Futurism: Murdered Insurance CEO Had Deployed an AI to Automatically Deny Benefits for Sick People

[Dennis Donovan]

Futurism - Murdered Insurance CEO Had Deployed an AI to Automatically Deny Benefits for Sick People

Anger at the insurance industry is reached a boiling point.

Dec 5, 12:56 PM EST
Noor Al-Sibai

Just over a year before United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered this week in Midtown Manhattan, a lawsuit filed against the insurance giant he helmed revealed just how draconian its claims-denying process had become.

Last November, the estates of two former UHC patients filed suit in Minnesota alleging that the insurer used an AI algorithm to deny and override claims to elderly patients that had been approved by their doctors.

The algorithm in question, known as nH Predict, allegedly had a 90 percent error rate — and according to the families of the two deceased men who filed the suit, UHC knew it.

As that lawsuit made its way through the courts, anger regarding the massive insurer's predilection towards denying claims has only grown, and speculation about the assassin's motives suggests that he may have been among those upset with UHC's coverage.

Though we don't yet know the identity of the person who shot Thompson nor his reasoning, reports claim that he wrote the words "deny," "defend," and "depose" on the shell casing of the bullets used to shoot the CEO — a message that makes it sound a lot like the killer was aggrieved against the insurance industry's aggressive denials of coverage to sick patients.

Beyond the shooter's own motives, it's clear from the shockingly celebratory reaction online to Thompson's murder that anger about the American insurance and healthcare system has reached the point of literal bloodlust.

/snip

[hlthe2b]

1. Reading this makes this pacifist feel murderous. Of course I don't condone what happened, but WOW!

I'm going to have to take the pup out for a long walk after reading THAT.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. I think guys like Thompson who grew up with Gordon Gekko's "Greed is good" mantra should realize...

...that greed on the backs of others, *especially* when it affects something as fundamental as one's health, might have consequences.

I don't approve of "murder" being one of those consequences, but there are people out there who would justify murder in the face of a life-or-death situation. As the Thompson assassination shows, there are people out there gunning for you when your job deals with life-and-death decisions. It's a reality.

[Jit423]

3. Maybe this should be a warning to an incoming administration to not think they have free reign to go too far

with peoples' lives and livelihood? Replacing human workers with AI bots to perform tasks and jobs that require a semblance of human thought and compassion requires some re-thinking in corporate America.

[intheflow]

4. Incoming admin won't care.

If anything, they'll use this as more justification for cracking down on protesters.