United Healthcare and several of its competitors have been wiping the leadership pages of their websites after a masked gunman fatally shot CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan this week.
404 Media reports that UnitedHealthcare’s “About Us” page has been redirecting to the homepage since Thursday, whereas the day before, it displayed Thompson’s bio alongside bios for each of its top officers.
Similarly, at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, the “Who We Are” section of the “About Us” page no longer functions. Earlier this week, it listed the names and photos of some 25 executives, 404 Media notes.
It’s the same story at Medica, whose leadership page currently redirects to the homepage, and at the health insurance nonprofit Caresource, where executive bios yield “not found” messages.
Although Thompson’s killer remains at large, speculation about the motive has been circulating online. Police reportedly found the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose” written on the bullet casings, which sounds a lot like Delay, Deny, Defend, the title of a book about how insurers get out of paying claims. It’s a common phrase deployed by critics of the industry.
As such, one popular assumption is that grievances with UnitedHealthcare and/or the U.S. health care system in general fueled the assassination. In the absence of an arrest, details about a motive are scarce, but certain insurers do seem nervous.
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield pivoted on a forthcoming policy change on Thursday, amid widespread criticism from customers and providers alike.
The company announced in November that—for members in Missouri, New York, and Connecticut—it would no longer cover surgical anesthesia once procedures went over their projected run time.
Now it’s decided not to move ahead with that plan, with a spokesperson citing “significant widespread misinformation” rather than a newfound desire not to p--s off customers.
