The Healthcare Industry's Pervasive Strategy of Denial

For experienced MD Elisabeth Potter, it was a typical day of surgeries stacked on top of one another. Nothing out of the ordinary until Potter received a phone call from United Healthcare at the halfway point in the midst of surgery. All operations seized. United asked Potter for information about the patient on the operating table. Shortly after, the doctor took to social media to immediately spread the story of what occurred. The thesis of her video, which has garnered over 6 million views on TikTok, was simple: insurers have too much power over the public's health. The evidence is overwhelmingly on her side as insurers time and time again put profit over lives. In a sea of various healthcare providers, United Healthcare is the biggest offender. Indeed, Potter has continually posted more and more anecdotes online of United outright denying healthcare to those who need it most. As a direct result of her videos, Potter's surgery center in Austin, Texas, has been blacklisted from any insurance networks. Crucially, her work entails breast reconstruction and innovative plastic surgery for cancer patients. Yet, as private companies continue to make the daily lives of U.S citizens harder in a broken healthcare system, the government does little to help. New analysis from yesterday found that Texas tax cuts for millionaires come as a direct tradeoff with health insurance for 4.7 million people.

With the press of a stamp, United Healthcare has directly killed millions of people. The underlying reason? New processes within the company utilize AI to automatically deny or approve insurance claims. For United specifically, after the implementation of AI systems, denial rates have reached 33 percent. That's because the board of directors and investors pulling the strings behind the company line their pockets even further with every denial. A new report revealed claims are often auto-denied, then approved much later after multiple rounds of costly appeals. In the process of filing an appeal, fighting the denial, and getting lifesaving care, huge amounts of money are lost for the everyday consumer on top of mounting prices for medical bills. Basic access to healthcare has become completely unaffordable. Moreover, public opinion is shifting as well. The University of Chicago conducted a poll post-killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. When adults were asked about the death, 7 in 10 adults said that denials for health care coverage by insurance companies played a "moderate role" in Thompson's passing.

During the G.W Bush Administration, conservatives pushed to privatize Medicare. So, the Medicare Advantage program was born, giving private insurers control over the bodies of our aging population. Indeed, for those above 65+, the private plan has become widely adopted across the nation. As a result of providers being private, for-profit companies, complaints have started to rise about unnecessary denials and unhealthy business practices. Moreover, as we see in nearly every effort of privatization, taxpayers pay higher costs. Traditional, public Medicare is much less expensive, while Medicare Advantage runs prices higher and draws from taxpayer funds to operate. So why do so many opt for Medicare Advantage if it is an objectively worse option? The answer is deception. The program promises an easier-to-understand, simple-to-navigate alternative to traditional Medicare that is appealing to older audiences. In reality, private companies make costs higher for everyone under the guise of "convenience". The private playbook is working. Nearly 54% of Medicare-eligible citizens are choosing Medicare Advantage instead.

Private companies do not belong in healthcare. From Big Pharma crowding out small innovators, CVS utilizing vertical integration, and insurance companies employing unethical business practices, it is certain that profits are put over lives in our capitalist system. While healthcare quality deteriorates, CEOs and investors get richer off suffering. Consumers not getting the care they need is a desirable situation for providers. Crippling debt for daily insulin turned into stock increases. Worst of all, death rakes in millions of dollars for companies. The system is broken, and corruption at every level has become the norm.