The recent murder of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson has shaken our society.
This high profile CEO gets gunned down in cold blood in plain sight. I am constantly searching my "go-to" news outlets for updates on the pursuit of his killer.
Surprisingly, the reaction on social media has been completely unsympathetic to his unfortunate demise.
No one is happy with medical or dental insurance. Not the doctors, not the patients. And it has reached a threshold where someone commits this brazen act.
The American Dental Association, along with every other healthcare organization in the United States has been advocating for change in the insurance industry for decades. We have moved the needle some, but the fact remains - there has been little impact to make it better.
Doctors and dentists have taken the brunt of the anger from patients as we are the only ones that have direct patient contact. In fact, there have been several instances of violence or threat of violence from angry patients directed at my colleagues due to displaced anger regarding their insurance benefits.
We constantly get the "Deny, Delay, Disallow, Depose, etc." for procedures and treatments that, to us, are obviously medically necessary. We spend hours of effort to negotiate through the red tape insurance companies put up. Sometimes, it feels like they put up these barriers just to wear us out, so we eventually stop fighting.
I can only imagine that the killer experienced these denials, delays, etc., personally, and it resulted in an unnecessary death. If this is true, I am sure he feels justified in what he did.
I imagine that the millions of people who are expressing outrage have had similar experiences.
It is time for the insurance industry to change.
And for the record... I do not condone gun violence in any form.
#theadventurecontinues #anythingispossible #sober #ADApresident #ADAchangemakers @americandentalassociation #thinkdifferent #OralHealthIsHealth #theygolowIgohigh
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