A Sliver of Empathy

The last Monthly Safety Meeting that I would attend at Air Products did not feature the boring videos “Slips, Trips, and Falls” or “Bloodborne Pathogens” like so many others. Instead, we were treated to a speech by CEO John Paul Jones. These were tense times in Trexlertown. Long-time employees were being “downsized” right and left. I didn’t know it at the time, but I would be marched out the door in two weeks. I remember nothing from JPJ’s speech (typical “Our employees are our most important asset” crap). I do recall JPJ being accompanied by two uniformed (and possibly armed) security guards which was highly unusual.

Had United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson followed JPJ’s security precautions, he might not have been shot dead on a NYC sidewalk last week. Besides lucrative stock options and take-home pay 200 times higher than their average underling, CEOs are now insisting on company-provided security. Will we see burly guys operating a metal detector at the entrance to the Executive Dining Room?

Health insurers CEOs are particularly at risk today. United Healthcare increased its rejection rate for post-surgical rehab from 11% in 2020 to 23% in 2022. It increased its rejection rate for skilled nursing care from 1.3% to 12.6% over the same period. The reason was United’s implementation of a computer-based algorithm. “Don’t blame us if Grandma can’t get rehab after that hip replacement, blame the computer.”

Is it any wonder that the shell casings at the death scene had “Delay”, “Deny”, “Defend” written on them? Those are the verbs that the computer will generate in response when you complain about denied claims.

Murder is never the answer. Still, I can understand the anger from rejected medical claims. In 1978, I spent two nights in Allentown Osteopathic Hospital having hemorrhoids removed. When I was medically cleared for release (blessed inflatable rubber donut in hand), my entire bill was $6 for the rental TV in my room. Air Products Medical Insurance was great in those days.

In 1988, I spent three weeks at the same AOH having a tumor removed from my liver. When I was medically cleared for release, my entire bill was north of $5,000 after what Air Products Medical Insurance initially covered. What really pissed me off was that I was charged for 12 units of blood even though I had donated 2 gallons of blood during Air Products quarterly blood drives over the previous 16 years.

I was really angry. Angry enough to murder? No. But I have a sliver of empathy for the murderer.

By Ed Dufton