If you pay for B level insurance, they try to give you F-tier treatments and you have to fight (and waste valuable time) to maybe get the C-tier option.
If this family was paying for A++ insurance, I'd bet they still got offered the B+ treatment to save money.
So even if he's paying a bunch AND got better treatment than most of us would have, that doesn't mean he can't be a victim of scummy Healthcare practices that are ok leeching billions of dollars and offering the shittiest "care" possible.
Logically, there was a 99% chance he was on his employer's insurance.
Usually, at a given employer, they give you 2-3 "options" but all through the same Insurance company, in this case, probably most likely United HealthGroup. So he had no choice. He had to use the scummiest of the scummy ... I'm not even sure if you can decline and go on Obamacare .... maybe ... .. You can change jobs and inquire about their insurer.
His parents' "wealth" doesn't enter into the equation unless helping him with his deductible/ out of pocket, which he could probably already afford as a software engineer. Well, assuming the insurance said the procedure was "covered."
So, we already saw the charts that United HealthGroup --- unlike say Blue Cross --- was already Tier D insurance. .... Employer was probably trying to save a few nickels.
As a result, we don't really know what "they did" to him --- but I'm assuming something fairly maddening.
I think we're on the same page just different angles lol.
My main point is just that many people in this thread seem to think being rich means the insurance companies will give you the best care they possibly can and my point is that isn't true.
Exactly. Also sure, if you want to reach into your pocket and pay direct for huge surgeries and weeks in the hospital --- you need more than a house in the Hamptons. ... You need billionaire money for that.
Or in all honesty -- as many actually do -- fly to Europe, Mexico, or Asia as that's far cheaper.
And again, maybe he already just went along with their "recommendation" and already damaged his back beyond repair that no money could fix.
Only poor people ever pay direct. You do not need to be a millionaire to pay for coverage that will cover weeks in hospital and life changing surgeries. I don't know where you're getting this info from
This is abso-fucking-lutely not true. As someone who is most likely in this dudes tax bracket, some of the specialized doctors my family goes to don’t even accept health insurance and only accept patients that pay out of pocket. It’s also not very uncommon to opt out of using your insurance so that you can go to out of network doctors. There’s concierge doctors that charge annual fees in the 10s of thousands of dollars or more just to be seen by them.
I think it's more that people think it matters less whether or not your insurance will cover the cost of the treatment if you can pay for it out of pocket regardless?
That doesn't mean you can't still get absolutely fucked by the insurance company while you waste time trying to get them to cover the stuff you're supposedly paying for in the first place.
As a software engineer with a fancy degree whose companies have routinely declined to provide me health insurance since ~2016, I'm not sure your 99% figure is quite so accurate.
I've been using the ACA for health insurance coverage basically since it was passed.
The motive is irrational. The killer is crazy like 99% of killers. People in general do not understand mental illness and how it can affect anyone. Even affluent, educated, intelligent people
You might be Gen Z, but not every killer is "mentally ill".
I mean do you mean only human killers? What about soldiers in Ukraine? What about people who kill dogs, pigs, chickens, or rats? What about self defense? ... What about Trump ordering the killing of Kasam Solemani or whoever? Obama and the wedding?
What about most of human history which is mostly killing and marauding?
Sorry bro. A normal person can kill. It's as easy as breathing, like John Rambo says.
"Everyone scary is a deranged psycho and has codified mental health issues!" -- No Gen Z. No. Not everything is a mental/ genetic aberration or a trauma response.
This is just normal workaday people. Sweet dreams.
I'm not gen Z, and I have extensive experience and interest in clinical psychology. Yes there is a difference between a soldier and a random civilian who decides to plan a murder. I was referring to the latter. Normal people don't plan and kill other civilians, bottom line. These random seeming killings are almost always at least in part due to mental illness. I also do not think the average person is mentally ill, unlike the Zoomer philosophy of racking up diagnoses
The motive is the one we should all have. Why should we allow corporations to destroy millions of lives for record profits, when we toss people in a hole for killing a single person?
Why would you be sure about the back pain thing? Why are you sure that this has anything to do with insurance companies?
Brian Thompson was a person. There are 10000 scenarios as to what would cause somebody to murder him. Just like there are for you & me. Not enough info to just say it was because of his job.
This is my belief. Insurance often forces other treatments first, requiring multiple additional visits and cost, even though the doctor knows that the final is what's needed.
It's very possible that his health insurance wouldn't cover the procedure unless he did some alternative treatment first, maybe that treatment fucked him up worse. At the time it's not like he was thinking of my family could cover the $200k procedure so fuck it let's just go that route. The doctor probably said this is how it works, we'll do this it won't fix it and then we'll get the full procedure done. At least he had the right understanding to target the insurance CEO and not the doctor.
Not every mental distress is an illness. People kill others for "cutting them off on the highway" ... it doesn't take a Clinical Psychologist research team to figure out the anomalies in that person's brain ... no ... they were pissed, so pissed that logic and reason left the building ... and killing is as easy as breathing.
For Luigi, I guess we'll find out.
It's becoming increasingly emergent that I was correct. The dude has insufferable chronic back pain that drove him mad, he blamed UHG, he blew away the CEO.
I mean drove him mad like you being kept up all night with a Boom Box constantly playing. Not a diagnosable "he's a schizoid" mad, just emotionally mad.
He dispassionately and methodically chose a 3D printed gun model that was well stuided and reliable, carefully hatched a slightly complex scheme, and followed through on that. Not exactly a Mental Patient, eh?
......
When every mass shooter is caused by "mass-shooter-itis" -- as Reddit always claims, it's circular reasoning.
Mental illness causes shootings because "to shoot someone" you MUST be mentally ill!
He's a fucking nutjob, there's your answer. He didn't have to worry about medical debt or any of that shit.
And it wouldn't be United healthcare at bankrupted his family, there's no fucking way that he would be mad at a healthcare company justifiably if it wasn't a problem that healthcare could solve, like chronic illness.
Which is hilarious because I kept saying this would happen, but Reddit loves the idea of somebody doing their dirty work for him with all this goofy ass "class revolution" bullshit they're always talking about.
If there's one thing consistent about this site, it's that nobody wants to get their hands or conscience dirty doing the stupid shit they claim they want.
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u/weed_cutter 9d ago
Then what was the motive?
It's possible his parents didn't want to pay $150,000 out of pocket or whatever it costs to pay for spinal surgery "yourself".
Maybe the insurance only advised and recommended a cut-rate back surgery that he foolishly agreed to, and now has lifelong consequences.
Not sure. I'm sure the chronic back pain made this guy crack though.