January 10, 2025
Opinion; By Anthony Biglan & Diana Fishbein
This opinion piece can also be found at: https://medium.com/@dhfishbein/the-murder-of-a-ceo-wont-fix-america-s-broken-health-care-system-851acc4dc4bc
The murder of United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson is a horrifying and senseless act that will not fix the U.S. health care system. To address the roots of its dysfunction, we must examine how corporate priorities evolved to prioritize profits over the health and well-being of millions of Americans.
America’s health care system is a stark example of the consequences of profit-driven policies. Since the 1970s, wealthy individuals and think tanks have promoted the idea that corporations should focus solely on maximizing profits. This ideology spread across universities, businesses, and government, reshaping policies and corporate practices. The result? A nation where corporate interests thrive while life expectancy plummets.
The statistics paint a grim picture. The United States ranks 47th in life expectancy among wealthy nations and the gap continues to widen. Starting in the 1980s, the death rate in America began to diverge from other developed countries. Behind these numbers are glaring racial and socioeconomic disparities: White men with college degrees live on average 14.2 years longer than Black men with less than a high school education.
Three primary corporate behaviors drive this crisis. First, health care has been transformed into a vehicle for profit maximization. Second, deregulation allows corporations to market harmful products with little oversight. Third, corporate lobbying skews public policy to prioritize wealth accumulation, exacerbating poverty and inequality — key drivers of poor health outcomes.
Over the past few decades, private equity firms have bought hospitals, nursing homes, and physician practices, prioritizing profits over patient care. These firms cut costs by reducing staff and consolidating services, often at the expense of quality. Studies show hospitals owned by private equity firms have higher rates of adverse events like infections and falls. Similarly, health insurers profit immensely while patients struggle. In 2022, the four largest insurers earned $41 billion, with their CEOs collectively taking home hundreds of millions in compensation. These companies often spend billions on stock buybacks — enriching shareholders but doing nothing to improve care.
The pharmaceutical industry exemplifies the harm of unchecked profit motives. The opioid crisis, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, was fueled by deceptive marketing from companies like Purdue Pharma. Similarly, overprescription and/or misapplication of medications for conditions such as hyperactivity and depression continue to harm patients. Regulatory agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), originally created to safeguard public health, have been undermined by corporate lobbying. For instance, pharmaceutical companies now pay user fees to the FDA to expedite drug approvals — a practice that creates conflicts of interest and drives up drug costs while offering little improvement in efficacy.
Corporate priorities aren’t just harming health care — they’re promoting products that lead to premature death. Tobacco companies still market products that kill 480,000 Americans annually. Alcohol marketing, often targeting youth, contributes to 140,000 deaths each year. The food industry promotes unhealthy eating habits, leading to more than 500,000 deaths annually from obesity-related conditions. Even the gun industry plays a role, with over 48,000 firearm deaths in 2021 alone and becoming the number one killer of children in the US.
Corporate control over policymaking also entrenches poverty and inequality, which significantly harm health. In the U.S., 16.3% of children live in poverty — a rate far higher than most developed nations. Poverty increases the risk of nearly every psychological, behavioral, and physical health problem, including chronic diseases that lead to premature death. Policies such as refusing to raise the minimum wage, restricting union organizing, and offering tax breaks to the wealthy exacerbate these disparities. For example, the 2017 tax reform added $2 trillion to the federal deficit while disproportionately benefiting the richest Americans. Meanwhile, states that refuse to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act have left 1.5 million people uninsured, directly increasing their risk of premature death.
The pursuit of profits over public health extends beyond health care. Marketing harmful products, perpetuating poverty, and failing to address inequality all contribute to America’s health crisis.
But change is possible. Policymakers must rebalance corporate priorities to include the well-being of the population. Stronger regulation of harmful practices, greater investment in preventive health measures, and reducing poverty and inequality are essential steps forward.
Targeted policies like reinstating the Child Tax Credit demonstrate the potential for progress. When expanded temporarily in 2021, this policy lifted millions of children out of poverty, showcasing how income support can dramatically improve health and well-being. Research consistently shows that increasing family income through tax credits or subsidies reduces stress and child maltreatment, improves children’s health, and creates long-term societal benefits.
The structure of health care also needs rethinking. Limiting the role of private equity in health care, transitioning to a single-payer system to reduce administrative costs, and enforcing antitrust laws to prevent monopolies could significantly improve outcomes. These measures would redirect resources from profits back into patient care and public health.
Ultimately, the question is simple: Do we value corporate profits more than human lives? Reversing America’s health decline requires demanding a system that prioritizes people over profits. The murder of Brian Thompson underscores the anger and frustration many Americans feel, but violence is not the solution. Systemic change, driven by collective action and bold policymaking, is the only way to create a health care system that works for everyone. Let’s channel our outrage into meaningful reform.
Anthony Biglan, Ph.D. is a senior scientist with the Oregon Research Institute and the CEO of Values to Action. Ronald Prinz, Ph.D. is a professor and director of the Research Center for Childhood Wellbeing at the University of South Carolina.
Diana Fishbein, Ph.D. is a senior scientist in the FPG Child Development Institute at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and president of the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives.
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