A theory about the murder of the CEO of United Healthcare

The American legal system is an adversarial system – in which opposing sides fight fiercely before an impartial judge or jury to best discover the truth. Since from a Torah perspective it is very difficult to find qualified people with a high moral compass, this is probably good for the country and also an effective means of getting to the truth.

The problem is that there is also an adversarial system in another area, and that is probably not good for the country and not an effective means of improving quality.

What is this other area? I may not know what I’m talking about, but I would like to share a story that might give us insight into the tragic murder of the CEO of United Healthcare.

In the middle of the night, someone woke up with an extremely fast heartbeat that didn’t go away until more than three hours later. This person made an appointment with a cardiologist as soon as possible. The cardiologist ordered an angiogram as soon as possible. The insurance company waited several weeks before approving the test. The problem was that this person suffered a heart attack just one day after receiving final approval and, although he miraculously survived, sustained permanent damage to his heart from a 25 percent injection rate.

The other area that has now developed an adversarial system, according to this author, is medicine. Yes, there are now two types of doctors. There are doctors we call “Group A Doctors” who try to help and cure patients. And there are doctors we call “Group B Doctors” who deny or delay coverage to save the insurance companies money because of who they work with.

Group A physicians spend an extraordinary amount of time working with insurance companies. You could use this time to help other people. I don’t know for sure, but I’m not sure how many doctors went to medical school because they’re so excited to spend time on the phone having conversations with Talmudic depth about why a particular test is so much more more effective and appropriate than a cheaper alternative test. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy conversations with Talmudic depth, but only in relation to the Talmud. Here, however, I doubt that this was a motivating factor for doctors attending medical school.

Group B physicians are hired by insurance companies to make arguments as to why second or third level testing is warranted, including denials and delays. Why is that? The longer insurance companies keep the prepaid insurance premium money, the higher the interest they earn.

In short, the adversarial system is good for the legal system, but absolutely terrible for the country’s healthcare system.

When I first heard about the terrible murder, I had just returned from a nuclear test for which I had just received approval after my cardiologist had fought for it for many weeks. I imagined if I was an FBI profiler, I’m assuming the killer was probably someone who lost a loved one due to a delayed or refused test.

This morning I heard that there were writings on the bullet casings found near the victim. They said: “Deny”, “Delay”, “Reject”.

Of course murder is evil and very wrong. A point should never be made this way. Anyone with information or suspicions about this incident should come forward. Is there another Ted Kozniansky murderer here? Perhaps. In this case, his brother came over and handed him over.

However, this adversarial system in the medical field is wrong. I don’t know any statistics, but I can imagine that people are dying or in permanent danger because of the controversial system in American healthcare. It also places a huge burden on our doctors and their staff, for which there is no compensation.

Hopefully the new government will try to address and resolve this issue. May the murderer be caught and may the country make progress in finding a better system.

The author of this comment can be reached at (email protected).