UnitedHealthcare CEO shot and killed in NYC

Are you in the industry Small Town?

 

I never said he was a supergenius, just that he appeared to be thorough in his preparation. But not thorough enough, it seems.

 

Likely they'll cross-check. Seems an easy thing to do, unless he bought one hot and didn't buy the stamp. If so, a felony possession w/out the stamp is trifling after what he did.

It would be interesting to see any arguments by a 2A-friendly attorney about searching-referencing the stamp records, and what the courts might say. They do it for other investigations so I doubt that a "you can't do that" defense would hold up in any way.


He maybe didn't tell anyone and thought ahead enough to have a burner, clothes in his expensive backpack, different cap, etc. But those camera images and facial recognition will eventually help ID him. Those two guys he stayed with in the hostel probably are scared shitless.

 

Three years and three and a half months after first filing a homeowners claim, after hiring a public adjuster, going to mediation, going to litigation, and going through depositions and yet another mediation, the final settlement arrived yesterday.

But the bank wouldn't cash it because its scanners cannot read the account information. Instead of using the "E13B" font that has been the standard for all North American checks since before I was born, fucking insurance company just used a typical Times New Roman-looking font that no bank can read (lawyers couldn't cash their check, either).

Insurance companies of all kinds suck.

 

UnitedHealth has been getting greedy - even by healthcare standards - for years. One purchase about three years ago prompted a lawsuit from DOJ. UH then bought another while that was ongoing. UH was using funds it didn't have to pay out, but was still getting from premiums during the pandemic, in an attempt to further monopolize the industry.

Stories of physicians being brought into the loop, then disgusted and outraged over shortcuts UH was, um, encouraging, are not isolated.

 

A perfect UHC story. (Yes, I'm sorry for you and your wife, Driftwood, but a perfect example).

If ANYONE suggests working with UH or Centene, I urge them to rethink. Including my mother for one part of her care. And she's a nurse.

 

We have UH and Anthem. Haven't had any issues yet with payments for routine stuff. Fortunately haven't had any major medical problems to file yet, either.

 

First claims for Social Security Disability are routinely turned down the first couple of times they are submitted. I know that this is because so many people try to abuse it, but it remains a fact. It is all but unheard of for someone to get in on their first application. You'd have to be wheelchair bound or something similar, and a good percentage of those get turned down as well.

 

When my son was a senior in high school he was in a major car wreck. Both lower legs smashed, traumatic brain injury, month in a coma, year in a wheelchair. UHC was amazingly good about paying for his bills. We paid a hundred dollar ER copay and a few scattered bills after that, but they ate nearly half a million on his claim. He had nearly $200,000 in IV meds alone. They're horrible, but they could screw me annually until I die and never come close to breaking even.

A lot of that was because of how the policy was written, of course, and they've been a pain in the ass about any number of other things over the years, but they were rock solid on that one. We get/got health insurance through UAB, which bargains along with the Alabama State Teacher's Retirement group and the state firefighter's union. Big group which can squeeze the insurer for a good deal. They do contracts year by year, and we tend to alternate between UHC and BCBS as a result.

 

One of the arguments that used to be popular against universal coverage was the idea that doctors would flee the profession because the government wouldn’t reimburse them enough and would dictate what they could and could not do.

But the insurance oligarchy is now doing the exact same thing. And many of them don’t even own their own practices any more. Those have been bought out by regional or national hospital chains that then crack the whip wanting the good doctor to meet an assembly line quota.

But hey, death panels!

 

As I said in 2008, death panels have long existed. They’re called insurance companies.

 

I’n not a professional hitman, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn NYC hostel last night.