“Shark Tank” co-star Kevin O’Leary said Wednesday evening on CNN that health care executives need to “read the room” as public appeal has turned against them following the shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Public appeal for Thompson’s alleged assassin, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, has been driven by people online, with many commenting on the Maryland native’s looks and their disdain for the health care system. On “The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer,” Blitzer asked O’Leary about a Kaiser Family Foundation survey showing an estimated one in five insured adults dealt with health care claims being denied in 2023, along with other users online sharing similar stories.
“Well, there’s probably valid reasons to deny, but if it’s set up so that you just can’t appeal it in a way that is cost-effective because you can’t afford to hire a lawyer, particularly at the expense of surgery, it doesn’t matter. At this point, social media is now the jury, and it doesn’t like what it sees. So if you’re an executive in interim management at UnitedHealthCorp [UnitedHealthCare] or any other health company, you’ve got to read the room,” O’Leary said.
“You’ve got to read the room and realize right now that the public is turning against you. They are your customers, and they don’t like it,” O’Leary added. “Now this poor man lost his life, horrific, but if anything good is going to come of this, it’s going to be policy change because you’ve basically got people lighting up their torches just like in the Frankenstein story and going to the castle, and they’re going to burn it down.”
O’Leary went on to say that executives should focus more on addressing the issues Americans worry over as it pertains to the U.S. health care system.
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“So if you’re an executive saying, ‘Get me more security guards,’ wrong answer. That’s just wrong,” O’Leary said. “If you don’t understand what you have to do now to get in front of this thing and say, ‘Look, it’s on us. We hear you and we’re people, too. We’ll solve this problem. Here’s how we’re going to do it.’ This goes back to the Tylenol case. You’ve got to get in front of it.”
“So far, I’ve seen no reaction. It’s a bad thing, Wolf, bad. So if you’re out there and you’re an executive, you know exactly what I’m talking about,” O’Leary said.
Since Mangione’s arrest on Monday, the New York Police Department (NYPD) issued a warning to emphasize the growing risks for high corporate officials, with viral posts online listing names and salaries of several health insurance executives, according to ABC30. In addition to the lists, pictures of “wanted” signs with corporate executives’ names and faces printed on them have been seen throughout Manhattan and posted on social media.
Despite some calling out the public defense of Mangione, some people have appeared to side with the suspected assassin. His image has been reportedly sold on shirts, cups and Christmas ornaments on Etsy, an e-commerce platform. On Tuesday, Mangione’s lawyer said the alleged assassin will likely plead not guilty to the NYPD’s charges of second-degree murder, unlawful possession of a loaded firearm, possession of a suppressor and possession of a forged instrument, according to ABC7 NY.
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