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Nick Cruse
revolutionary blackout network
PLUS
CHRIS HEDGES • NOOR AL-SIBAI • VICTOR TANGERMANN • PROF. ANTHONY ZENKUS • GLENN GREENWALD • ABC NEWS (USA)
This headline by the Washington Times is an apt summation of the cultural climate in America toward a long-despised industry.
Shocking response to UnitedHealth murder spotlights Americans’ outrage at insurance systemThe brazen murder of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare sparked a shocking backlash against insurers and their practices, raising questions about propriety while increasing pressure on the Trump administration and Congress to overhaul the industry. |
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The following is a dossier in several plates, each displayed as a self-contained bounded folio. Comments by the editor(s) may precede or follow each folio.
1. By Nick Cruse—Revolutionary Blackout Network
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The sad fact of the matter, as some put it, is that all across America, and certainly among many customers of UHC (endlessly promoted by another sellout outfit the AARP, which exploits elderly Americans), the mood is simply celebratory. For them, this is not a case of murder but of long-delayed justice. Futurism.com filed this interesting clip:
2. By Futurism/Neoscope NEOSCOPE
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In related news, also covered by Neoscope, another aspect of the horrific “American way of medicine” came under fire when Anthem Blue Cross, also one of the industry majors, suddenly decided to cut anesthesia coverage during surgeries after costs reached an arbitrary limit. The move was so absurd and predatory that it finally detonated an outburst of anger and protests so powerful that the politicians and corporadoes involved were forced to beat a quick retreat, showing that when the masses get organised or simply show their power, the ruling elites back off.
3. By Futurism/Neoscope / VICTOR TANGERMANNMAJOR INSURER SLAMMED FOR CUTTING OFF ANESTHESIA COVERAGE DURING SURGERIES“BABE WAKE UP YOUR SURGERY ISN’T DONE YET BUT WE CAN’T AFFORD ANY MORE ANESTHESIA.”[su_divider divider_color=”#153e75″ size=”9″ margin=”20″]
One of the country’s largest health insurance companies, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, announced that it would no longer cover anesthesia care during surgery procedures if they pass an arbitrary time limit — only to partially reverse the policy after an enraged outcry. The change was set to be implemented in Connecticut, New York, Missouri, and possibly Colorado starting early next year. However, the decision has already been overturned in Connecticut, highlighting the sheer unpopularity of the change.
The announcement, which was met with outrage by the medical community, couldn’t have come at a worse time. News of the change made its rounds in the media roughly a day after the assassination of UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson this week. Thompson was fatally shot in midtown Manhattan early Wednesday morning, sparking a fiery debate online surrounding the notorious deficiencies of the private insurance industry in the US. And Anthem appears to have read the room, quickly and quietly reversing the policy in Connecticut, as the Stamford Advocate reports. “After hearing from people across the state about this concerning policy, my office reached out to Anthem, and I’m pleased to share this policy will no longer be going into effect here in Connecticut,” the state’s Comptroller Sean Scanlon tweeted. It’s unclear whether the new policy will still go into effect in New York, Missouri, and Colorado. Nonetheless, the news has reignited plenty of anger over Americans being denied care and potentially having to face skyrocketing healthcare costs. According to the new change, Anthem will only cover the number of minutes under anesthesia “to the [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] amount,” the company wrote. The policy change was met with sheer outrage by experts. “The American Society of Anesthesiologists calls on Anthem to reverse this proposal immediately,” the group wrote in a strongly-worded rebuke, arguing that anesthesiologists provide individualized care, including “resolving unexpected complications that may arise and/or extend the duration of the surgery.” “This is just the latest in a long line of appalling behavior by commercial health insurers looking to drive their profits up at the expense of patients and physicians providing essential care,” said ASA president Donald Arnold in a statement. “It’s a cynical money grab by Anthem, designed to take advantage of the commitment anesthesiologists make thousands of times each day to provide their patients with expert, complete and safe ‘anesthesia care.'” “A policy like this is directly dangerous to patients’ well-being, regarding the quality of the procedures they receive and the financial strain they could face after the fact,” Connecticut senator and chair of the Public Health Committee Saud Anwar said in a separate statement. Anthem has since claimed that the change was designed to make “health care simpler and more affordable,” according to a statement to a Connecticut Fox affiliate. “One of the ways to achieve that goal is to help ensure that claims are accurately coded, and providers are reimbursed appropriately for the services they provide to members.” But whether that kind of explanation will sit well with patients is unlikely. Meanwhile, on social media, users traded grim jokes about the egregious new policy. “Babe wake up your surgery isn’t done yet but we can’t afford any more anesthesia,” toxicologist Josh Trebach tweeted. |
4. By ABC News (USA)
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5. By Chris Hedges
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6. By Glenn Greenwald Glenn GreenwaldDec 5, 2024
This is a clip from our show SYSTEM UPDATE, now airing every weeknight at 7pm ET on Rumble. You can watch the full episode for FREE here: https://rumble.com/v5w21k5-system-upd… |
7. By Notable Commentators
Prof. Zenkus
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8. By Jimmy Dore
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9. By New York MagazineThe People Cheering the UnitedHealthcare CEO ShootingA cold-blooded murder has become, to many, an opportunity to vent.
