New Orleans        Truth is stranger than fiction, but sometimes reality copies fantasy.  I couldn’t help thinking about this while reading the news of an assassination of a healthcare executive.  Unbelievably, the Brain Thompson, the 50-year-old CEO of United Healthcare, the giant US-based health insurer was gunned down and killed.  This didn’t happen in a wild west setting but in the middle of Manhattan in front of the Midtown Hilton Hotel in New York City, the mega-business and cultural capital of the United States.

The manhunt continues, and I have to believe it’s just a matter of time before they find the killer.  There is a bucket load of cameras in downtown New York City.  They have pictures of the alleged killer.  They know he stayed at a nearby hostel.  They know he stopped at Starbucks on his way to the Hilton.  They know how he got down an alley and was seen on a bike going through Central Park after the killing was dead.  They seem to know what kind of backpack he had – a not cheap Peak that costs $330.  They know he had a silencer like we see in TV mob killings, but it also isn’t cheap to buy them and involves not only money but lots of information and a special license.  The authorities haven’t released his name, but you have the feeling they know it by now, since they seem to know everything about the guy except the name of his dentist and high school gym teacher at this point.

This is a tragedy for his family and for the basic civility of American society.  Full stop.  That’s the fact without amendment or modification.

At the same time, the killer seems to have brought a bit of Bonnie and Clyde to this, almost as if this is a protest.  Bullet casings were scratched with the words “deny” and “delay.”  Was this done by a disgruntled client of United Healthcare?  Was this someone dying who also had a death wish?  United Healthcare has faced a barrage of complaints from patients, doctors and lawmakers for its denial of medical claims, as one the nation’s largest health insurers, covering more than 50 million people.  Thompson was being sued by the Firefighters Union in Hollywood Florida for not disclosing that the company was under DOJ investigation, which wiped out $25 billion in value for the company, including their pension funds, even while he had cashed out $15 million before that story broke.

There was no love lost for Thompson or United Healthcare on social media.  As the Times noted, there was…

…dark commentary after the death [that] highlighted the anger and frustration over the state of health care in America, where those with private insurance often find themselves in Kafkaesque tangles while seeking reimbursement for medical treatment and are often denied.

I’m not saying all of these folks wanted him dead, but their hatred of the company has them dancing on his grave.

Even if this was not a misdirected and bizarre protest, its message is being heard widely in the healthcare industry and like beyond in the land of the rich and ridiculously well paid.  Another big health insurer, Anthem Blue Cross immediately withdrew a policy change it had initiated in several states, including New York, of only reimbursing anesthesia care for a certain time period, rather than the duration of a procedure.

Will this change the healthcare industry?  Maybe for a hot minute, but for the most part, I doubt it.  The biggest impact may be a lot more hard-fisted, top dollar executives might be demanding personal security, which will be a boon for that industry, even as the rest of us bemoan the how much insurance costs and how little it begrudgingly co