The early morning killing of a top health insurance executive in midtown Manhattan Wednesday has unleashed a flurry of rage and frustration from social media users over denials of their medical claims, a public display of Americans’ pent-up anger at the nation’s complex health insurance industry.
In one stark example, a Facebook post by UnitedHealth Group expressing sadness about UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s death received 62,000 reactions — 57,000 of them laughing emojis. UnitedHealth Group is the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, the division that Thompson ran.
A source told CNN that there were concerning threats against UnitedHealth Group, although Thompson’s name was not mentioned.
Almost immediately after news broke that Thompson had been killed, social media users began posting about their frustrations with UnitedHealthcare and other insurance companies.
Their stories could not be independently verified by CNN.
TikTokker and anesthesiologist Brian Schmutzler said in a video that the shooting was “obviously tragic for him, tragic for his family, but this brought up some bigger issues.”