Just over a year before United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered This week in Midtown Manhattan, a lawsuit filed against the insurance giant he led revealed how draconian its claims denial process had become.
Last November, the estates of two former CHU patients filed suit in Minnesota alleging that the insurer used an AI algorithm to deny and cancel elderly patients’ claims that had been approved by their doctors.
The algorithm in question, known as nH Predict, reportedly had a 90 percent error rate — and according to the families of the two deceased men who filed complaints, the UHC knew it.
Like this trial made its way through the courtsanger at the insurer’s massive predilection to deny claims has only grown, and speculation about the assassin’s motives suggests that he may have been among those unhappy with media coverage of UHC.
Although we I don’t know the identity yet of the person who shot Thompson or his reasoning, reports claim he wrote the words “deny,” “defend” and “lay down” on the casing of the bullets used to shoot the CEO – a message that many hear as if the killer was unhappy with the insurance industry’s aggressive refusals to cover sick patients.
Beyond the shooter’s own motivations, it’s clear from the shocking and celebratory reaction online to Thompson’s killing that anger at America’s insurance and health care system has reached the point of bloodlust.
As The American perspective that’s so well said“only about 50 million customers of the American medical monopoly could have reason to take revenge on the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.”
And the alarming cruelty of the claims about the company’s AI algorithm — we asked the company if it was still using it, but received no immediate response — perfectly illustrates why they’re so angry .
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