The Ultimate Blowback

The murder of Brian Thompson, CEOof United Health Corp., on December 4^th, in one of the most heavily surveilledareas of NYC, represented the ultimate blowback of the public’s growing ire ofthe insurance industry, not just healthcare.

Most CEOs and executives in the insuranceindustry have a more than generous pay package. Thompson’s was no exceptionearning a reported 2023 annual salary of $10 million. This pay package contrastssharply with the millions of enrolled customers who struggle to pay ever-increasinginsurance premiums and sky-high deductibles with a high-risk of denial whenthey need insurance the most.

It has become publiclytransparent through their blatant decision-making that an insurance company’sobjective and business model are to increase the value of their companyprofits) for the shareholders, not to protect their customers.

This is why insurance companiesutilize the methods as articulated in the 2010 book entitled “Delay, Deny, Defend”by Jay Feinman, a professor at Rutgers University on the healthcare insuranceindustry tactics; and, not coincidentally engraved on the bullet casings of theaforementioned murder.

Healthcare Costs Kill Americans’Budget

The 20 December 2024 Wall StreetJournal article entitled “Nation’s Healthcare Tab is Surging Amid Rising Wages,Hospital Fees” provided a litany of disturbing pricing trends in the healthcareindustry.

Paraphrasing these facts from thearticle specific to the healthcare industry are as follows:

·      Healthcare Cost Increases: The nation’s healthcarespending increased 7.5% year on year in 2023. This exceeded the 4.6% increasein 2022 according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

·      Drug Expenses: Spending on drugs increasedincluding medications for obesity and diabetes [To be discussed further].

·      Pricy Premiums: Americans spent on average$4,000 annually in 2023 for health insurance, up 20% from 5 years earlier andnearly double from a decade ago, according to the US LaborDepartment.

·      Overall Medical Care Costs: For the past several decades medicalcare costs have risen 40% faster than inflation, according to the US LaborDepartment. Reasons: high labor costs in this sector, more expensive drugs& treatments and greater demand for medical services as population ages.

·      Higher Deductibles: The average deductible for aworker insuring himself is $1,787, up 47% from a decade earlier according toKFF, a healthcare non-profit. The deductible for a worker and his familyaverages $3,000-$4,000.

·      Extra Outpatient Charges: Hospitals are routinely tackingon “facility fees” to medical bills for outpatient procedures. For this reason,patients are paying hundreds of dollars for standard care.

·      Co-Pay Unchanged: Interestingly, co-pay fees haveremained relatively steady, averaging $26 during this period.

Most infuriating is that healthcareand other insurance companies “game” the system by aggressively moving thegoalposts by reinterpreting and/or editing the policies’ language to theiradvantage to reduce or deny payouts.

Finally, insurance companies’increasing use (and abuse) of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to determine payouteligibility conveniently serves as an internal cover for questionable corporatetactics while legally protecting decision making executives and Board members.It’s the next level con artist, a virtual ghost in the shell, by reducing riskand shifting legal liability to a virtual entity.

The Silent Partner

A seldom mentioned accelerant topremium increases has been the current administration’s permissive policy ofallowing millions of illegal migrants to enter the country. These illegalmigrants have siphoned billions of taxpayer monies for essential services: freefood, lodging, health care, and transportation which is greatly exacerbatingthe federal deficit.

In other words, from an economicperspective, one could say that the government is indirectly complicit in theadditional healthcare costs above & beyond normal macro-economic fundamentals.

Finally, tangential to healthcareinsurance shenanigans is the incessant use of “climate change” by otherinsurance companies as justification to drop or deny payments such as floodinsurance which render properties unsalable even if no event has occurred whichreduces the owner’s net worth considerably with a stroke of a pen.

The following chart entitled America’sLargest Healthcare Insurers by State in 2023 by their share of totalenrollments provided by the American Medical Association and presented byVisual Capital, indicates the nationwide dominance of various healthcareproviders by state.

Aging Demographic Dangers

As mentioned earlier, theirreversible trend of an aging American demographic and its associated medical conditionsresult in greater lifelong healthcare costs.

The following chart entitled WhereObesity is Most Prevalent in the US in 2023 by state/territory providedby the CDC and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. It’s medicallyproven that obesity triggers a host of future health issues requiringpharmaceutical intervention.

