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I hope that was a mugger
United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson was killed on Wednesday in New York City. Written on the shell casings left by his killer were the words “Deny,” “Defend,” and “Depose,” which suggests this was not a random killing. NYC police have been investigating the fact that UnitedHealthcare has been under attack recently from People’s Action Institute — a leftist organization with a leftist name whose website describes their goals thusly: “Advance a long-term agenda for racial, economic and gender justice by investing in powerful state and local organizations and campaigns that win real change in people’s lives.” Why can’t leftists just come out and say what they want? I can think of only one possible explanation, and it’s not good.
Anyway, People’s Action Institute released the following statement recently about Medicare patients getting denied coverage. They mentioned no specific cases, but said:
“Despite having health insurance coverage, people are experiencing barriers to receiving care. The largest barrier to receiving care is the private health insurance corporations themselves refusing to authorize or pay for care.”
These people have apparently never heard of Canadian or British healthcare systems. They have also never heard of Obamacare, apparently, in which millions of people have health insurance but can’t get health care. They’re shocked. SHOCKED!
Leftists demand that government pay for health care. So we get Medicare. Today, Medicare has a $1 trillion dollar budget, 75% of which is deficit spending. And even with that, Medicare can’t come close to meeting the health care needs of elderly Americans. So it allows them to buy secondary insurance, to help cover that which Medicare just can’t afford. And even with that, the private insurance companies can’t cover everything, either. We eventually run out of other people’s money. And guess who leftists get mad at? Private insurance companies.
That really is amazing. If Medicare worked, we wouldn’t need private insurance companies to be involved at all. Medicare begs them for help, and hands them a problem which they can’t solve. But leftists still love Medicare. Even though Medicare doesn’t work. Because it can’t work. Medicare borrows 3/4 of a TRILLION dollars a year, and it’s not enough. Perhaps Medicare doesn’t work? Because it can’t work?
And that’s the fault of private insurance companies.
Imagine private insurance companies seeing this and thinking, “This is not worth the trouble. We’re not going to do Medicare plans.” Imagine Medicare without secondary insurance. It doesn’t cover anything. The Canadian system sort of works because when Canadians get sick, they come to America.
Where would we send our sick people? Mexico?
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Government programs don’t work because they can’t work. If that inevitable outcome leads to violence from its proponents, then this becomes a Mobius Strip of resentment and destruction.
Was this killing in NYC the act of a left-wing organization that blames private companies for the problems that result from their own irrational faith in government?
I really hope not. Because if that’s true, then this is just the beginning.
Political violence nearly always comes from the left. Were the Black Lives Matter riots just a sample of things to come? Is American society actively tearing itself apart? Has our government and its supporters developed an open adversarial relationship with the American people?
Source: Shutterstock, 1794791080
I really hope not.
This could get ugly quickly.
I hope that was just a mugger on a NYC sidewalk.
Because if this was a politically targeted killing, planned by angry leftists, then this could get ugly really, really quickly.
Published in General
It’s already ugly, Doc. Very ugly.
Five bucks he’s a tranny. I’ll accept the first taker. If I lose, I’ll pay you off with the five bucks I saved to pay She the last time I lost a bet here.
Clearly an assassin. Lying in wait. Shot in back. Not robbed. The health insurance references on the shells.
Here is the book referenced:
In the late 1960’s I had great uncles (long deceased) who went to Mexico for cheaper medical care.
Thirty years later I had friends who took well used medical apparatus to Mexico to sell it cheap.
Still later I relocated and lost contact.
I watched the whole video on Fox while I was working out. I did pullups, pulldowns, straight cable rows, dumbbell rows, and close grip pulldowns. They played the whole thing at least twice (it’s not very long) and provided great commentary. Unusually for America’s Newsroom on YouTube, the video wasn’t covered by some anodyne photo.
