#healthcare

Today in #Austin, #Texas, a group of "Luigis" rallied against corporate healthcare in solidarity with Briana Boston with a banner reading "Deny, Defend, Depose: Greed Kills, passing out flyers and posing for photos with passersby.

Text from flyer handed out by "Luigis" in Austin, TX:

"On December 4th, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down. The bullet casings told the story: this was act of vengeance against UnitedHealthCare, who denies over 30% of health insurance claims—a company emblematic of a system that kills. Every year, over 50,000 Americans die from lack of insurance. 38% percent of us avoid necessary care because we’re scared of the cost. One in twelve is drowning in medical debt. Health insurance companies aren’t doctors. They don’t heal—they profit by restricting access to care. While we ration medications, delay appointments, and worry about bills, they rake in billions. We get sicker and they get richer. This violence isn’t on the evening news. It’s buried beneath their marketing, their endless paperwork, their fine print. But make no mistake: this is violence. And they’re laughing all the way to the bank. Blue Cross Blue Shield, Texas’s largest insurer, denies one in five claims while pocketing $18 billion in revenue. Whether Thompson’s death filled you with joy or horror, it ripped the mask off. The truth was laid bare: these companies are complicit in widespread suffering. Think about the last time you or someone you love worried about a medical bill. Put off care because of the cost. Cut pills in half to make them last. You’ve felt the violence they inflict. Now, the media and government scramble to spin the narrative, calling working-class mother Briana Boston a “terrorist” for uttering “Deny, Defend, Depose” when her claims were denied. We must remain clear headed: a small group gets rich off our illness. The solution is just as simple: abolish these corporations and nationalize health insurance. Single-payer healthcare works everywhere else in the developed world, where people live longer and healthier lives. Texans, by contrast, die three years younger, victims of private healthcare. The only question left is this: When will we stop waiting and take what is ours?"

#DenyDefendDepose #Luigi #LuigiMangione #Healthcare

People in #Indianapolis, IN held a demonstration in front of Elevance Health yesterday. Holding a banner reading, "Deny, Defend, Despose, Healthcare 4 All."

"Today, we protest against Elevance Health not in its role as a distinct actor in the health insurance market, a single agent in the hall of mirrors of contemporary capitalism. Elevance operates in just the same manner as UHC in the way it ranks bodies and judges some to be worthy of care and the rest simply not worth the time or effort. In this manner the only difference between the two is a matter of degrees in subdomains. We believe it is necessary to oppose this system of broad ranking of life expectancies in an age of depreciating life expectations. It is necessary as a precondition to a life worth living.

We believe that everyone is worthy of care. We believe that everyone deserves access to a healthy life according to their own standards. Both Elevance and UHC stand as barriers to this possibility. This is why we oppose them."

#LuigiMangione #DenyDefendDepose #Healthcare

A message from Michael Moore, director of the Oscar-nominated film SICKO, about America’s bloodthirsty, profit-driven, and murderous health insurance system…
_________________________

Here’s a sad statistic for you: In the United States, we have a whopping 1.4 million people employed with the job of DENYING HEALTH CARE, vs only 1 million doctors in the entire country!

That’s all you need to know about America. We pay more people to DENY care than to give it. 1 million doctors to give care, 1.4 million brutes in cubicles doing their best to stop doctors from giving that care.

After the killing of the CEO of United HealthCare, the largest of our billion-dollar insurance companies, there was an immediate outpouring of anger toward the health insurance industry. Some people have stepped forward to condemn this anger.

I am not one of them.

The anger is 1000% justified. It is long overdue for the media to cover it. It is not new. It has been boiling. And I’m not going to tamp it down or ask people to shut up. I want to pour gasoline on that anger.
_________________________

FULL MESSAGE -- https://www.michaelmoore.com/p/a-manifesto-against-for-profit-health

#USA #Politics #Healthcare #Economics