Boston Globe editorial board member Carine Hajjar reacts to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., showing to rationalize the homicide of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on “Varney & Co.”
UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty wrote an editorial calling for healthcare reform after his colleague, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was assassinated final week in a focused assault whereas on his solution to the corporate’s annual investor day in New York City.
Witty’s visitor essay was printed Friday in The New York Timesand wrote that whereas he and his colleagues admire the “outpouring of help for Brian,” who ran UnitedHealth Group’s insurance coverage division, they’re additionally “struggling to make sense of this unconscionable and vitriolic act that has been directed at our colleagues who’ve been bombarded with threats.”
“No worker, whether or not they’re the individuals answering buyer calls or the nurses visiting sufferers of their houses, ought to worry for his or her security or that of their family members,” Witty wrote, including that the corporate desires to assist enhance the healthcare system. .
“We know the well being care system is not working because it ought to, and we perceive individuals’s frustrations with it. No one would design a system just like the one now we have. And nobody has. It’s a patchwork constructed over many years,” Witty defined. . “We are keen to work with anybody, as we at all times have – healthcare suppliers, employers, sufferers, pharmaceutical firms, governments and others – to search out methods to supply high-quality care and scale back prices.”
LUIGI MANGIONE WAS NOT A MEMBER OF UNITEDHEALTHCARE, MAY HAVE TARGETED COMPANY DUE TO SIZE AND INFLUENCE: NYPD
Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, mentioned the corporate desires to proceed pushing for well being care enhancements in reminiscence of slain govt Brian Thompson. (Al Drago/Bloomberg through Getty Images/Getty Images)
Witty mentioned that “the explanations behind protection selections aren’t properly understood” and that a number of the duty is shared by well being and insurance coverage firms just like the one he leads. He mentioned employers, governments and others who pay for well being care “want to enhance how we clarify what insurance coverage covers and the way selections are made.”
| Ticker | Safety | Last | Edit | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNH | UNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC. | 610.20 | +1.82 | +0.30% |
“Behind each determination lies a complete and frequently up to date physique of scientific proof targeted on reaching the most effective well being outcomes and making certain affected person security,” Witty wrote. “While the healthcare system will not be excellent, each nook of it’s full of individuals attempting to do their finest for these they serve.”
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UnitedHealthcare is the insurance coverage enterprise of UnitedHealth Group. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images/Getty Images)
The UnitedHealth Group CEO famous that Thompson has advocated for tactics to enhance the healthcare system, corresponding to having the corporate “construct devoted groups to assist the sickest individuals navigate the healthcare system.” He additionally mentioned Thompson “advocated plans the place customers may see prices and protection choices upfront, so they may resolve what’s finest for themselves and their households.”
“The concepts he championed aimed to make well being care extra accessible, extra clear, extra intuitive, extra compassionate, and extra humane,” Witty wrote. “This is Brian’s legacy, which we are going to carry ahead as we proceed our work to make the healthcare system work higher for everybody.”
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UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in New York City on December 4. (FOX 5 New York/WNYW | UnitedHealth / Fox News)
Witty’s editorial comes after Thompson’s killed in a shootout on the way in which to the corporate’s Investor Day in Manhattan on December 4.
The homicide suspect Luigi Mangionehe was arrested in Pennsylvania following a manhunt and expressed animosity towards the healthcare business in writings that had been found when he was arrested.
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The New York Police Department and UnitedHealthcare confirmed Thursday that Mangione was not a buyer of the insurance coverage firm. The NYPD mentioned it might have focused the corporate due to its measurement and affect within the business.
The firm’s shares fell 4% this week after falling almost 10% within the week of the capturing.
