Many news outlets’ pontificators were incensed that anyone would voice frustration with health insurance when an industry CEO has fallen.
      • WoodScientist@lemmy.worldEnglish
        53·
        7 days ago

        It is a reasonable first order estimate. See a comment here. I think I will organize this a bit better and make a blog post on this tomorrow. But suffice to say, 51,000 is a good baseline number, based on UHC’s share of the private insurance market and the length of Thompson’s tenure as CEO of UHC. It could be as high as 100,000. But really, at this scale, it ceases to matter. You can only really comprehend it in comparative terms. And his number of victims was order of magnitude greater than that of Osama Bin Ladin.

        • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.eeEnglish
          4·
          6 days ago

          Osama bin Laden was a chump compared to these guys. Osama was already wanted by the US for a crime he did in 1993 and had his Saudi citizenship revoked and he was a stateless runaway doomed to live in hiding and squalor no matter what.

          He wasn’t even the mastermind behind 9/11. Hell, he even had a hard time controlling Mohammad Atta, the ringleader of the hijackers, who wanted the operation to be more about him and his final end more than anything else.

      • TerkErJerbs@lemm.eeEnglish
        301·
        7 days ago

        I’m no math wizard but I’ve read 68k people die per year from preventable shit due to denied claims. Brian worked at United since 2004, CEO since 2021 so he contributed directly or indirectly to that number of deaths per year, at least the portion United is responsible for. United has double the industry average of rejected claims.

        It’s def higher than OP states.

      • Nollij@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        101·
        6 days ago

        Not OP, but it’s going to be really hard to assign a hard value to that. There are plenty of obvious examples where they denied a life-saving treatment. But many of them would’ve died anyway.

        Then there are cases where they deny preventative/early treatments. Some of these eventually led to more serious and fatal conditions, some did not. How do we count these?

        Then there’s quality of life denials. These don’t directly lead to fatal conditions, but can affect morale and the like, thus allowing more serious conditions?

        All of it would be compared to the unexplored alternatives (where treatment was authorized). This is inherently an unknown.

        I’m not defending him by any means. It’s just that his body count is, at best, a rough estimate.

        • bitjunkie@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          6 days ago

          Whether they would have died anyway isn’t a measure of whether it is ethical to deny someone care that was the only chance they had. Removing the possibility is still murder.

  • Chozo@fedia.io
    981·
    7 days ago

    We’ve received your request for additional sympathy. Our advanced AI systems will now determine your claim’s eligibility.

    …

    …

    Oh, sorry, looks like it’s been denied.

  • foggy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    852·
    7 days ago

    Demanding sympathy is the height of pity.

    Pathetic. Maybe figure out why no one has any sympathy for the guy.

    • Phoenicianpirate@lemm.eeEnglish
      5·
      6 days ago

      I will not show them the single touch of sympathy or pity or anything. Why should I? People like that would not only never show me the slightest sympathy, but they would also go out of their way in order to fuck me over and waste my time and money and then act like any reaction other than cock sucking them is criminal violence.

  • Modva@lemmy.worldEnglish
    67·
    6 days ago

    Message control.

    This is why they bought the media in the first place, so what they say is loudest.

    • GreenKnight23@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      5 days ago

      it’s happening on here too. I’ve had numerous people argue that his death changed nothing.

      bots must be cheap.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    33·
    6 days ago

    All we could do for pity is to throw a fire extinguisher into his grave. Where he is, he will need it.

  • aeronmelon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    461·
    7 days ago

    Thank you for needing the working class to exist. We have received and reviewed your request for sympathy towards your continued indifference to human suffering. Unfortunately we must reject your claim…

  • fibojoly@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    19·
    6 days ago

    Thoughts and prayers :

    • I think it should happen more often.
    • I pray it does (instead of school shootings, let’s say).