Luigi the Avenger: We Actually Do Hate our Health Insurance-SPL #372 Dec 13 2024

Let’s face it: a lot of people cheered the assassination of a health insurance executive. But people love their commercial health insurance, right? That’s why Medicare for All could never get anywhere in America—or so we were constantly told. 

Maybe the paradox has an explanation: people are generally healthy and don’t use their coverage most of the time. But then something serious happens, and that’s when the corporate suits come down on them like, well, like Luigi with a silencer. Mystery solved—health insurance works really well as long as you don’t cost them big money. When you’re in a coma, the punishment begins.   

P.S. Brian Thompson was NOT a “healthcare professional.” He was an accountant who installed financial management maneuvers that “increased shareholder value.”

Here are links to all the articles mentioned this week: 

Glenn Greenwald’s horror story of how UH canceled his comatose husband’s coverage after one month of a nine-month hospitalization. https://bit.ly/3OQHWXR  

Branko Marcetic, “Americans hate their private health insurance,” Jacobin, Dec 7, 2024 https://bit.ly/3OTYu1s

Bruce Gil, “A leaked video of UnitedHealth CEO defending denial practices sparks more online backlash,” Quartz, Dec 9, 2024 https://bit.ly/4f9mHLK

“Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield reverses decision to put a time limit on anesthesia,” Associated Press, Dec 6, 2024 https://bit.ly/49FjzGs

David Millward, “Inside the shady world of health insurers—and the 1.2 seconds it takes them to deny claims,” The Telegraph, Dec 6, 2024 https://bit.ly/3ORF65e

Jeffrey St. Clair, “Delay and deny, deny, deny,” CounterPunch, Dec 6, 2024 https://bit.ly/4gaUhlY

Rob Urie, “Politics by other means, insurance industry edition: Ready, aim, deny,” Journal of Belligerent Provocation, Dec 9, 2024 https://roburie.substack.com/p/politics-by-other-means-insurance

Lauren Irwin, “Majority of Americans say health care is government responsibility: Gallup,” The Hill, Dec 9, 2024 https://bit.ly/3VXbZ4r

Usha Lee McFarling, “Spending less, living longer: What the U.S. can learn from Portugal’s innovative health system,” STAT, Dec 10, 2024 https://bit.ly/4gb4n68

Todd Shryock, “Business group sounds the alarm on historic surge in health care costs for 2025,” Medical Economics, Dec 3, 2024 https://bit.ly/4ixzScg

Natalie Dunlap, Ben Kieffer & Danielle Gehr, “Iowa’s troubling physician shortage is expected to get worse. Doctors are advocating for solutions,” Iowa Public Radio, Dec 5, 2024 https://bit.ly/4iz2i5U

Madeline Ashley, “Feds seize phones of former Steward CEO, top exec,” Becker’s Hospital Review, Nov 25, 2024 https://bit.ly/3BqmwOe

Brett Kelman, “Six years into an Appalachia hospital monopoly, patients are fearful and furious,” KFF Health News/States Newsroom, Dec 6, 2024 https://bit.ly/49xd2NO

Kelsey Denham, “My son has a brain malformation. We shouldn’t need to be insurance experts for his care,” USA Today, Nov 17, 2024 https://bit.ly/3DeZtqs

Elliott S. Fisher, “Insurance companies like United Healthcare are not the only ones to blame for a broken system,” STAT, Dec 5, 2024 https://bit.ly/3BeXlhL

Matt Stoller, “Trump lays out his antitrust agenda,” BIG, Dec 8, 2024 https://bit.ly/49AaRco

Joyce Frieden, “FDA panned at Senate hearing for failure to address diabetes, obesity epidemics,” MedPage Today, Dec 5, 2024 https://bit.ly/4fb2Pb3

Karen Kaplan, “How the FDA allows companies to add secret ingredients to our food,” Los Angeles Times, Dec 4, 2024 https://bit.ly/3ZxLTFP

Pamela Ferdinand, “Carrageenan may damage gut lining, promote inflammation and type 2 diabetes risk,” U.S. Right To Know, Dec 9, 2024 https://bit.ly/3ZosaIM

Katelyn Fossett, “Michael Pollan is not endorsing RFK Jr.,” Politico, Nov 21, 2024 https://bit.ly/4flJXq8

Ed Silverman, “U.S. Patent Office pulls controversial rule to curb pharma patent abuse,” STAT, Dec. 4, 2024 https://bit.ly/3OROzt9

“Study reveals lasting effects of common herbicide on brain health,” Eureka Alert/Arizona State University, Dec 4, 2024 https://bit.ly/3ZPfBHK

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