Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) mentioned denied claims from a medical insurance firm may very well be interpreted by individuals struggling to afford health-related prices as “an act of violence” towards them.
“All of that pain that people have experienced is being concentrated on this event. It’s really important that we take a step back, this is not to comment and this is not to say that an act of violence is justified, but I think for anyone who is confused or shocked or appalled, they need to understand that people interpret and feel and experience denied claims as an act of violence against them,” Ocasio-Cortez instructed CBS affiliate producer Jaala Brown.
“People go homeless over the financial devastation of a diagnosis that doesn’t get addressed or the amount they’re going to have to cover with a surprise bill,” the congresswoman added.
Her feedback come after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed final week outdoors a midtown Manhattan resort the place UnitedHealth Group was holding its annual investor convention.
The taking pictures shines a light-weight on the tensions between People and the medical insurance trade. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) additionally mentioned in a current interview that the taking pictures may very well be a warning “to everyone in the health care system,” including that “people can be pushed only so far.”
Shell casings on the scene had phrases written on them with marker, based on The Related Press, which had been mentioned to have included “depose,” “deny” and “defend” — phrases which can be typically used to explain medical insurance corporations’ ways to keep away from paying out claims for medical remedy.
These three phrases are additionally just like the title of a 2010 e-book important of the trade, “Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.”
“When we kind of talk about how systems are violent in this country in this passive way, our privatized health care system is like that for a huge amount of Americans,” Ocasio-Cortez mentioned as she shared her personal battle with getting medical insurance.
Luigi Mangione, the person suspected of killing Thompson, faces 5 counts together with homicide within the second diploma, based on an arrest warrant. He additionally faces two counts of prison possession of a weapon within the second diploma, one depend of prison possession of a weapon within the third diploma and prison possession of a solid instrument within the second diploma.
Police mentioned a ghost gun, silencer and writings expressing “some ill will toward corporate America” had been discovered on Mangione, which linked him to the crime.