Diana Marszalek
Senior Reporter, PRovoke Media
This article originally appeared on PRovokeMedia.com and is republished here with permission.
Five key takeaways:
- The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has unleashed deep-seated hostility toward the insurance industry
- Words written on ammunition found at the crime scene, “defy,” defend” and “depose,” are associated with critics of the insurance industry
- Key communications challenges include corporate reputation and executive safety
- Most major health insurance companies have removed executive profiles from their websites
- “No matter how good the messaging, only real change will address the root of public frustration.”
Update: Police have charged a suspect in Brian Thompson’s killing with murder.
NEW YORK — In a departure from the typical gun control debates and expressions of grief that often follow high-profile murders, the killing last week of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has revealed alarming levels of hostility toward the health insurance industry.
The incident has exposed deep public resentment and raised serious concerns about corporate reputation and executive safety and, at its core, highlights fundamental communications challenges: managing crises, addressing stakeholder concerns, and protecting corporate reputations.
Yet the PR industry has been strikingly hesitant to engage with these issues openly. Despite extensive outreach, only one PR leader was willing to discuss the situation with PRovoke Media. Privately, many acknowledge the complexities, but publicly, they tread cautiously, dismissing the topic as “too sensitive” to address.
While the brazen murder on a busy Manhattan street shocked many, the assumed motivation behind it—frustration with the insurance industry—is less surprising. Ammunition found at the scene bearing the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose,” terms often used by industry critics, has fueled speculation about the shooter’s intent. For many consumers harboring longstanding grievances with the insurance sector, the murder has become a flashpoint.
“This has been brewing for a long time,” said Nathan Kaufman, managing director at Kaufman Strategic Advisors. “You’re at the mercy of insurance companies and how they decide to provide coverage.”
Public Reaction: From Outrage to the Bizarre
The public response to Thompson’s murder has veered into disturbing territory. According to The Wall Street Journal, police now see the outpouring of sympathy for the gunman as a roadblock to their ongoing manhunt.
In the days since Thompson’s death, initial outrage has given way to displays of support, including a shooter lookalike contest in New York’s Washington Square Park. The New York Times reports that the gunman has gained a cult following, with some viewing him as a folk hero striking back at the “Big, Bad Insurance” industry. Adding to the bizarre fallout, there’s been a rush on jackets resembling the one worn by the shooter in police photos.
Saturday Night Live aired a “Weekend Update” bit about the murder slammed as tasteless while UnitedHealthcare was forced to disable comments on LinkedIn and Facebook posts about Thompson after thousands of users responded with “likes” and “laughs.”
“Perhaps this is what a decade of outrage has done to all of us,” said Unlock Health founder and CEO Brandon Edwards, who said that while “addressing the healthcare system’s failings is a moral imperative,” there’s no justification for the kind of violence that took Thompson’s life.
“The difficult aspects of our healthcare system are hard to ignore,” Edwards said. However, Edwards said he’s been jarred by the conversation around the murder, even coming from the likes of the Wall Street Journal which, on Friday, ran an editorial under the headline, “Is Murdering Healthcare CEOs Justified?”
“My reaction was shock to even a rhetorical question of this nature,” he said. “Yes, the healthcare system is riddled with inequities, unfair business practices, and often negative impacts on people’s lives. Yes, insurance companies like UnitedHealthcare must examine their business practices and do a better job of helping people instead of throwing up countless roadblocks and delays to needed care. Yes, the system is way too complicated and expensive.
“But the fact that we would even ask the question, rhetorical or not, is scary,” he said.
Corporate Reputation Under Fire
With legions of battle-worn patients, insurance companies — particularly UnitedHealthcare — have long struggled with reputational issues, and the shooting and its aftermath suggest a systemic issue for the insurance world, with Unitedhealth as the lightning rod.
According to reputational management platform RepTrak, UHC’s score has fluctuated between 62 and 70 out of 100 since 2020, with a low of 60 in 2023 tied to a data breach. According to RepTrak global executive VP Stephen Hahn, a reputational score in the 60.0 to-69.9 range is “statistically average” based on the analysis of more than 6,000 companies. But only four times since July 2020 has UHC’s score topped 70 (and then only by fractions of a point), which is what it takes for a company’s reputation to be considered “strong.”
Additionally, UHC is known among providers for its high rate of care denials, impacting millions of policyholders.
“It’s a huge epidemic,” Kaufman said, adding that Duke Health cited UHC’s claim denial rate as a sticking point in recent contract negotiations. Duke employs 236 full-time staff dedicated solely to appealing insurance denials.
High-profile lawsuits against UHC have fueled public frustration, including cases where the company allegedly denied care based on flawed AI systems rather than medical judgment. In one recent court ruling, UHC was found to have wrongly reduced coverage for a teenage girl’s eating disorder treatment, ignoring her doctors’ objections.
“Even before Thompson’s murder, UnitedHealthcare’s reputation was volatile,” said Hahn. “Now, it’s at a heightened level of risk.”
Executive Safety in the Spotlight
Thompson’s murder, coupled with reports of prior threats, has prompted companies to reassess executive safety. UHC, Cigna, and CVS Health have removed leaders’ photos from their websites, and Medica temporarily closed its offices. Centene shifted its upcoming investor meeting online.
“Corporate leaders are becoming convenient targets for outrage,” Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, head of Yale’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute, told The New York Times.
Yet Thompson, unlike high-profile CEOs with costly security details, wasn’t widely known before his death—underscoring the unpredictability of such threats.
“There are always threats directed towards senior leaders at companies. Many of them are not credible,” Dave Komendat, president of DSKomendat Risk Management Services, told the AP.
“The question always is trying to determine what is a real threat versus what is someone just venting with no intent to take any additional action,” he said.
Corporate Response: A PR Dilemma
If there’s consensus among PR professionals on how companies should navigate this moment, it hasn’t been made public. Privately, experts suggest that businesses tread carefully to avoid appearing reactionary while addressing deeper systemic issues driving consumer outrage.
Ultimately, the solution requires more than strategic communication. As one industry insider put it, “No matter how good the messaging, only real change will address the root of public frustration.”
The murder of Brian Thompson and its fallout present a defining moment for the insurance industry—and the PR professionals tasked with supporting it.
“The company needs to tread carefully and steady the ship in managing the PTSD of its reputation and be wholly transparent in addressing any potentially damaging back stories that could emerge about the company – or the shooters motives,” said RepTrak’s Hahn.
But there’s been little indication from insurance companies that they are heeding that call (although Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield reversed a policy that would have limited anesthesia coverage during surgeries after Thompson’s murder).
In fact, a leaked internal video showed UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty doubling down on the importance of the health insurance, emphasizing the industry’s value in guarding against” the pressures that exist for unsafe care or for unnecessary care to be delivered in a way which makes the whole system too complex and ultimately unsustainable.”
He also lambasted “the amount of negative and, in many cases, vitriolic media and commentary produced over the last few days,” encouraging employees to tune out that critical noise that we’re hearing right now. It does not reflect reality.”
Please email Diana Marszalek with thoughts on this ongoing story at [email protected].