After her mother was diagnosed with stage-four breast cancer, Anna watched for years as she fought both the illness and the health-care system until her death in 2020. “The fight with the insurance companies was, in many ways, worse than cancer,” Anna says. “It took over my entire family’s life.” She recalls her mother’s time-consuming struggles to get new treatments approved. “It was just so maddening to know they were shaving years off my mom’s life because of the paperwork,” she says. So on Wednesday morning when she heard the news that UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead in Manhattan, she had a perverse reaction. “I am ashamed to admit it, but there was a little surge of Schadenfreude,” says Anna, who, like several others in this story, asked to use a pseudonym to protect her privacy. She was far from alone. Across the internet and on social media, countless people expressed grim satisfaction or even glee at the murder of 50-year-old Thompson, who is survived by a wife and two sons. Authorities say he was killed in a targeted attack and, days after the incident, the unidentified gunman is still at large. Bullet casings recovered by police were inscribed with the words deny, defend, and depose, apparent references to how insurance companies deal with patient claims. “Today, we mourn the death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, gunned down…. wait, I’m sorry — today we mourn the deaths of the 68,000 Americans who needlessly die each year so that insurance company execs like Brian Thompson can become multimillionaires,” one popular post on X read. Another on Reddit said, “I hope he still gets an ambulance bill that UHC refuses to pay.” UnitedHealth Group’s Facebook post sharing its statement on Thompson’s death received more than 46,000 reactions, with about 41,000 of respondents clicking the platform’s “haha” option displaying a laughing emoji. For many, Thompson’s death has been a means to vent and commiserate over the state of American health care and the insurance industry specifically, pitting multibillion-dollar corporations against patients who often have to fight to get even routine procedures covered — if they aren’t denied outright. Along with patients, health-care providers tangle daily with insurance companies, and they were not immune from the same feelings. A post discussing the shooting on a nursing-community sub-Reddit prompted a deluge of dark jokes. “I would offer thoughts and prayers but I’m gonna need a prior authorization first,” one user wrote. Claire, a psychologist, says she and many in her field were recently informed of UnitedHealthcare’s plans to cut rates for therapists who use the digital mental-health-care platforms Alma and Headway, causing several of her colleagues to drop their United-insured clients owing to the expense. “People have been feeling like executives or whoever oversees UnitedHealthcare in particular is directly harming if not contributing to the deaths of people, so I think that level of despair and helplessness perpetuates,” Claire says. “I never thought I’d be someone that would cheer vigilante justice, but it was pretty universal, at least in my community.” Diane, an oncology doctor, says her field has also suffered. “UnitedHealth Group in particular and Optum, which is their pharmacy benefit manager, make their money by profiteering off sick people, and we have a health-care system that is perfectly constructed to create great wealth and power in large corporations and is increasingly badly constructed to actually provide health care to patients,” she says. “The frustration from patients, from their caregivers, from the people who love them, from doctors, nurses, everybody in the health-care fields is just so huge right now. I’m saddened but not surprised at this event.” Though Diane is critical of the industry, she’s anxious about health-care-related violence: Over the past year, she has taken increased precautions at her own workplace to guard against the possibility of an active shooter. |
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