A Florida woman has been charged with threatening her health insurance provider during a phone conversation after police say she uttered the same words found on the bullet casings used in the killing of an insurance executive in New York.
The words reflect the “delay, deny, defend” strategy some insurance companies use in dealing with expensive claims: Delay the decision, deny the claim and aggressively defend themselves.According to police, when Boston was questioned by officers on Wednesday, she told them she used the words because “it is what is in the news right now”.Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP
Ivy League-educated Mangione was charged with murder on December 9 for the killing of Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel before a company conference, following a five-day manhunt. Health insurance companies have come under sharp public scrutiny since the attack. Shares of UnitedHealth alone have fallen nearly 15 per cent since the attack. “Health care is both intensely personal and very complicated, and the reasons behind coverage decisions are not well understood,” Witty wrote in his first public comments since the murder, noting that the US healthcare system is a patchwork built over decades.