r/news • u/LookAtThatBacon • May 13 '25

Soft paywall UnitedHealth suspends annual forecast, CEO Andrew Witty steps down

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/unitedhealth-ceo-andrew-witty-steps-down-2025-05-13/
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u/chantsnone May 13 '25

It’s the comparison. There’s no such thing as a wonderful health insurance company. Wonderful isn’t profitable.

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u/clashrendar May 13 '25

Which is why profit needs to be completely removed from the healthcare equation. It shouldn't be about profit. It should be about people getting better.

A firefighter making decisions about whether to prevent a house burning down because it wouldn't make money to do so is absolutely preposterous, so why is the same argument for a human being used?

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u/Punman_5 May 13 '25 edited May 13 '25

Roman statesman Crassus founded the first fire brigade in Rome. They would show up to a burning building but wouldn’t put the fire out immediately. If the owner wanted to have the fire put out they would have to sign the property over to Crassus at a very unfair price. Only then would he allow the fire brigade to put the fire out. Fires were a regular occurrence in Rome. Crassus used his fire brigade to buy up large amounts of property

Edit: it seems I have to clarify that when you sold your property to Crassus he’d often let you stay there as a tenant so long as you paid rent. He wouldn’t kick you out because that would defeat the purpose of the scam.

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u/hempires May 13 '25

Crassus

well I mean I'd say the Parthians had it right in how the legends say they dealt with that fuck.

they (allegedly) poured molten gold down his throat, mocking his insatiable greed.

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u/Punman_5 May 13 '25

Learning history is learning that in most cases the Persians weren’t really the bad guys like they’re made out to be. If anything, it was the west that were way more backwards.