Fox’s reporting was excellent, hope it’s still available. I just looked for it a little but can’t find it easily. The (ex-FBI, I think) commentator noted the shooter never hesitated when his pistol needed attention after each of the first two shots. He didn’t appear to clear a malfunction, it just looked like he was normally cycling a single shot pistol. The commentator thought the gun had not only a suppressor, but also a device that prevents the gun cycling normally when fired. That would be as quiet a handgun setup as I’ve ever heard of.
The guy also noted the presence of the witness, and the general location. His opinion was that the shooter had practiced and planned, but was not a “professional” hit man. Person. Note my sly insinuation. He predicted the shooter was therefore personally motivated, and would make stupid mistakes.
What weirds me out is that one can’t find a good copy of the video easily. Here is one I eventually found after trying three search engines. The networks are all posting a deliberately low-rez version that’s very heavily edited. I sure would like for a good reporter to actually connect the dots between those pictures from Starbucks and the video; I’m not convinced by that backpack.
I fear that we are getting close to a tipping point, at least in some parts of the country, where all people who can afford it will have private security 24-7 and where concealed carry will become a necessity for everyone else.
I heard from gun people that the suppressor would prevent normal cycle action and that manual cycling would be required. The shooter looks to have practiced with the firearm + suppressor.
I am optimistic. I think we are past peak Woke.
I heard that theory too. If his ammo was subsonic .22 LR, then that makes some sense, it might not be enough to cycle the slide. He’s certainly proficient.
India comes to mind. Yup, it’s still No. 1 in medical tourism according to this web site. Mexico is more for dental services. You can go to “Tooth City” just across the border near Yuma.
https://www.travelagewest.com/Travel/Mexico/medical-procedures-in-mexico
Would private health insurance in the US cover procedures carried out in Mexico? Because that could be an innovative way to add value. ??
I’d rather find ways to make things less expensive in the US.
Private insurance routinely covering procedures carried out in Mexico would definitely make things less costly in the US.
Insurance companies are not doing themselves any favors here. Despite record profits they continue to behave like pirates when dealing with patients, physicians and hospitals.
The latest outrage is Anthem BC BS refusing to pay for anesthesia if the surgery exceeds what Anthem considers the amount of time the surgery should take. Maybe we should return to the pre anesthesia days when surgeons were timed with stopwatches by the observers in the OR.
Bomb the Eccles Building. Problem solved.
Within eight years after they shoved Medicare down our throats at gunpoint, they knew it was an *actuarial disaster by 9X.
Then we got Obamacare.
Government Is How We Steal From Each Other™
The Ludwig von Mises Institute Is Right About Everything™
lIbERtaRiAns dOn’t lIVe iN tHe rEAl woRld
acTUaRIaL sCIenCE iS bOrInG
*edit
Even some on the right (who should know better) ignore the impact of government over-involvement in our health care system. Or should I say, “systems?”
Cold-blooded killer…not old enough to have been screwed by Medicare…either no criminal background and passed background check or career criminal who knew how to get a gun on the black market. Obviously had a specific personal beef with the other person or had a beef with the insurance and blamed the CEO. Radical lefty? I’m not sure there was that much hatred built up to go this far, yet. Gangbanger trying to prove his creds? I think the target would have been someone in the gangster world. Ergo, i bet it was a targeted personal assassination by someone he knew and jilted in some way. That last step, approaching him so the victim could see who it was or hear one last “up yours” as he lay dying, one last act of revenge.
Kozak, your voice is powerful and Anthem BC BS heard you: “There has been significant widespread misinformation about an update to our anesthesia policy. As a result, we have decided to not proceed with this policy change,” the company said in a statement to NPR on Thursday afternoon.”
But now they are accusing you of disseminating misinformation!
We should talk about the healthcare industry. Employers are required to provide insurance (thanks Obama). Healthcare providers attempt to maximize the spend on healthcare. To avoid maximum spend, employers utilize health insurance providers to limit costs. Health insurance providers limit costs to employers by leveraging scale (United Health is huge), rationing health services, and a little bit of promoting wellness. Our $5 Trillion/year system makes the insurance companies the bad guys.
