Live Updates: Person of interest in NY health chief shooting may have left town on bus headed for Atlanta – report

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New York

Since the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson yesterday, many have taken to social media to express their frustrations with the American healthcare industry.

It’s important to note that investigators have not suggested a motive for the killing or linked it in any way to Thompson’s work. They are also still looking for the suspected shooter.

However, the news of the shooting and the discussion surrounding it appear to have brought the public’s long-held feelings about health insurance closer to a boil.

The American public has frustrations with health care because it is “a huge expense” for most people, said Christine Eibner, senior economist at the non-profit think tank RAND Corporation.

On top of that, Eibner says, insurers in recent years have increasingly issued denials of treatment coverage and used prior authorizations, a process that requires doctors to get approvals from health plans before providing a service or prescription to ensure , that they are medically necessary.

These types of practices can fuel the online anger we’ve seen since Thompson’s murder, Eibner says.

And what the shooter allegedly wrote on the bullets — including the word “deny” — could be a reference to insurance denials, Eibner added, though she cautioned that police have not confirmed the suspect’s motive.

Eibner says United Healthcare has faced many lawsuits over this practice. But they are certainly not the only company accused of rejecting multiple claims, she says.

“It happens everywhere,” she says. “All insurance companies do this.”