• 2024-12-12 17:54:28
• Gun Violence

The fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO

“It's like an action movie or a spy thriller,” Brooklynite Eli Scherer, 37, said of the fatal shooting, which has become a hot topic for conversation in his social network. Scherer said his “values are not to celebrate someone who’s been killed,” but the incident has sparked “excitement” among his friends that some change might result from the collective outcry.

Other health care consumers are echoing that view in the aftermath of the Dec. 4

Some insurance practices, like the rising

Satisfaction with the overall state of health coverage in the United States

In a separate

Incremental fixes have been proposed to improve coverage, including regulations on the use of artificial intelligence and other technologies to determine whether health coverage is approved, and greater transparency around how frequently insurers require prior approval for medical care and how often they deny coverage.

But even reforms that have been passed in recent years, such as legislation at the state and national levels to prevent people from receiving so-called “surprise” out-of-network bills, often come with caveats. Patients still often struggle to tell whether a medical bill is legitimate, said Elisabeth Benjamin of the Community Service Society of New York, which helps New Yorkers appeal coverage denials through its

Benjamin added that there should be more programs like hers that can “help patients through the morass,” noting that her organization is usually successful at getting denials reversed.

About

Many more patients

But some say even having to argue with insurance companies is exhausting and makes them more cynical about the health system.

In Scherer’s case, he said he is currently struggling to get his insurance to cover the asthma medication that was recommended for his 18-month-old daughter.

“You just get so frustrated that our system doesn't make it easy to just go get the life-saving things that you need for your family,” he said.

Anthony Almojera, a lieutenant paramedic with FDNY's Emergency Medical Services division, said his job has made him cynical about the health system.

“For 22 years now, I've been going into people's homes who have delayed or denied themselves health care because they don't have adequate insurance,” Almojera said.

He said that big and small issues with insurance can add up, noting that he was recently denied coverage for a blood test. “I don't advocate violence in any way, shape or form,” he said of the CEO shooting. “But I get people’s frustration.”

Almojera said he personally preferred a public insurance option, but he wasn’t optimistic about that. “The hope is that enough people get motivated on both sides of the aisle to say we have to come up with something,” he added.

Marianne Pizzitola, a retired FDNY employee who has organized fellow municipal retirees to resist the city’s effort to switch them from traditional Medicare to a privatized Medicare Advantage plan, says she wants others to follow in her footsteps and use collective action to make demands around health coverage without resorting to violence.

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio

Mayor Eric Adams has since picked up the mantle and tried to convince retirees that the plan the city developed was not like other Medicare Advantage plans, which have come under fire for requiring doctors to

“We are confident that it is the right step for retirees, the city, and its taxpayers,” Liz Garcia, a spokesperson for the mayor, said in a statement.

Retirees got a win when a judge

Still, retirees have continued to resist. Nearly four years after she started to organize people for the cause, Pizzitola said she is “freaking tired of fighting this.” But, she said, “some people listen.”