This is a hard problem to fix. Americans feel entitled to “free” healthcare and the industry is too powerful to push through changes that would lower costs. MAHA provides a side fix in that healthy Americans will lower costs in spite of a bad system.
I heard this is simply aligning with government reimbursement rules. I assume the contract would force the hospital to eat the cost. Anesthesiologists, surgeons, and hospitals all bill separately, so it is weird. Somebody is going to miss a boat payment.
If you come across the source for this information, I’m interested. I’ll be on the lookout, too.
I’ve come across some issues, too, where my wife and I are losing certain medical care because of a conflict with our Medicare Advantage plan, but this is all coming at a time when Biden has changed the rules on government reimbursement. The WSJ was warning about that a couple of months ago, IIRC. I didn’t know until last week that it was going to affect us.
Dr Bastiat, avoid reading the last paragraph if your blood pressure is prone to going sky high.
Oh Noes! A One Trillion Dollar A Year US Medicare Budget!!
But then I think about things for a moment.
In Germany, no one is put on a statin unless their cholesterol reading is at least 230. Here people with cholesterol readings of 160, which is as low as a post menopause female’s reading is going to go, will be signed up for a lifetime of statins as soon as her doctor can talk her into it.
Of course men take statins as well.
So how much does the prescribing of statins for the MediCare and MediCaid population cost us? Could we maintain a healthier population by not over prescribing these items? I suspect we could, but people who think along these lines do not have lobbyists influencing Congress to help have this happen.
Also, why is cholesterol the enemy? In Denmark men above forty often have high readings, even up to 300 or so, as the Danes are heavily into dairy. But in that nation the milk is not homogenized so the particle size of the milk lipids is different than what our milk has. Perhaps due to that factor, the Danes do not have higher clogged artery readings than people in the USA.
To figure out whether cholesterol is the enemy of not, we need to ask: What is cholesterol for?
“Cholesterol is essential for making the cell membrane and cell structures and is vital for synthesis of hormones, vitamin D and other substances. As far as cell membrane synthesis – Cholesterol helps to regulate membrane fluidity over the range of physiological temperatures. It has a hydroxyl group that interacts with the polar head groups of the membrane phospholipids and sphingolipids.
“Cholesterol in the myelin sheaths – The nerve cells are covered with a protective layer or myelin sheath. The myelin sheath is rich in cholesterol. This is because it is derived from compacted layers of Schwann cell membrane. It helps in providing protection, insulation and allows more efficient conduction of nerve impulses.” (Source: news-medical.net )
We need maximum Vitamin D to ward off infections. Why does Big Pharma want to introduce a drug into our systems to prevent the absorption of a needed vitamin? Of course there are Rx items which then help people who become deficient of Vitamin D to then be able to absorb the Vitamin D. When this second item is prescribed, then the people inside Pharma rejoice as the statins have benefited them not once but twice!
I live in the black walnut capital of Northern California. An extract of black walnut was given to a girlfriend who had fibromyalgia. She had been using a cane. Within six weeks of her consuming 2 tablespoons a day of the extract she no longer needed her cane.
Cost of black walnut extract: my time and the walnuts that are free to me from neighbors who do not want them, and some purified water. Plus a little bit of 100% vodka for the extract.
I do not know the cost of Lyrica, which was the pain med and fibromyalgia relief-go-to prescription at the time she took the extract. But I think it might have easily cost something like $300 a month.
Some people might have needed to use the black walnut extract for ten weeks. They would have had to stop for a three week period at the six week mark and then resume.
If this was looked into and thought was given, it could provide a cottage industry for people in my rural community. Of course Pharma owns our House and Senate, as well as the state legislatures, so I am not holding my breath.
We also have a slew of people on Alzheimer relief drugs, although we do not know if the theory about plaque in the brain as the cause is correct or not. There were people who had a different theory and who had tried to receive FDA approval. Their attempts to patent their remedies failed. But the approved Alzheimer meds seem to be a big failure as well.
