.
Whether Mr. Mangione is convicted or not, and Mr. Penny has already been acquitted, much of society believes that for-profit health care providers are guilty of more serious violations, even if they do not violate the law. I think he’s a criminal.
It’s not just the medical industry that is looked down upon by society. There is widespread distrust of the federal government, experts are often dismissed as frauds, librarians and teachers are treated with derision, and journalists rank at the bottom of surveys of trusted experts.
Restoring trust in our institutions is a daunting task, and the underlying reasons for these failures are multiple and complex. But without basic trust in our institutions and professionals, we will see more complaint-based and extrajudicial killings.
A society without a basic sense of trust in government, institutions, and experts puts everyone at risk.
