America's HELL Corporations

One year after the killing of UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson, healthcare in America is at an even worse crossroads

One year ago today, on December 4, the UnitedHealth CEO was allegedly killed by Luigi Mangione. Corporate media has focused heavily on the sensational details of this case. But in my view there’s an even larger question too few seem to be asking: Since the CEO’s death, how many preventable deaths have occurred because of the exploitative policies of health insurance companies like UnitedHealth, and where is the accountability for those deaths? The answer is daunting, disgusting, and destructive to America’s peace and safety—yet corporate media continues to ignore it. Let’s Address This.

(L) Luigi Mangione is accused of killing (R) UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson.

Per The Lancet, America’s for-profit health system is responsible for nearly 68,000 preventable deaths annually. That’s how many Americans have suffered preventable deaths in the year since the CEO’s killing. If we agree killing is wrong, and Mangione is on trial because he is accused of killing the CEO, then the next question is simple: When do the CEOs who knowingly enabled these 68,000 deaths go on trial?

The answer? They never will. Because in America, we’ve normalized corporate greed and profit-driven healthcare policies as “business as usual,” even when they kill tens of thousands of people annually. And those responsible remain a protected class.

Let’s Start With a Question

Can we agree that in the wealthiest country on Earth, no parent should have to watch their severely asthmatic child gasp for air because health insurance corporations deny them care? In 2017 I received a call from my wife Ayesha, frantic as she drove our then 4-year-old son to his doctor as he suffered an asthma attack. I was out of state and felt helpless but knew Ayesha would not relent until our son was safe.

Horrifyingly, our son’s doctor would not see him because our insurance company declined coverage on the spot. My wife offered to pay out of pocket (by clearing out what little we had in our savings). The doctor explained that they also could not accept cash payments as our insurance company had a provision restricting cash payments when they were our insurer. Ridiculously, our insurance company was simultaneously denying us coverage, while preventing our doctor from treating us because, perhaps because they did not want to lose the revenue of a cash payment.

Finally, Ayesha rushed our son to the emergency room, where they were able to treat him and alleviate his asthma attack. It took us more than a year to pay the several thousand dollar emergency room bill.

Our insurance company, the one who denied us care, was UnitedHealth.

So while we express disgust at the reckless killing of the UnitedHealth CEO, why stop there? Where is the outrage at UnitedHealth for perpetually being the worst offender and rejecting more insurance claims than any other company—rejections that cost countless lives annually?

My child was among the 32% of patients suffering a medical emergency, denied care because UnitedHealth felt their right to make money was more important than my child’s right to live. And my son is not alone. Last year UnitedHealth fired its intake team and implemented AI technology to process insurance claims for senior citizens. This decision resulted in the rejection of more than 90% of claims for senior citizens, leaving many without the critical medications they needed to survive, and killing them. This isn’t just negligence—it’s a system designed to prioritize profits over human lives. So beyond civil lawsuits, when do the criminal trials begin for knowingly causing these thousands of deaths?

The Real Violence We Refuse to Acknowledge

I don’t think killing CEOs is the answer. I do think we must recognize that the violence of America’s healthcare system is real and ongoing. Some 68,000 Americans die preventable deaths annually because insurance corporations prioritize profit over care. That is violence.

Denying care to someone who needs life-saving medication is violence. Designing policies that knowingly cause thousands of preventable deaths is violence. Forcing families into medical bankruptcy is violence. Thus, the corporate for-profit grip on our healthcare system has pushed millions into financial ruin—with estimates of 500,000 annual medical bankruptcies. That financial ruin comes not just from major illnesses, but even from every day medications. For example, insulin, a life-saving medication that costs about $70 a year to produce, now costs $18,000 annually for many Americans. This is not inflation—it is exploitation—especially given that the scientists who discovered insulin sold its patent for $1 to ensure it would remain accessible to everyone.

But because we’ve normalized this violence, we don’t even acknowledge it as such. During the recent government shutdown, Republicans showed abject cruelty to insurance rates doubling and tripling with ACA subsidies set to expire. Democrats, meanwhile, ignored the core issue of the need for subsidies in the first place? If we instead joined every developed country in the world and guaranteed healthcare as a human right, politicians could no longer use our life saving medication as a political football every time there’s a dispute in Congress—which nowadays is constant.

