What can we learn from the fatal shooting of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson?
Last Updated: 01.07.2025 10:37
The commercial - profit seeking power of doctors - who need to pay a lot in legal fees, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals in America is enormous.
Health insurance only works on a scale of mass solidarity. If insurance is segmented in a competitive market then companies will seek to cut costs, for example, they won’t want to insure people with preexisting conditions or only up to a certain amount. A lot like veterinary insurance for people.
Money goes up..
If poor people can’t afford insurance then insurance overall becomes more expensive. Less people = less money flowing into the system.
It’s not difficult to imagine a motivation. The trauma of grief from losing a loved one who was denied care, or a family pouring their hard earned financial security into paying overwhelming medical costs, these collective experiences are the real solidarity in this system.
These profits don’t go back into the system but to anonymous shareholders, who buy shares on international financial markets, and billionaires keep their wealth in tax havens like the Cayman islands, etc.