After a CEO was gunned down, will health insurers change their ways?

Many Americans who are dissatisfied with their health insurance have made their frustrations abundantly clear on social media in the days following the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Many Americans who are dissatisfied with their health insurance have made their frustrations abundantly clear on social media in the days following the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Whether the public outcry prompts insurers to adjust their practices – particularly the much-maligned denials of treatment and claims – or pushes lawmakers to force the industry to make changes remains to be seen. It depends, in part, on whether patients continue making their voices heard, experts say. Angry consumers have had success in overhauling the health insurance industry in the past. They railed against the restrictions of health maintenance organizations, or HMOs, in the 1990s, as captured in the 1997 movie “As Good As It Gets.” That helped spur insurers to offer more preferred provider organizations, or PPOs, which have fewer constraints but are more costly. Any shifts in the nation’s complex health care system, however, will not come easily, nor quickly, experts say. There are many players involved, each of which has its own patient care concerns, financial interests and lobbying dollars to influence lawmakers. While many patients and their advocates argue that insurers deny care to pad their profits, the industry maintains that it is protecting consumers from high prices and unnecessary care. Soon after Thompson’s murder, Andrew Witty, CEO of parent company UnitedHealth Group, vowed in an internal message to employees to continue the insurer’s mission of helping “the system improve.”