By Carol Paris, M.D.
The Tennessean, Dec. 16, 2024
In the aftermath of the recent murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, I feel both sympathy for his family’s loss and rage at the misrepresentation of the thousands of stories of needless anxiety, suffering and premature death that have flooded social media.
Whether the story posted is from a patient or a doctor, the antagonist is always the same – the health insurance industry.
In their anger, have some people overstepped the bounds of moral decency? Yes.
That’s something people do when they are chronically anxious about going into medical debt, and always vulnerable to the whims of a health insurance industry that profits from denying them care. But to make that the story is despicable.
People expressing anger at health insurers are different from Jan. 6 rioters
And that is just what the Washington Post editorial board did on December 7, “A sickness in the wake of a health insurance CEO’s slaying.”
These editors compared heart-wrenching posts on social media to the violent mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
They categorized these posts as “very different in their degrees of moral transgression and practical impact, but similar in their embrace of extreme measures to right perceived wrongs.”
Apparently, these writers consider posting on social media one’s anger and frustration at UnitedHealthcare’s tactics of delaying and denying care in the service of record-breaking profit as “extreme measures to right perceived wrongs” but then dismiss them as of little “practical impact.”
Sadly, that’s my point. As much as I want to believe that this time our elected officials will listen to our deafening outcry and take substantive action on our behalf to, at the very least, sanction and regulate the health insurance industry, I’m not holding my breath.
Rather, I fear that this outpouring of rage at the health insurance industry will have no practical impact no matter how loudly or persistently we cry because members of Congress are not listening to us. They listen to the threat of losing campaign contributions if they fail to do as their corporate donors demand.
Reformers and activists should unite to change the system
The Washington Post editors listen to their billionaire owner who proffers a narrative dictated by the health insurance industry “Wizards of Oz,” from behind the safety of the black curtain. Ignore all those silly Munchkins. The mighty Oz has spoken.
And once again, the moment is lost because wizards like Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post, control the narrative to their financial advantage.
I wonder what would happen if all of us Munchkins came together and took control of the narrative?
Maybe all the people who have been harmed by the health insurance industry would join their voices with the voices of health reform activists, campaign finance reform activists, climate activists, reproductive justice activists, racial justice activists, fair wage activists, affordable housing activists, food security activists and more.
Just think of the power of all our voices, together, demanding a multitude of social justice reforms.
There are no unsolvable problems, but I find that the best solutions emerge by listening to a broad spectrum of people sharing their ideas, even on social media. Together, let’s build the society we want.
I’d like to start by building the healthcare system the American people want, a National Health Program that puts patients before profits and makes corporate health insurance industry middlemen obsolete.
Paris Dr. Carol Paris is a healthcare activist who currently serves as vice president of Physicians for a National Health Program.