Opinion | I Was a Health Insurance Executive. What I Saw Made Me Quit.
www.nytimes.com
Shareholders, not patient outcomes, tend to drive decisions at health insurance companies.

One story that we couldn’t keep out of the press and that contributed most to my decision to walk away from my career in 2008 involved Nataline Sarkisyan, a 17-year-old leukemia patient in California whose scheduled liver transplant was postponed at the last minute when Cigna told her surgeons it wouldn’t pay. Cigna’s medical director, 2,500 miles away from Ms. Sarkisyan, said she was too sick for the procedure. Her family stirred up so much media attention that Cigna relented, but it was too late. She died a few hours after Cigna’s change of heart.

Ms. Sarkisyan’s death affected me personally and deeply. As a father, I couldn’t imagine the depth of despair her parents were facing. I turned in my notice a few weeks later. I could not in good conscience continue being a spokesman for an industry that was making it increasingly difficult for Americans to get often lifesaving care.

One of my last acts before resigning was helping to plan a meeting for investors and Wall Street financial analysts — similar to the one that UnitedHealthcare canceled after Mr. Thompson’s horrific killing. These annual investor days, like the consumerism idea I helped spread, reveal an uncomfortable truth about our health insurance system: that shareholders, not patient outcomes, tend to drive decisions at for-profit health insurance companies.

    • wellheh@lemmy.sdf.org
      1·
      2 months ago

      I don’t think they’re saying to murder spectrum, but maybe you can see the parallel between people who can’t choose the healthcare they can get and those who can? The vast majority of people get it through their employer and healthcare is expensive. “Switching company” is simply not an option for most people, so when their claims are denied, they might be being told to die. In contrast, I simply care little for the jackass that took advantage of everyone and ran into karma. Not saying we have to murder ceos, but I won’t feel bad for them. As someone said previously, your “go somewhere else” speech just screams privilege.

        • wellheh@lemmy.sdf.org
          1·
          2 months ago

          I suppose you’re right- you are indeed not privileged; You are simply misguided in assuming living without insurance is either feasible or a wise decision. Just to be clear, I don’t know where you get the idea that I’m making a lot of money right now. Likewise, I made an assumption based on how you presented yourself, because reasonable people, whether well off or not, don’t think having zero insurance is the alternative to having bad insurance in the context of why healthcare execs are being offed- they would think that making healthcare options good for everyone is the way to go because the options are usually awful and they lack viable alternatives. Those same people may only see violence as the only means of achieving that goal and I’m probably more on their side of the fence on that-- based on history, violence almost always brings about change. This is not a new concept- as an example, the civil rights movement was not peaceful and I doubt much would have happened without forcing people’s hand. That said, I don’t consider healthcare a thing we should be “privileged” to have because it’s a living necessity like food. You may survive for a while without it but when you run into a truly bad issue, you will realize you only got lucky and not everyone will be lucky; those same people may die in the current system. I hope you understand and I hope you understand why people won’t share your vision. I wish you luck in your insuranceless life.