Doctors in one of the Internetâs top medical communities have turned on the murdered UnitedHealthcare (UHC) CEO Brian Thompson in such brutal fashion that Reddit moderators deleted a thread on the killing.
The moderators of r/medicine closed the thread, posted Wednesday after news broke that Thompson was shot dead outside the New York Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan, after it racked up over 500 replies.
The commenters overwhelmingly criticizedâand satirizedâthe insurerâs alleged denial of coverage to sick and dying Americans in order to juice profits.
The top comment, which received hundreds of supporting upvotes from other users, mocked UHCâs notorious track record for refusing to pay out insurance claims and is written as a lengthy, spoof rejection letter from the company.
Addressed to an unnamed applicantâfollowing âa careful review of the claim submitted for emergency services on December 4, 2024âłâit informs them they are being rejected for coverage because âyou failed to obtain prior authorization before seeking care for the gunshot wound to your chest.â
âIf you would like to appeal the fatal gunshot, please call 1-800-555-1234 with case # 123456789P to initiate a peer to peer within 48 hours of the fatal gun shot,â wrote one user.
Another paraphrased the early 20th Century trade union lawyer Clarence Darrow: âłIâve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure."
Dozens and dozens more expressed similar sentiment.
That original thread may have been deleted but criticism of Thompson on Reddit has not died down. Roughly 16 hours after the deleted post was made in r/medicine, another user made a separate post soliciting thoughts on the murder. It has remained up.
As with the previous thread, some comments contain humor or outrage expressed at UHC.
But othersâincluding from doctors and medical professionalsâoffer incisive and unsparing critiques of Thompsonâs business practices.
One medical doctor, whose identity the Daily Beast confirmed, commented with sympathy for Thompsonâs family and said the killer should be charged with murder, but then wondered about the damage the CEO had done.
âI cannot even guess how many person-years UHC has taken from patients and their families through denials,â they wrote. âIt has to be on the order of millions. His death wonât make that better, but itâs hard for me to sympathize when so many people have suffered because of his company.â
âWhat has bothered me the most is people that put «fiduciary responsibility» (eg profits) above human lives, none more so than this company as run by him," wrote another medical doctor, who also spoke to the Daily Beast to confirm their identity. âWhen otherâs human lives are deemed worthless, it is not surprising to have others view your life of no value as well.â
The moderators of the subreddit told the Daily Beast, in a message, that they removed the original post âbecause it was unproductive, a time suck for the mods, without a good source, being brigaded, arguably against Redditâs [terms of service] and [featured] too many inappropriate comments.â
The siteâs communities are moderated by teams of volunteers.
âIt wasnât because of criticism of business practices,â the statement added. âWe criticize insurance business practices frequently here.â
Under Thompsonâs leadership, UHC faced intense criticism for being one of Americaâs most ruthlessly profit-minded moneymaking healthcare firms.
According to research by ValuePenguin citing in-network claim data, it âis the worst insurance company for paying claims with about one-third of claims denied.â
In September, a Senate report excoriated UHC and two other large insurers, Humana and CVS, for allegedly denying patients access to post-acute care in order to increase profits.
UHC is a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, the countryâs largest healthcare conglomerate, which made $371 billion in revenue last year, when Thompsonâs compensation was $10 million.
Police have yet to attribute a motive to the masked killer who shot Thompson outside an investor meeting in what NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch said was likely a âpremeditated, preplanned, targeted attack.â
Law enforcement officials found the words âdeny,â âdefendâ and âdeposeâ on shell casings recovered from the crime scene and are reportedly examining whether they can be connected to a motive involving insurance companies.