Suspect in New York killing of health insurance chief Brian Thompson remains at large

Apparent assassination drives online conversation about frustration over health insurance claims and denials

A poster outside the Hilton hotel near the scene where UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson was shot dead in New York City. Reuters

The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson in New York City remained at large on Thursday.

Mr Thompson, the leader of UnitedHealth's insurance division, was fatally shot by a masked gunman in the early hours of Wednesday when he was walking to the company's annual investor conference at a Midtown Manhattan Hilton hotel.

The New York Police Department published maskless photos of a person it believed was the assailant on Thursday. It did not release a name.

The suspect rode away from the scene on a bike and disappeared in Central Park after the shooting. The motive behind the attack remained unclear.

Mr Thompson’s widow, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News that her late husband had told her "there were some people that had been threatening him". She did not share details but implied that the threats were over issues with insurance coverage.

Police sources told AP and other outlets that the bullets included the words "deny", "defend" and "depose", in a possible reference to an investigative 2010 book critical of the insurance industry, Delay Deny Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You can Do About it by Jay Feinman.

Criticism of US health care after killing

American health insurers such as UnitedHealthcare, the largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans in the US, have drawn anger and frustration by doctors and patients for complicating access to care. UnitedHealthcare also manages health coverage for employers and Medicaid programmes.

A Senate panel is investigating how frequently major insurers deny care to patients who are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. It has also investigated the use of artificial intelligence to deny those claims.

The report released this year found that, as UnitedHealthcare relied more on its automated system to review claims, denials increased for post-acute treatment, which includes nursing home or rehabilitation care. The insurer denied nearly a quarter of claims, a rate that doubled from 2020 to 2022.

On social media, the reaction to the shooting overall did not show sympathy for Mr Thompson.

Some users on X applauded the killing, pointing to personal experiences with insurance claims denials and UnitedHealth's role in America’s "broken healthcare system". There were similar sentiments expressed on sites such as Reddit and TikTok.

“I would be happy to help look for the shooter but vision isn’t covered under my healthcare plan,” one comment read on Instagram.

“Thoughts and prior authorisations,” wrote another user.