Are We at a Tipping Point in Public Sentiment on Healthcare?
The tragic death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson—a man, a father, a husband—has left many of us grappling with questions far beyond the personal loss. While I won’t speculate on motives or point fingers, this moment feels charged with a deeper meaning. It forces us to ask: Are we reaching a tipping point in how Americans view healthcare?
This comes at a time when the healthcare landscape feels more precarious than ever. The Trump administration’s Project 2025 looms large, with its sweeping promises to reshape healthcare in ways that could leave millions uninsured and vulnerable.
Consider these elements:
Cuts to Medicaid and Medicare could remove critical lifelines for low-income and elderly Americans.
A push toward “bare-bones” health plans may leave many with coverage in name only, while out-of-pocket costs soar.
The dismantling of Affordable Care Act protections for pre-existing conditions could return us to a time when illness dictated financial ruin.
And the cost isn’t just financial—it’s human. Between 2016 and 2019, the loss of health coverage for 2.3 million Americans led to an estimated 3,399 to 25,180 premature deaths. Lack of insurance often means delayed or foregone medical care, from life-saving treatments to preventive measures, which can turn manageable conditions into fatal ones.
In 2018 alone, an estimated 461,000 excess deaths were tied to U.S. policies compared to other G7 countries. These figures reflect more than just the absence of universal healthcare—they point to systemic issues like inadequate access to affordable care, higher drug costs, and the absence of social safety nets. The result? Far more Americans die from treatable conditions than their counterparts in other wealthy nations.
Despite these staggering realities, there has been no major movement to address the crisis. Americans, it seems, have grown accustomed to the cracks in the system. We patch them where we can, muddle through, and hope it holds. But is that sustainable?
If the recent election served as a referendum on the nation’s dissatisfaction with the economy—an issue bubbling-up for over a decade—might healthcare be the next pressure point? We’ve seen a flip and flop away from the status quo in political cycles, reflecting a growing appetite for change, even if the direction remains uncertain.
Could this moment, tragic and symbolic, be the spark that fans the fire?
I’ve seen firsthand how people, when pushed to their breaking point, can come together to build something bigger than themselves. How frustration and despair can crystallize into action and transform into movements that demand change. I work with nonprofits to help build those movements—ones that elevate issues, galvanize support, and bring about real change.
Healthcare, with its profound and deeply personal stakes, has all the ingredients to be that unifying issue—a cause that transcends political lines and speaks directly to the heart of what it means to care for one another.
Certainly, we are at a time of great upheaval. The nation’s wealth divide has grown into a chasm. Healthcare is one of the starkest reflections of this disparity: the well-insured elite live longer, healthier lives, while millions struggle to afford even the most basic care. The system favors profits over people, leaving those without wealth to bear the brunt of its failures.
But change doesn’t just happen. It takes coordination, strategy, and vision to turn the spark of outrage into a fire that can’t be ignored. I’ve had the privilege of helping organizations channel this energy—to take a critical issue and build the kind of movement that can’t be overlooked or dismissed.
The question now isn’t just What comes next? but Will this be the moment that galvanizes the public?
What do you think? Is this the tipping point that finally sparks a healthcare revolution? Or are we destined to keep patching the cracks until they’re too big to fix?
