Andrew Witty commented, “We understand people’s frustrations with it,” after the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4.
Brian Thompson was reportedly earning about $10 million annually.
Witty continued, “No one would design a system like the one we have. And no one did. It’s a patchwork built over decades. Our mission is to help make it work better.”
Amidst the dissatisfaction with the U.S. healthcare system, a doctor expressed his concerns on social media about UnitedHealthcare’s alleged denial of a patient’s claim.
On December 31, Dr. Zachary Levy tweeted about a patient who had a brain hemorrhage, resulting in a coma, requiring ventilation and urgent care due to heart failure.
While the patient was in critical condition, UnitedHealthcare reportedly did not consider the treatment ‘medically necessary.’
Dr. Levy remarked, “Tear it all down.”
He mentioned he was asked to compose a “Letter of Medical Necessity” to the insurer and shared part of his email.
The email justified the necessity of the treatment, stating it ‘prevented them from dying during the visit.’
The patient’s ailments included a brain hemorrhage, cerebral edema, and respiratory failure, according to the email.
Dr. Levy’s original tweet has garnered over 21 million views and 65,000 retweets on Twitter. Many have shared their opinions, echoing Dr. Levy’s sentiments.
Calling the system ‘broken,’ one individual noted, “Just a reminder that United HealthGroup declared $394 billion in gross revenue last year (which was more than NVIDIA, Google, Meta, or even Apple).”
Another argued, “The US health insurance system is a big scam. Time to nationalize health service like normal sensible countries do.” Someone else added, “I work with all the insurance companies being a practitioner. I can tell you that UHC is the worst.”
Additionally, some speculated that the claim denial might have resulted from an administrative error.
Another person suggested that insurance companies use ‘auto denial’ tactics to prompt policyholders to appeal.
UHC has been accused of utilizing AI for such denials and faced a class action lawsuit in 2023.