The recent assassination of the United Healthcare CEO has sparked a lot of conversation regarding the broken healthcare system, specifically medical healthcare. People expressed a lot of frustration over justifiable claims getting denied and showed a lack of empathy for the CEO’s untimely death because of it. All over social media, you see some pretty rude comments, joking about the death of this man who was also someone’s husband and father. However, it is understandable why this is happening. The healthcare industry has been a contentious one focused on rejecting patients’ claims who are in dire need of certain healthcare services. Patients and their family members blame the healthcare industry for not getting the medical care they need, sometimes leading to their untimely deaths. Private pay for healthcare is not feasible given the extreme costs of certain procedures or medications that many times, people are left with no healthcare options at all. This can lead to worsening health problems and ailing patients who become frustrated because of not being able to get the healthcare they desperately need.
In the many discussions on the topic of claim denials on social media, nothing was ever mentioned about mental healthcare and what happens in that aspect. Medical care has always taken on the primary focus of the healthcare industry, with the plight of mental healthcare being a nonexistent conversation. As a therapist who has worked in the healthcare industry for 22 years, I think people fail to realize that mental healthcare is equally as important as medical care and that just as much attention should be focused on getting people’s mental health needs addressed. Access to this care can be lacking as well, especially in lower income areas, causing people to suffer unjustifiably. Services like outpatient therapy, psychiatric care, etc. can be hard to come by based on demand and areas that people live in. For example, in the more rural areas, it is hard to find a therapist and one that you can be seen face to face dependent on how many therapists serve that area. In my current role as someone who helps employees navigate the mental healthcare system, I have come across many frustrated and disgruntled employees unable to find a therapist that is available and offers face to face services since the pandemic. Most therapists have gone virtual and not everyone likes virtual counseling. Some patients long for the ability to see someone in their office because it feels more intimate and comfortable for them. Although therapists making the shift to virtual sessions has allowed them to serve more patients, it has also left those with a preference for in-person counseling feeling like they are getting the shaft and that their preferences are not being addressed.
The other thing that is troubling in mental healthcare is the fact that getting higher level services such as residential care is not available to working middle-class folks. It is often only covered through Medicaid, which most middle-class people don’t qualify for because of their income. Your salary has to be pretty much below the poverty level or you have to be unemployed or disabled in order for you to receive this type of healthcare. Medicaid will pay for residential care options such as substance abuse residential treatment, group homes for teens or adults, etc. Without it, you can only receive outpatient services, which may not be the appropriate level of care for your particular issue. Then your medical insurance won’t cover outpatient, if your healthcare professional is recommending a higher level of care that you can’t afford to pay for privately. So as the story goes for medical care, many have their mental health needs go unmet, which can cause crises such as hospitalizations that increase the costs of healthcare overall.
It appears that the healthcare system is not really set up to assist the working, middle class. Before your appointment, you pay your insurance premium upfront through your paycheck, then a co-pay at your appointment and then get hit with a bill afterwards. This is not even considering what your employer pays towards your healthcare every month. If you have a medical emergency, medical debt can set you up for a financial crisis, which can further exacerbate your medical or mental health issues due to the stress involved. This is why healthcare reform is really needed, especially in America. We need healthcare costs that are more affordable so we don’t have to work while sick just to pay our medical bills off.
I can’t pretend to offer a solution on what to do about the dysfunction of the healthcare system but I can say that something needs to be done. We can’t continue the way we have, doing what we do expecting people to get better. People going for long periods with unmet medical needs will eventually encounter more costly services due to not getting their health addressed early on. This can significantly decrease the wealth of not just the individual but the entire family creating a brutal impact that lasts for generations to come. We can only counteract this by revamping the healthcare system because it really does not serve us in the manner in which it was intended, causing undue suffering to the patient and their family system.
What are your thoughts on the state of the healthcare system in America? Do you have a solution on how folks can receive more appropriate healthcare without going into financial debt? How can we tackle the lack of resources for healthcare in certain communities? These may seem like questions without viable solutions but perhaps what happened with the UHC CEO will open the door to more of these types of discussions rather than the bashing and heckling of a dead man. Otherwise, it will be back to business as usual once the dust settles and insurance companies will continue their pattern of denials with the goal of saving on healthcare costs at another’s expense.
I implore each and every one of you who read this to continue to advocate for yourself and your loved ones’ fair treatment and access to healthcare. Without your advocacy, you will not see results or change within the healthcare system. Your advocacy for what you or your loved ones need can change the trajectory of your and their future. Your lives matter!
Take good care,
Kira
Yes agreed. I heard they denied a person on chemo of nausea medicine…that's just ridiculous. I heard his charges will include terrorism. And he will go away for at least 10-15 years. That was concluded before the Terrorism charge. Valedictorian, gay, family with money won't make him any less guilty. He could have just hunt a deer.
Yes agreed. I heard they denied a person on chemo of nausea medicine…that's just ridiculous. I heard his charges will include terrorism. And he will go away for at least 10-15 years. That was concluded before the Terrorism charge. Valedictorian, gay, family with money won't make him any less guilty. He could have just hunt a deer.