Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare since 2021, was shot in the back on December 4 as he walked to speak at a conference at the New York Hilton in Manhattan. Thompson talked the talk about “value-based” healthcare. He wanted insurance companies and doctors to work together to provide healthcare to help patients and avoid getting their patients sick. He talked the talk, which seems to be a good mindset and a proactive attitude toward healthcare.

The question is whether he walked the walk. Just after becoming the CEO in 2021, Thompson was accused by the American Hospital Association that soon UnitedHealthcare would stop what they called non-critical hospital visits to the emergency rooms. To deal with the complaint, UnitedHealthcare waited for a while before doing so. They are now using AI to deny claims by automation.

Luigi Mangione killed Thompson. The police found shell casings with “deny,” “defend,” and “depose” written on them. They also found a statement by Mangione that he considered using a bomb, but he didn’t use one since it could kill innocent people. A part of the country is shocked at the seemingly senseless shooting of an insurance executive. In contrast, the other half of the country views the killer as a 21^st-century Robin Hood. In return, Mangione supporters have raised over $130,000 to defend their Robin Hood.

This article doesn’t address the ethical issue of whether Mangione was correct or incorrect about how he addressed his displeasure regarding pharma insurance companies.

As someone who has wasted hours dealing with my insurance company, I understand Mangione’s dislike for all the pharma companies. Years ago, I opted to move to getting my prescription through the mail. It was just an easy manner of getting a handful of drugs rather than driving 1.2 miles from my home to CVS on Randolph in Winfield, IN. That proved to be a huge mistake on my part.

For more than a handful of years, I got my prescription drugs every 90-day increments. Initially, it seemed merely a simple convenience. However, I had to call my insurance company every three months. I didn’t get one or more drugs on time. I talked to people half a world away, sometimes a half dozen times, before I got one or more drugs in the mail and nearly always late.

I am the most tolerant consumer when talking to companies that farm out customer service to English-speaking people worldwide. I enjoy talking to Amazon customer service. They are either living in India or the Philippines. I have spent a lot of time traveling in India over the decades while my web administrator lives in the Philippines. When I have questions with GoDaddy, the person is occasionally outside the US. After stating my reason for the call, I always ask where that customer service person lives.

The issue isn’t about customer service departments located overseas. It is about my insurance company not caring about those paying for services. This is one example of a sleeping medication that I use. I take the smallest dose of zolpidem, which is the generic of Ambien. For some reason, it is considered a level-two drug, which needs a doctor’s written script after the 90-day script expires. You can’t get three or four refills on your prescription.

You won’t believe the number of calls that I made to the customer service department of my drug insurance company. One person would fax my doctor and then send the pills to me. Two weeks later, I called again and was told there was no record of my previous call.

After weeks of nonsense, I finally canceled having my prescriptions delivered in the mail. I had my doctor send CVS my prescription. Several weeks later, I received in the mail 90 days of zolpidem. I again called and told them I had dropped the mail-order service. The response was that they would look into the matter. A week or so later, I received a call and was told to return the pills to the mail-order pharmacy. They sent me an addressed mailer.

While waiting for the mailer, someone called and wanted to know about my problem. I recounted my litany of calls, delays, and my cancelation of the mail-order program. I ended my story of waiting for the mailer to return the pills. Then, I added that I would send it immediately back to the pharmacy so that they could take the pills and return them to the container with similar pills. I was told it wasn’t necessary.

To make matters worse, several times a year, I get emails from the home office requesting that I complete a survey. Sometimes, I was so irritated that I ignored the survey. Other times, I wrote about what irked me—and never got a response. I repeated this several times until I looked up the home office location and called them directly. I was told that I needed to fill out a form, etc. I said I wanted to talk to the CEO because I had already filled out a form. They refused to transfer me to the CEO.

My story isn’t unique. Fortunately, I could badger my pharmacy insurance company until I finally got my prescriptions. However, not everyone can do that. So, many insured people suffer without medicines, medical care, or surgery that they need. UnitedHealthcare covers 26.6 million Americans. They use AI to determine which claims are valid. That isn’t caring for the customers. I wonder how many people were denied some medical help and died as a result of their claims being rejected in 2024. My guess is more than one CEO shot to death.

I don’t condone what Mangione did. However, I don’t condone how UnitedHealth and all the other companies determine what services are provided. Healthcare insurance companies are designed to provide medicines and medical treatments for their consumers. As much as assassinating UnitedHealthcare’s CEO is blatant murder, there is more to the story. When an insurance company uses AI to determine if a person’s prescription or other medical treatment isn’t covered, it saves the insurance company money. The haunting question is, how many die due to the insurance company rejecting their need for drugs or treatment? There is a line between murder and doing business.