Health Care Insurance

A young man named Luigi Mangione shot a health insurance exec. Apparently, he was motivated by the belief that the exec was making millions by denying care to people who had paid for health insurance but couldn’t get coverage when they needed it.

Like most of us, I have my tales of denied coverage and the general mystification surrounding what is, or is not, covered by healthcare insurance. I happened to be receiving (mostly covered) medical care when I read the news about Mr. Mangione’s arrest.

When I shared the news with a couple of the attending nurses, I was surprised by their reactions, which started with, “It was a terrible thing to do, but…” or “I have mixed feelings because…” followed by anecdotes of denied care. One of the nurses proclaimed that it’s just not right when, in her words, “A kid sitting in a basement, staring at a computer screen, can overrule a doctor who is looking at the patient.” She went on to lament the fact that nurses are working for low wages, while the CEOs are raking in the big dough.

Most people would agree with those sentiments, although not with Mr. Mangione’s solution. However tragic the event, at least it is getting the conversation underway about our overly involved and overly expensive healthcare system, in which health insurance companies make a killing, metaphorically, by killing or bankrupting patients, by incentivizing employees to deny care.