And if we don’t call out this systemic violence for what it is, then we will never make progress toward protecting ourselves from future harm. Because it isn’t just about demanding accountability for the 68,000 Americans who died in the past year because health insurance corporations were more focused on raising profits to “improve shareholder value,” it is about preventing the atrocity of another nearly 68,000 Americans who will die over the next year because health insurance corporations will continue to prioritize profits over people.

It’s Time to Stop Calling Them ‘Health Insurance Companies’

You might be wondering why I titled this article “America’s HELL Corporations?” It isn’t just a play on words. It’s because we must stop using the sanitized term “health insurance companies” to describe what these corporations actually do.

These are not benevolent entities providing care—physicians and nurses provide the care. They are not insuring health either—we insure our own health with exercise and healthy eating. Instead, they are exploiting illness. And then, after denying us access to the care we need when we get hurt or sick, as all people do, they limit their own liability to prevent meaningful accountability. Therefore, I propose we stop using “health insurance companies” because the term is inaccurate and false.

Instead, let’s call them what they are: Health Exploitation Limited Liability Corporations.

Or, more succinctly: HELL Corporations.

Because that’s what they create—hell—for millions of Americans forced to fight for basic care. Hell to navigate endless bureaucracy. And hell to pay exorbitant prices for life-saving treatments—which are then all too often denied without accountability. And by the way, these 68,000 deaths do not account for the tens of millions more who suffer in agony and pain, receiving just enough care to not die, but not enough to regain health. That preventable but forced suffering is violence. It is HELL. And violent hell demands accountability.

Let’s Conclude With An Answer

It does not have to be this way. Countries around the world have proven that universal healthcare is possible and effective. They prioritize human dignity over corporate profits. Meanwhile, Americans are forced to fund a healthcare racket that leaves us sicker, poorer, and desperate. In fact, every single developed nation on Earth guarantees healthcare to its residents—except the United States.

A universal healthcare model would not only save thousands of precious lives, it would cost us $450 billion less annually. Yet, this violence against human life, perpetrated by corporate greed, doesn’t spark the outrage it deserves.

Study after study, including from prestigious outlets like The Lancet, prove that universal healthcare costs half per capita as the current exploitative for profit model, results in higher life expectancy, lower maternal mortality, lower infant mortality, and notably zero medical bankruptcies.

And to those who allege that a universal healthcare model will “result in long lines,” I ask you to consider this. However long those lines may be, keep in mind that already nearly 68,000 Americans die annually waiting in long American lines. Meanwhile, every developed nation that has universal healthcare has a higher life expectancy, lower maternal mortality, and lower infant mortality. This is not accident, it is the result of accessible healthcare. So however “long” those lines are in nations that guarantee healthcare, they are all shorter than the waiting lines in the United States that ultimately deny healthcare.

And finally, while Republicans are the worst offenders in working to strip away healthcare after taking corporate money from Big Pharma, too many Democrats buy into the corporate greed as well.

For example, I have run for U.S. Congress on the platform of guaranteed universal healthcare. My opponent, a corporate Democrat named Bill Foster, has voted three separate times with Republicans to gut the ACA, including to strip away protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Had he been successful it would have been a literal death sentence for two of our three children. Our two younger children have chronic health conditions with preexisting conditions that are fatal if not immediately treated. I did not win the primary election, in significant part because the same corporate money used to buy Bill Foster’s vote to try to strip our healthcare, was then spent to ensure he stayed in office, lest a new representative emerge who is focused on people’s health, not personal profit.

The Call to Action: Stand Against Corporate Exploitation

In the one year since the UnitedHealth CEO was killed, 68,000 Americans have died due to lack of healthcare access due to these exploitative HELL Corporations. And another year from now, some 68,000 more Americans will have died a similar fate. And I am willing to bet this is likely the first time you heard this horrifying fact so much as acknowledged by any corporate media outlet. This is the goal of HELL Corporations, and the failure of corporate media.

Corporate media will never hold accountable HELL Corporations or the corrupt corporate politicians who accept bribes campaign donations from HELL Corporations. They will continue to whitewash the exploitation, downplay the systemic violence, and protect the powerful. That’s why independent voices are so essential in this fight for justice.

If this resonated with you, subscribe to this newsletter and join us in speaking truth to power. Together, we can amplify the stories that corporate media refuses to tell. We can demand accountability. And we can keep fighting for a healthcare system that values human life over corporate profit. United, we can stop the vice grip of HELL Corporations, and demand healthcare as a human right for all people in this country.

Let’s keep going. Let’s hold the powerful accountable. And let’s never stop calling out injustice. Because all hell can’t stop us now.