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Our Broken Compass (Hunter Field Editor’s Note)

Hunter Field Editor's Note
2 min read

THIS IS AN OPINION

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I found myself repeatedly stunned watching the news coverage and reactions roll in after the murder of a top UnitedHealthcare executive in the middle of Manhattan in early December.

One by one, people from all backgrounds and across the political spectrum who should know better reacted to Brian Thompson’s assassination by saying, “Yeah, but …”.

“Sure, I would never condone murder, but the way these insurance companies treat patients is just wrong,” I heard one say.

It was that wishy-washy, near-endorsement of murder over and over again. If you needed any more evidence that our national discourse was broken, here was your proof. It should not be difficult to say that the calculated attack on Mr. Thompson in the middle of the largest city in the United States was wrong. Full stop.

The very legitimate debate about our cobbled-together health care system is an entirely separate conversation.

If we cannot separate them, what message are we sending? I believe it will — and maybe already has — invite more violence. These disaffected men like the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s shooter (and they are, almost without exception, men) will deduce that this type of extreme action can effect change.

At that point, the risk would extend far beyond health care companies to executives near the top of any large corporations that have laid off workers, paid low wages, had on-the-job injuries or otherwise upset their employees or customers.

Thompson’s murder also shouldn’t be used to quash meaningful discussions about flaws with our health care system, particularly how we pay for care.

Senior Editor Mark Friedman’s recent cover story on soaring health insurance premiums underscores the mess most Americans find themselves in. The cost of private health insurance plans rose 7% over the last year in the U.S., and it is expected to rise again in 2025. That’s coupled with rising consumer dissatisfaction with their health insurance plans.

Our health care system was built over time for whatever moment we were in. It reminds me of the legacy IT systems that plague so many companies. Those systems were pieced together over time using the technology available, but they’re now out of date and too expensive or inconvenient to completely replace. Yet that’s exactly what is needed.

If I knew the politically feasible solution to our heath care conundrum, I’d be making a lot more money. I do know something broken when I see it. That’s exactly the state of our current system: a dizzying patchwork of private, government and employer-sponsored coverage options.

As we recently editorialized, there is some possibility for change with a unified federal government taking power in 2025.

I hope change comes. I hope it is for the better. I hope an assassination in Manhattan has nothing to do with it.


Email Hunter Field, editor of Arkansas Business, at hfield@abpg.com
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