CEO Murder Exposes Corporate America’s Crumbling Image and Unfixable Healthcare Crisis

As we approached the concluding weeks of 2024, what is undeniably the most important occurrence  in generations that caused a PR crisis happened on Dec. 4 – when a person upset with UnitedHealthcare, the largest healthcare insurance company in the United States, shot and killed Brian Thompson, its CEO.

The killing of the corporate executive sent waves of fear among top corporate executives of all businesses and highlighted the distrust of corporate America by their customers. But anyone associated with the business world knows that while the killing of the executive is an American tragedy, the reasons that the killer received an outpouring of public support is because of the way Jane and Joe Citizen are treated by big business entities.

Years ago, I was involved with a company that was a leader in its field for many years. Eventually, things turned sour. Management’s answer was to arrange an expensive outing for its top managers and their spouses.

In those days, most of my PR work as a consultant involved overseas assignments. For a number of years, I made guest appearances at the client’s office. A top executive took me to lunch on one of my visits and told me about the outing.

“With all the money the company is losing, and the constant layoffs, why would the company do that,” I asked. “It was to show that all the executives are in it together and to boost their morale” was the response. 

“With thinking like that,” I replied, “no wonder this company is in deep trouble. What about the morale of the work force, who are on the front line of abuse? What’s the company doing to boost their morale? The money spent on the outing probably could have saved the jobs of several people for a few months, or for one or two persons for a year.” The answer from the exec was, “Let’s order lunch.”

While circumstances are different from the above, the response by executives of health care insurance companies and other sectors of corporate 

America (with exceptions) to negative public outcries about their experiences are similar: Ignore them. Think about ourselves, our company’s stock price and at the bottom of the list, maybe, about their employees, who take the brunt of abuse every day from disgruntled customers. That’s not to excuse violent action by angry customers, but it’s understandable why corporate America is about as popular as the treatment for root canal, and why the health insurance business needs a new business model.

Since the shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, media reports are full of stories of how top executives of healthcare insurance companies are removing identifying information about themselves from websites and hiring security guards.

No where have I read articles about what the insurance companies are doing to protect their employees that have to inform callers that their claims have been found to be medically unnecessary, resulting in abusive comments from outraged customers, whose insurance premiums increases each year despite the ever increasing profitability of their health insurance company.

Missing from industry execs is a response saying, “After reviewing remarks on social media sites, it’s apparent that we’ve obviously underestimated how despised our industry is. We have to do a better job in communicating our decisions to our customers and to show our lower level people we value them by also protecting them.” And that cannot be done by a H.R. or public relations program. Action must be taken. 

Treating employees like disposable items is not unusual in the corporate world, where low level workers are treated like “cannon fodder,” an executive of one company told me. The president of another company said, “We work our employees as if they are slaves. And people who work here must like being treated as slaves.” Both were none union businesses. Adding to the dislike of corporate America is that when fortunes of a company turn sour and the board of directors think new management is necessary, the terminated execs receive  highly news worthy golden parachutes worth millions of dollars, while ordinary employees who are terminated because of the mismanagement of the company are shown the door with a packet telling them how to apply for unemployment insurance.

The tragic killing of the UnitedHeralthcare CEO thrust into the spotlight what was evident for years. People are unhappy with the healthcare system in general, and with the healthcare insurers in particular.

Soon, a new Congress will be seated. And in two years, a new election will be contested. Our healthcare system is certain to be a major talking point during the new Congress and continue to the 2028 presidential election.

In the year 2025, there will be many PR crises that rate headlines, some new and some holdovers from previous years. But it’s unlikely that the crisis of the health insurance sector of corporate America, and of our healthcare system in general, will still not dominate the news. Although as the midterm elections become closer, the excesses of the Trump administration, based on his actions the last time he was president, might take the spotlight.

Millions of dollars will be spent by the healthcare industry on public relations programs to no avail. What’s needed is simple: Representatives of insurance companies have to admit publicly that they hear the public’s concerns and say, “We hear your frustrations with our industry. We take them seriously and are looking into ways beginning today that will improve your experiences with us. Ours is a complex industry and it will take time to conclude our study, but it will be done as fast as possible. We are currently looking for a respected individual, not associated with the healthcare industry, to lead the study and will announce the name of the person when he or she is decided upon. Once our task is completed we’ll make it public.”

And it doesn’t take a high priced PR crisis firm to recommend that.

What, if any, changes the healthcare insurance business will make is anyone’s guess. It’s my guess any changes will be baby steps. It’s also my opinion that any significant changes must be mandated by the federal government, as has always been the case. But there is one thing that I’m certain of. Just as all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again, all the PR crises specialists in the world can’t prevent the insurers from receiving negative publicity throughout 2025.