The following chart entitled Diabetes Cases Are Climbing provided by the InternationalDiabetes Foundation, indicates the disturbing surge in diabetes in adults,closely linked to obesity, consumption of ultra-processed foods and a sedentarylifestyle, is a worldwide trend. It estimates the number of adults withdiabetes in 2021 and its projections to 2045; or 23 years, or within ageneration.

It is highly likely that theseestimates are under-reported as many people don’t realize they are diabetic. Furthermore,globally hundreds of millions more are pre-diabetic perhaps at the cusp ofbecoming diabetic.

China: The Key to America’sHealth

The following chart entitled Cars, Meds, Oil and Tech:America’s Main Imports provided by the US Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis,dramatically highlight America’s dependence on imported pharmaceuticals most ofwhich is manufactured in China.

Pharmaceuticals are far cheaperto manufacture overseas and then exported to the US. To put it bluntly, fordecades our nation’s health is in the hands of China. Nonetheless, I believethat these imports will not only continue unimpeded with zero additionaltariffs or import duties, under the Trump administration.

It is unlikely that the Trumpadministration will put itself in a position to create a barrier for theimportation of essential pharmaceuticals to Americans, including theirconstituency, and already exploding health care costs.

Additionally, China is sufferingan economic malaise and are trying to flood many foreign markets across allsectors, to generate cash flow and keep their factories open and producing.

Nonetheless, many of Trump’senemies are savvy enough to create the illusion of American government importinterference with clever media banter thus artificially increasing pharmaceuticalcosts and provide the illusion of a pharmaceutical drug shortage.

“Combat Pay” & Copycats

As the aforementioned rising healthcarecosts, they provide a twisted “inspiration” for those bent on vengeance becauseof an actual or perceived grievance against an insurance company.

The premeditated killing of Mr.Thompson puts executives and their families across many unpopular insurance sectorson edge. This goes beyond the defacing of national, regional and local officesand cream pies on the designer suits of their respective executives.

According to many media reports, therehas been a reassessment of corporate executive protective services fromphysical attacks including the removal of photos of executives from theirwebsites.

Although these firms can easilyafford greater security for their key executives, some may not think spendingmore money will offer more protection especially since attacks committed are unstableand unpredictable lone wolves. In fact, corporate security services may view theThompson killing as an one-off affair.

In all likelihood, most security changeswill be superficial. Nonetheless, they will be thoroughly and cleverly documentedto provide the illusion that the updated security procedures are robust. Thiswould give them greater legal protection by being supposedly pro-active if suchviolence occurs against their personnel.

This elevated security alert isapplicable to all sectors in the insurance industry notably healthcare, autoand home insurance that are justifiably on edge. Even when the enrollee iswilling or can afford a particular insurance, often insurance companies willdrop that insurance altogether notably flood and wildfire insurance.

Conclusion & Takeaways

Insurance companies will continueto establish revenue and profit objectives and then calculate how to “back in” andcap their expenses. Although there are businesses and require a profit tosurvive, the morality of the public good has been erased by insatiable greed.

Any security reassessments andupgrades are merely temporary and cosmetic, a beau geste to executivesand shareholders and avoid liability.

A deceased CEO, executive or evenmanager is merely a sacrificial lamb in a ruthless industry of fat profits, fatcats and high customer body count. There are no shortages of executive minionswilling to risk life & limb for a supreme pay package.

From the political perspective, althoughPresident-elect Trump will play hardball with the Chinese government on tariffsin general, I believe that any present-day import duties and/or tariffs onpharmaceuticals will remain unchanged.

Nonetheless, as articulatedearlier, anti-Trump forces may create a disinformation campaign so that Americaninsurance companies and pharmaceuticals can continue to unjustifiably raiseprices.

It’s uncertain whether the Trump administrationcan make inroads into eliminating, or at least curbing, these embedded, systematicand egregious abuses. Lobbyists are the most powerful political parasites in ademocracy and may be more difficult to root out than an intestinal worm.

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The CeruleanCouncil is a NYC-based think-tank that provides prescient, beyond-the-horizon,contrarian perspectives and risk assessments on geopolitical dynamics andglobal urban security.