Boston Globe editorial board member Carine Hajjar reacts to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., seemingly rationalizing the homicide of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on ‘Varney & Co.’
UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty authored an op-ed calling for well being care reform after his colleague, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was murdered final week in a focused assault on his technique to the corporate’s annual investor day in New York Metropolis.
Witty’s visitor essay was revealed Friday in The New York Instances, and he wrote that whereas he and his colleagues respect the “outpouring of support for Brian,” who ran UnitedHealth Group’s insurance coverage division, they’re additionally “struggling to make sense of this unconscionable act and the vitriol that has been directed at our colleagues who have been barraged by threats.”
“No employees — be they the people who answer customer calls or nurses who visit patients in their homes — should have to fear for their and their loved ones’ safety,” Witty wrote, including that the corporate needs to assist enhance the well being care system.
“We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it. No one would design a system like the one we have. And no one did. It’s a patchwork built over decades,” Witty defined. “We are willing to partner with anyone, as we always have — health care providers, employers, patients, pharmaceutical companies, governments and others — to find ways to deliver high-quality care and lower costs.”
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UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty stated that the corporate needs to proceed to push for well being care enhancements in reminiscence of slain govt Brian Thompson. (Al Drago/Bloomberg through Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)
Witty stated that the “reasons behind coverage decisions are not well understood” and that a number of the accountability for that’s shared by well being care and insurance coverage corporations just like the one he leads. He stated that employers, governments and others who pay for well being care “need to improve how we explain what insurance covers and how decisions are made.”
Ticker Safety Final Change Change % UNH UNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC. 610.20 +1.82
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“Behind each decision lies a comprehensive and continually updated body of clinical evidence focused on achieving the best health outcomes and ensuring patient safety,” Witty wrote. “While the health system is not perfect, every corner of it is filled with people who try to do their best for those they serve.”
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UnitedHealthcare is the insurance coverage enterprise of UnitedHealth Group. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)
The UnitedHealth Group CEO famous that Thompson advocated for tactics to enhance the well being care system, corresponding to having the corporate “build dedicated teams to help the sickest people navigate the health system.” He additionally stated Thompson “championed plans in which consumers could see costs and coverage options upfront, so they could decide what’s best for themselves and their families.”
“The ideas he advocated were aimed at making health care more affordable, more transparent, more intuitive, more compassionate — and more human,” Witty wrote. “That’s Brian’s legacy, one that we will carry forward by continuing our work to make the health system work better for everyone.”
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Witty’s op-ed comes after Thompson was killed in a capturing on the way in which to the corporate’s investor day in Manhattan on Dec. 4.
The suspect within the killing, Luigi Mangione, was arrested in Pennsylvania following a manhunt and expressed animosity in direction of the well being care business in writings that had been found when he was apprehended.
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The New York Police Division and UnitedHealthcare confirmed on Thursday that Mangione was not a consumer of the insurance coverage firm. The NYPD stated that he could have focused the corporate due to its dimension and affect throughout the business.
Shares of the corporate are down 4% this week after dropping almost 10% the week of the capturing.
