From Benefit to Business: Did Medicare Privatization Lead to Murder?

4sight Health December 11, 2024
David Burda

The brazen assassination of healthcare insurance executive Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, has everyone commenting on the deeper meaning of the public’s lack of empathy for his murder. Since I’m part of everyone, here’s my 2 cents: It’s the government’s fault.

It’s the government’s fault because it privatized Medicare with the passage of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 when Bill Clinton was president. The BBA created Medicare Part C, which became the Medicare Advantage (MA) program. Medicare Advantage plans, which are run by commercial insurance companies like United under contract with the government, have a two-part business model: exaggerate how sick their members are to inflate payment rates from the government, and minimize how sick their members are to...

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