{"id":18160,"date":"2024-12-12T01:05:22","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T02:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18160"},"modified":"2024-12-12T02:30:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T02:30:12","slug":"anger-after-unitedhealthcare-ceos-killing-rattles-health-insurance-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18160","title":{"rendered":"Anger After UnitedHealthcare CEO\u2019s Killing Rattles Health Insurance Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Employees at UnitedHealthcare and other companies described being anxious after an outpouring of online vitriol.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

The fatal shooting last week of an executive on the streets of New York City plunged his family members and colleagues into grief. For rank-and-file employees across the health insurance industry, the killing has left them with an additional emotion: fear, with many frightened for their own safety and feeling under attack for their work.<\/p>\n

Health insurance companies have increased security measures since the killing of Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, and as an outpouring of online rage toward the industry has followed. Health care leaders have spoken with frustration about feeling vilified, and in the Minneapolis suburbs where United is headquartered, police officers stepped up protection of the company\u2019s offices.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly the employees have been shaken,\u201d said Mayor Brad Wiersum of Minnetonka, who said the city was working \u201cjust to provide that reassurance and that security, to let people know that we are going to do everything we can to keep them safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

One UnitedHealthcare worker who processes claims described being cleareyed about the American health care system\u2019s shortcomings, but also believes that she and her colleagues did their best to help patients within the limits of that system. Like most workers interviewed, she did not want to be named because, given the reaction after Mr. Thompson\u2019s killing, she feared for her own safety.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

The reaction by some others to the killing, the employee said, had been startling and horrifying. The worker, who has been at the company for many years, described being told in recent days by an acquaintance that as an employee of UnitedHealthcare she was responsible for millions of people being denied lifesaving care, and that if she had any ethics, she would see the killing as the impetus to quit her job.<\/p>\n

\u201cLots of us were feeling like we were horrible because we\u2019re being accused of working for the evil empire,\u201d the employee said. \u201cBut we all do the best we can to do a good job in the system we are in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n

Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Employees at UnitedHealthcare and other companies described being anxious after an outpouring of online vitriol.The fatal shooting last week of an executive on the streets of New York City plunged his family members and colleagues into grief. For rank-and-file employees across the health insurance industry, the killing has left them with an additional emotion: fear, with many frightened for their own safety and feeling under attack for their work.Health insurance companies have increased security measures since the killing of Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, and as an outpouring of online rage toward the industry has followed. Health care leaders have spoken with frustration about feeling vilified, and in the Minneapolis suburbs where United is headquartered, police officers stepped up protection of the company\u2019s offices.\u201cClearly the employees have been shaken,\u201d said Mayor Brad Wiersum of Minnetonka, who said the city was working \u201cjust to provide that reassurance and that security, to let people know that we are going to do everything we can to keep them safe.\u201dOne UnitedHealthcare worker who processes claims described being cleareyed about the American health care system\u2019s shortcomings, but also believes that she and her colleagues did their best to help patients within the limits of that system. Like most workers interviewed, she did not want to be named because, given the reaction after Mr. Thompson\u2019s killing, she feared for her own safety.The reaction by some others to the killing, the employee said, had been startling and horrifying. The worker, who has been at the company for many years, described being told in recent days by an acquaintance that as an employee of UnitedHealthcare she was responsible for millions of people being denied lifesaving care, and that if she had any ethics, she would see the killing as the impetus to quit her job.\u201cLots of us were feeling like we were horrible because we\u2019re being accused of working for the evil empire,\u201d the employee said. \u201cBut we all do the best we can to do a good job in the system we are in.\u201dWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18162,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18160"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18163,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18160\/revisions\/18163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}