Michael Bisping is voicing his displeasure with the health insurance industry, revealing he pays a whopping $4,000 per month for coverage in the U.S.
Health insurance in the United States has been a hot-button issue for decades. Following the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week, it’s all anyone is talking about on social media.
In the early morning hours of December 4, Thompson was shot multiple times in Manhattan after exiting his hotel to attend an annual investor meeting. Thompson’s murder was quickly characterized as justified, even deserved, by Americans who have openly voiced their displeasure with the health care system.
Specifically, UnitedHealthcare who has the highest denial rate of any healthcare agency in the United States, denying one out of every three claims on average.
Though he was born on a British military base in Nicosia, Cyprus, Bisping now calls the U.S. home and like many Americans, faces the same struggles with healthcare that many of us experience. During a recent episode of his Believe You Me podcast, ‘The Count’ offered some insight into how much he pays for his own health coverage.
“I live in the US, and I love living here, okay? I have a great life. Anytime I give an opinion people don’t like, they say, ‘Well, go back to England.’ No, I don’t want to.
“I live a very good life here, thank you very much. But the healthcare system is kind of screwed up, right? It’s very, very good—it’s a great system—but it’s ridiculously expensive. I pay over $4,000 a month for my health insurance, and still, a lot of the time when I need stuff done—like my last neck surgery—it was initially denied.
“So there’s a lot of frustration. A lot of people have to start GoFundMe campaigns to pay for cancer treatments. People have to sell their houses. People go bankrupt when somebody gets sick, right? That’s the part that frustrates me because the largest economy on planet Earth—it doesn’t need to be that way. Sometimes people go into financial ruin because of the way that it’s structured.”
U.S. Citizens come to the defense of Health Insurance CEO’s suspected assassin
Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from Maryland, has been named the suspect in the killing of Thompson per a report from CNN.
Mangione was apprehended at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania on Monday after an employee at the restaurant recognized him from security footage.
He has been charged with one count of second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of second-degree possession of a forged document, and one count of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon according to court documents.
Americans continue to stand behind Mangione’s alleged actions with many of them doctoring photos and making false claims on social media that Mangione was anywhere other than New York during the time the murder took place. The McDonald’s in Altoona has also received significant backlash with all of its Facebook posts being flooded with negative comments and complaints that the location has a “rat” infestation.
“Saw rats scurrying about in the kitchen here!! Stay away!” one review read, alluding to the McDonald’s worker’s tip that led law enforcement to Mangione.
“More like Narc-donalds … I hope obesity and heart disease are in-network in PA. Deny, defend, depose, diarrhea @ McDonald’s …” read another, referencing in part the three words police say were inscribed on three separate shell casings found at the scene of the shooting.