Moderators remove Reddit thread as doctors fire UnitedHealthcare CEO

Doctors of one of the leading medical communities have turned on the Internet killed UnitedHealthcare (UHC) CEO Brian Thompson in such brutal style that Reddit moderators deleted the topic about murder.

The moderators of r/medicine closed the thread, placed On Wednesday, after news broke that Thompson had been shot outside the New York Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan, she received more than 500 responses.

Commentators were extremely critical and derided insurerallegedly denying insurance coverage to sick and dying Americans in order to increase profits.

The top comment, which received hundreds of upvotes from other users, mocked UHC’s infamous record of refusing to pay insurance claims and was written as a long fake rejection letter from the company.

Addressed to an unnamed claimant — after “careful review of a claim sent to emergency services on December 4, 2024” — it says they were denied insurance coverage because “you failed to obtain prior authorization before seeking care for a gunshot wound to your chest.”

“If you would like to appeal a fatal shooting, call 1-800-555-1234 with case number 123456789P to initiate a peer-to-peer connection within 48 hours of the fatal shooting,” one user wrote.

Another paraphrased an early 20th century trade union lawyer Clarence Darrow: “I have never wished death upon a man, but I have taken great pleasure in reading some of the obituaries.”

Dozens and dozens of others expressed similar sentiments.

That original thread may have been deleted, but Thompson’s criticism on Reddit has not abated. About 16 hours after posting the deleted post on r/medicine, another user did a a separate post homicidal ideation. It remained.

As in the previous thread, some comments contain humor or outrage expressed by UHC.

But others, including many doctors and medical professionals, have sharply and mercilessly criticized Thompson’s business practices.

One doctor, identified by the Daily Beast, offered condolences to Thompson’s family and said the killer should be charged with murder, but then reflected on the damage the CEO had caused.

“I can’t even begin to imagine how many person-years UHC has taken away from patients and their families due to denials,” they wrote. “It should be about millions. His death won’t make it any better, but it’s hard for me to sympathize when so many people have suffered because of his company.”

“What worries me the most are people who put ‘fiduciary responsibility’ (eg profit) before human lives, no more than this company he runs,” wrote another doctor, who also spoke to the Daily Beast to confirm his opinion. “When other people’s human lives are considered worthless, it is no wonder that others also consider your life worthless.”

The subreddit’s moderators told the Daily Beast in a statement that they removed the original post “because it was unproductive, took up mod time, didn’t have a good source, was brigadier, possibly against Reddit’s (terms of service), and (posted) too many inappropriate comments.”

Site communities are moderated by teams of volunteers.

“This was not because of criticism of business practices,” the statement added. “We often criticize the practices of the insurance business here.”

Under Thompson’s leadership, UHC faced sharp criticism for being one of America’s most ruthlessly profit-driven healthcare firms.

According to according to ValuePenguin research, citing network claims data, it is “the worst insurance company for paying claims, with about one-third of claims denied.”

In September, a Senate report criticized UHC and two other major insurance companies, Humana and CVS, for allegedly denying patient access to post-acute care to increase profits.

UHC is a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest healthcare conglomerate, which had $371 billion in revenue last year, when Thompson’s compensation was $10 million.

Police have not yet released a motive for the masked killer who shot Thompson outside a meeting with investors. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called it likely “a deliberate, pre-planned, targeted attack.”

Employees of law enforcement agencies found the words “deny”, “defend” and “drop” on shell casings found at the scene of the crime, and reported checking whether they can be related to motives related to insurance companies.