“I know that some drug company representatives are likely to object to that last sentence. After all, the FDA did approve two new drugs against AD. The first was Aduhelm (aducanumab). That got the FDA’s green light on June 7, 2021 even though the agency’s own independent advisory committee recommended against FDA approval. You can read the whole sordid story at this link.” (Source: https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/articles/why-are-there-no-effective-alzheimers-drugs )
And now here is the mic drop moment: Calley and Casey Means have been trying to get the word out that Ozempic is about to go viral, with a huge push from its creator Novo-Nordisk. Calley Means is a guy who was employed inside the financial side of prescription drugs and medical care. Casey Means is a MD.
This duo was on Tucker Carlson a few months ago. Their big revelation is that from their critical perspective, over the next 3 to 4 years, Pharma will undertake an enormous push to have every single obese individual in the USA, from the age of 7 up, taking this drug for the rest of their lifetime.
But do not worry much about that situation. This push for universal Ozempic for all us fatties will only add a mere Three Trillion Dollars to the annual Medicare and Medicaid budget. (A Keto diet would accomplish the same thing, and take 18 months and not cost the tax payers this fortune.)
and the FBI will still be tracking PTA meetings
Regarding the United Healthcare assassination:
this is the pistol used:
https://www.recoilweb.com/bt-vp9-review-veterinary-pistol-163880.html
some commentators have said that in the video it looks like the gun jams and he has to hand-cycle it. That’s because it’s bolt-action. It’s a 9mm handgun with integral silencer. You have to have two ATF stamps because it comes with two different silencers. And they only imported 250 of them into the US.
So this is a strange weapon to use in an assassination, because it’s (a) rare and (b) requires much more paperwork than the usual handgun.
It could have been stolen, of course.
Buuut…it’s also based on a handgun produced specifically for assassination in the Second World War —the Welrod—known for having a scary-quiet silencer. So a brilliant idea for an assassination. Brugger &Thomet calls it the VP9–veterinary pistol—marketed to people who need to euthanize animals.
a strange case indeed
[edited for spelling]
There is a lesson in this: Almost a century ago, the legal profession began a movement to codify legal ethics. This was, in part, a principled effort to protect the attorney-client relationship and in part a far-sighted response to the threat of legal insurance. In the 1920s some entrepreneurial types were offering legal insurance. Pay a regular small fixed fee and the insurance corporation who supply a lawyer when needed. This was similar to what ethnic community groups and the Knights of Columbus were offering with respect to medical care.
The obvious problem is that the insurance company may not want to spend a lot of lawyer time on difficult cases and direct settlement or a plea even if the client and the attorney preferred to fight on. It is a clear conflict of interest.
Lawyers kept the insurers out and they still own their profession. Doctors don’t own theirs.
A conflict of interest still exists in malpractice cases. A physician may want his day in court to defend his choices, actions and professional judgment but the malpractice insurer decides whether to fight, settle or surrender. The doc is not even legally permitted to throw off his deal with his coverage provider and personally assume the risk of going to trial.
Insurance companies, the federal government and the big corporate providers that own multiple hospitals also dictate what doctors will do and how much they will be paid. [A daughter-in-law, an RN working in an admin job in a giant regional health corporation was once tasked with calling a list of doctors who the computers noticed were spending as much as an additional 10-15 minutes per patient which was deemed grossly inefficient. Several told her they were about to quit anyway. She hated the job but got a promotion to do other things because the company swallowed up a smaller entity and she was now more senior in a larger, even more impersonal entity which eventually laid her off presumably for cost-cutting reasons.]
I don’t have the skills or detailed understanding to offer a fix but the US system seems to have all of the burdens of a bureaucratized socialized system with few if any of the expected efficiencies and cost-controls that are supposed to accrue from markets and competition. Something is clearly missing.
Meanwhile, a lot of people of average means do get healthcare, while people of average means may not be able to afford a lawyer even if they very seriously need one.
Lawyers themselves, such as David French, don’t think this is a problem. But they’re lawyers.
Ain’t that the truth.