These 6 charts expose the 'rotten' depravity of US health insurance companies

20 December 2024

On Thursday, December 19, Luigi Mangione — the 26-year-old suspect in the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson — was extradited from Pennsylvania to New York City, where he is now facing both federal and state charges.

The killing has set off a great deal of commentary about major problems in the United States' health insurance system. And some scathing critics of health insurance companies — including filmmaker/activist Michael Moore, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, and MSNBC's Joy Reid — have made it clear that while they condemn the killing and vehemently oppose vigilante justice, they also condemn insurance practices that cause Americans to go bankrupt or avoid seeking medical care when they desperately need it.

Moore, on his MichaelMoore.com website, slammed United Healthcare and other insurance companies for causing "mass death and misery" and wrote, "Yes, I condemn murder, and that's why I condemn America's broken, vile, rapacious, bloodthirsty, unethical, immoral health care industry."

In a biting article published on December 20, Mother Jones Michael Mechanic points to six charts that, he says, show how "rotten" the health insurance industry can be to its customers.

The charts come from the Commonwealth Fund's biannual survey on the state of health insurance in the U.S.

"Indeed, it’s hard to look at these six charts — five of which are derived from the Commonwealth report — and not conclude that something is rotten in Washington and on Wall Street," Mechanic argues. "The Affordable Care Act, which Republican lawmakers very nearly repealed during the first Trump Administration, has cut the number of uninsured Americans in half, to 26 million last year, or roughly 1 in 12 people.… But when you factor in the number of underinsured Americans and the number of people carrying medical debt, even the current state of health coverage is far from ideal."

Mechanic adds, "The Commonwealth surveys were conducted this spring with 6480 people, ages 19 to 64, who for the most part rely largely on commercial plans obtained through their work or via the ACA exchanges."

The Mother Jones editor goes on to describe the problems that the charts underscore: (1) "About a third of working-age Americans, 19-64, remain uninsured or underinsured," (2) "Insured patients with chronic conditions are avoiding their medications due to high costs," (3) "More than 1 in 5 insured Americans have medical debt," (4) "Nearly half of those with medical debt owe $2000-plus," (5) "Medical debt causes widespread anxiety," and (6) "Insurance profits outpace health care spending."

"It's the sicker folks who face the high out-of-pocket costs," Mechanic laments. "In fact, roughly a quarter of insured people with certain chronic health conditions said they were skipping doses of medications their doctors prescribed, or hadn't gotten prescriptions filled, because of the cost."

Mechanic continues, "Given the above, it shouldn't be surprising that lots of people who thought they were adequately insured have found themselves in debt to hospitals, medical and dental care providers, financial institutions, and bill collectors. The numbers are, of course, higher for uninsured and underinsured people."

Read Mother Jones' full article at this link.

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