Health insurers and Congress blame everyone but themselves for Americans’ rage

The Manhattan slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson lit a fire under many Americans who are furious with their insurance carriers and the cost of premiums and denial of coverage.

Murder is not a respectful way to get a point across. But it apparently is effective. Much has been said about runaway insurance costs and respective denials for years. And has anyone listened until Thompson was assassinated outside a hotel in New York?

“At a panel at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York on Wednesday, executives from Pfizer and Amazon said health care companies are taking a step back to better understand patients’ experiences.”

Would this lede into a story distributed by Reuters occur if it weren’t for a brazen act of violence toward a leader in the health insurance industry?

In the same story, insurance leaders are justifying the high costs of premiums and consistent denials by claiming that fees from doctors and hospitals are increasing, and that it is their job to negotiate those fees “as well as costly prescription drugs and medical devices.” It’s like the out-of-control alcoholic who blames everyone else for his troubles. They’re not listening.

Insurance giants are now beginning to surround themselves with weaponized bodyguards to prevent another death at the hands of a vigilante. What are they doing to protect the cube farm worker whose job it is to deny the claims? Does that employee need to watch every step she takes to make sure there’s not an upset insurance client with an AR-15 waiting for her in the parking lot, at the stop light, or pulling into her driveway at home?

Ingrid Jacques of USA TODAY wrote in a column that the “callous disregard for human life is alarming to witness.” She was writing about Thompson’s murder. But if the sentence were read without the intent, you could swear that line refers to the millions of people who have faced financial disaster and further health problems because an insurance company refused to pay up for something the patient thought was covered. Cutting off anesthesia halfway through surgery is about as “callous disregard for life” as I can think of. I can remember the day when someone didn’t want to report an accident or an injury because their “insurance premiums might go up.” Now, even if you make no claims, insurance premiums continue to rise at an alarming rate.

We have all laughed at the cartoons wherein a doctor is speaking to a patient who is obviously in excruciating pain, wrapped up in bandages, with IVs going into each arm, a counterweight holding up a leg, and hoses going into the mouth and nose. “The insurance company says you can go home now.” Today, it’s not a laughing matter. They’re still not listening.

“Our health system needs to be better. … There’s a lot of things that should cause a lot of outrage,” Amazon Pharmacy Chief Medical Officer Vin Gupta said. Health system? It’s that alcoholic again, blaming the system, and not taking responsibility for our system of health insurance. They refuse to listen.

It’s time to cut down this behemoth beanstalk called health insurance and go to a system that has been successful in other First World countries; single payer health care. But it won’t happen because lawmakers are listening to the insurance industry demands and not their constituents’ heath care needs.

Marty Ryan lives in Des Moines.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Health insurers, Congress blame everyone but themselves | Opinion