Health insurance — Blog

The finding out phase

I think it’s morbidly fascinating that the reaction to the CEO of UnitedHealthcare getting assassinated in New York City is mass jubilation. The Reddit pages are full of good riddances, and cheers to a deserved death for all the suffering the CEO and his company have caused. It’s a good thought exercise: if a million people become happy at the news of your death, perhaps you haven’t lived so honorably while you were alive.

It goes without saying, but murder is bad. Very bad.

The motive in killing the CEO of a private health insurer cannot be more obvious. Either the killer, or someone close to the killer, was done wrong by UnitedHealthcare. Most likely a denial of coverage for critical, life-saving aid. We cannot condone the how, but we can empathize with the why. In a country famous for gun violence and a lack of universal healthcare, It’s kind of surprising that something like this hasn’t already happened before. I think almost everyone has had - or knows someone who has - negative experiences with health insurance. You mean it’s only now that someone felt aggrieved enough to take premeditated revenge?

I guess the John Wick-type revenge plots are movie storytelling, not real life.

Because the pool of aggrieved UnitedHealthcare customers is so large (the company has the highest denial of coverage percentage of all health insurers), the number of suspects can literally be in the thousands. And because common sentiment is so against American health insurance - and healthcare in general, that even if the killer is caught, assembling an impartial jury just might be impossible. So many people on the subreddits I’ve read are applauding the actions of this healthcare Batman.

No matter what happens to the killer, the guy is already a historical legend. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield - another health insurer - announced today they are rolling back plans to limit anesthesia coverage. No doubt the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO is making substantive waves across the healthcare industry.

For a rainy day

In a pleasant surprise, my health insurance premiums - subsidized by my employer - will not be going up in 2025! I was fully expecting it to, because one, inflation is causing everything to be more expensive these days. And two, Kaiser Permanente had to pay its workers more after their strike last year. Did you think a corporation is going to eat into its profit margins? You’re hilarious.

Just as well, then. Whatever difference I thought I’d had to pay more in the coming year will go right into the savings account.

Towards what end? I’m not sure. I am seeing a lot of people my age (mid 30s) having babies these days. Personally, I have no interest (or prospects) to be doing so myself. Not that I don’t think I wouldn’t be great at parenting. If anything, I am leaving positives on the proverbial table. Word on the street is that people who have kids tend to happier and live longer. As a person who is deathly afraid of dying, and has always strived to maximized longevity, why haven’t I made any babies already?

One things for sure: it is not too expensive to raise children. Our expectations toward what goes into child rearing have simply inflated. Baby showers, birthdays, the best diapers, humidifiers, bottle warmers, etc: I was raised with none of that stuff! My working-class parents could not afford it. And I turned out okay, if I do say so myself. Daycare? In Chinese culture, that would be the grandparents. No need to spend thousand(s) dollar per month.

Social media can make it difficult, I reckon. It’s like an arms race to show who can provide the “best” childhood for their kids. Don’t complain to us about how expensive it to raise kids when you go into debt for Disneyland. Public parks are free.