UnitedHealth's CEO, Andrew Witty, criticized the U.S. healthcare system as "confusing," "complex" and "costly" in the company's first earnings call since the murder of Brian Thompson.
Witty asserted that as UnitedHealth's mission was to "help people live healthier lives," he acknowledged that the overall healthcare system needed to be "less confusing, less complex and less costly," as reported by Forbes.
"That means getting more people into high-quality, value-based care and keeping them healthy in the first place so fewer Americans find themselves with a chronic and in many cases - preventable disease," Witty said.
"It means continuing to invest in programs like Medicare Advantage which, by providing coordinated care to seniors, is proven to deliver better health outcomes at lower costs to consumers and taxpayers compared to fee for service Medicare," he continued.
Thompson was shot and killed in early December in a targeted attack, according to police. Luigi Mangione was arrested as the suspect days later and has since been charged with murder among other charges, to which he pleaded not guilty.
UnitedHealth and UnitedHealthcare came under fire following the shooting death of Thompson after many patients came out sharing times where UnitedHealthcare had allegedly denied their claims. This led to larger conversations across news outlets and social media on the state of the U.S. healthcare system.
In the earnings call, Witty also noted the challenges of a profit-based system, as he said lower prices for consumers can "threaten revenue streams for organizations that depend on charging more for care," as reported by NBC News.
Witty previously demanded changes to the healthcare system in an op-ed published by the New York Times following Thompson's death. While he called for insurance and health agencies to "improve" transparency, NYT turned off their comment section after several users accused the CEO's response as being "tone-deaf."
Mangione has garnered somewhat of a fanbase online. Some began creating GoFundMe profiles for the suspect's legal funds, while others began selling Mangione-themed merchandise.
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