Murdered Insurance CEO Had Deployed an AI to spot and deny certain claims
Just over a year before United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered this week in Midtown Manhattan, a lawsuit filed against the insurance giant he helmed revealed just how draconian its claims-denying process had become.
Last November, the estates of two former UHC patients filed suit in Minnesota alleging that the insurer used an AI algorithm to deny and override claims to elderly patients that had been approved by their doctors.
The algorithm in question, known as nH Predict, allegedly had a 90 percent error rate — and according to the families of the two deceased men who filed the suit, UHC knew it.
As that lawsuit made its way through the courts, anger regarding the massive insurer's predilection towards denying claims has only grown, and speculation about the assassin's motives suggests that he may have been among those upset with UHC's coverage.
Though we don't yet know the identity of the person who shot Thompson nor his reasoning, reports claim that he wrote the words "deny," "defend," and "depose" on the shell casing of the bullets used to shoot the CEO — a message that makes it sound a lot like the killer was aggrieved against the insurance industry's aggressive denials of coverage to sick patients.
Beyond the shooter's own motives, it's clear from the shockingly celebratory reaction online to Thompson's murder that anger about the American insurance and healthcare system has reached the point of literal bloodlust.
As The American Prospect so aptly put it, "only about 50 million customers of America’s reigning medical monopoly might have a motive to exact revenge upon the UnitedHealthcare CEO."
And the alarming cruelty of the claims around the company's AI algorithm — we asked the company whether it's still using it, but received no immediate reply — perfectly illustrates why they're so angry.
More at link below.
And.... More on insurance evils: Private Equity Firm Accused of Buying Life Insurance Policies on Old People to Profit From Their Deaths
https://share.newsbreak.com/a87qylu4
The US healthcare scam is getting exposure!
My mother's been fighting with these a- holes for two years to pay for a mammogram. They keep playing games with codes and blaming other people. She believes someone just got pissed off and killed him.....
If your going to cheet millions of people,you probably shouldn't just walk around on the street.
All the time! My well visit in 2010. Blue Cross would not pay the Doctor and he kept calling me. Told me I don't pay for an employee to call all day. It's your insurance he told me. It was before Obamacare, and he would not administer that, so I had to find a new doctor. He said all the ins is too crazy. So I call and they say they didn't code it correctly. Tell them to resubmit. So I call them and they laugh...we coded it right I'm told, but we'll resend it. Same thing happens again! I get another letter to please contact them for payment. Same coding bullshit. Finally at the end of the fricking year, they pay it. Those are nominal fees and they won't pay 219.00? Blue Cross was keeping money for well visits until the end of the year! These are dedicated doctors who are having payments withheld for non reason, they just want to keep their money as long as they can. What a way to treat those who go through hell to be a doctor!
30+ years ago when we had some real reporters,this company would have been public enemy number 1. I never even heard of this company/ issue until this murder.
They must have been paying off a bunch of people.
Big pharma makes synthetic medicine that actually kills us slowly and they make it expensive and exclusive to get, teaches med students their fucked up way of doing things which we pay lots of money to listen to, then tells us we need to pay someone ELSE, under punishment of fines, to make the doctor and medicine cheaper, both of which are slowly killing us knowingly or unknowingly.... its one big money circle jerk
Big Harma.
Im not buying this narrative they have going of a non professional hit made by a guy pissed off over being denied coverage. Im not buying all this neatly packaged evidence, all quickly assembled, leading to the easy conclusions using a bias nearly all Americans share of being screwed over by insurance companies. Its all too convenient.
This is all a lie. I cant tell you exactly what happened but I know narrative building in a FF when I see it.
I read here now late he was due to testify in court. I'm sure there are people out there you didn't want it to happen.
I wonder if AI can go rogue and plant Assassin ideas into the minds of family members suffering from this Evil use of AI?