CEO Murder Ignites Online Revolt: Is Health Insurance the Real Killer?

Wednesday's shocking murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson unleashed a wave of social media-fueled rage against health insurers, with posters lashing out over coverage denials and other business practices.

As the news broke Wednesday morning, a vocal subset of social media users unleashed raw emotions about the industry.

"When you shoot one man in the street it's murder.

When you kill thousands of people in hospitals by taking away their ability to get treatment you're an entrepreneur," an X user wrote. "Saw mainstream news coverage about the killing of the CEO of United Healthcare on TikTok and I think political and industry leaders might want to read the comments and think hard about them," activist Tobita Chow wrote on X.

Americans tend to give their health insurance positive reviews — unless they're sick and actually need to use it, according to a KFF survey of more than 3,600 insured adults conducted last year.

81% of insured U.S. adults in the survey gave their health insurance a rating of good or excellent. But that figure dropped to 68% for people with fair or poor health.

Even though Americans largely rate their own health insurance positively, public opinion polls show people dislike the insurance industry overall, said Liz Hamel, vice president and director of public opinion and survey research at KFF.

In a 2018 survey from KFF, 90% of adults with employer-sponsored coverage who thought health spending was too high said health insurance companies bear at least a fair amo…  unt of blame for the problem.

Data collected by Gallup last year found that 36% of Americans rated the services health insurance companies provide as only fair, and another 32% rated them as poor. "People who are healthy and don't have to use their coverage a lot, they see how much it can cost if you don't have insurance," Hamel said.

"There's a phenomenon of people feeling grateful that they have coverage" at all.

Insurance leaders cautioned against drawing broad conclusions from some inflammatory posts.

"People choosing to say and do deeply unkind things on the internet is unfortunately nothing new and is not unique to today's tragic events," said one industry official, speaking on the condition he not be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.