Dem Congressman ‘Not Surprised’ By ‘Outpouring’ of Health Care Critics Following CEO Assassination
Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) called the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson “horrific” while admitting that he was “not surprised” by the outrage it sparked over the inequities in the privatized healthcare industry.
Thompson was gunned down Wednesday morning in a shocking attack that has sparked an intense and ongoing manhunt for his unidentified killer. In the aftermath of the murder, however, there has been a striking wave of public outrage directed at the privatized healthcare industry, with some even going so far as to celebrate his death.
While police are still to establish a motive, the killer’s shell casings found at the scene were inscribed with words like “defend,” “depose,” and “deny” in an apparent voicing of grievances commonly directed at health insurers who refuse claims.
Speaking on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Khanna was asked by host Martha Raddatz for his response to the “vitriol” being shown online. The progressive congressman expressed sympathy for Thompson and his family but maintained a sharp critique of the industry the victim represented.
“This is a father we’re talking about – of two children,” Khanna said of Thompson, who was gunned down on December 4 in Manhattan. “There is no justification for violence. But the outpouring afterwards has not surprised me.”
He continued, detailing his own experience with UnitedHealthcare, who refused a prescription, detailing how others were being denied life-saving treatments.
Look, I, as a congressperson, had UnitedHealthcare deny a prescription for a nasal $100 pump spray. And I couldn’t get them to reverse this. So imagine what ordinary people are dealing with. The biggest denial comes when it’s cancer treatment. People are getting denied on cancer treatment.
And my view is very simple. Why can’t we have a rule that if a doctor prescribes something and if Medicare, traditional Medicare, is going to cover it, then private insurance companies should be forced to cover it? I mean, it’s absurd in this country what’s going on.
Raddatz pressed Khanna on sharing a recent statement by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) demanding “Medicare for all.” She argued that that was “not really going to happen.”
The congressman replied, pointing out Sanders was retweeted by President-elect Donald Trump’s ally Elon Musk:
Well, first of all, Bernie Sanders is absolutely right. I believe we can make Medicare for all happen. He was retweeting Elon Musk, who was pointing out that the United States spends the most on administrative waste. If you care about efficiency in government, Medicare is 2 percent administrative fees. The private insurance, it’s 18 percent that they’re wasting.
But as we fight for Medicare for all, what we can do is require private insurance to cover anything that Medicare would cover. We can require a cap on out-of-pocket costs. We have to understand people with cancer, with heart disease, with diabetes, with insurance, aren’t getting the care that they need. They’re getting stuck with huge medical bills. And Bernie Sanders and I also have a bill to end medical bankruptcy. But finally, after years, Sanders is winning this debate, and we should be moving towards Medicare for all.
Khanna said that while Musk was part of a drive to cut costs for the federal government under Trump, that the waste was elsewhere and that Medicare for all was a better investment of resource.
They should look at the extraordinary waste. And they will find that CBOs and Medicare is the most efficient. And they should be looking at where the private health care costs are. But there are other areas that Bernie Sanders and I have said we could work together on, the defense costs, defense contractors.
Look, Lockheed Martin has, with the F-35s, has gone about $200 billion over. There is waste when it comes to breast pumps being purchased at $1,400 instead of $200. Soap dispensers, $150,000 we paid Boeing for soap dispensers. That’s the waste they should go after.
Watch above on ABC.
