Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fo Night.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Michael Brown joins me here, the former FEMA director of
talk show host Michael Brown.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Brownie, no, Brownie, You're doing a heck of a job
the Weekend with Michael Brown. Hey, welcome to the Beacon
with Michael Brown. Glad to have you with me. I
appreciate you tuning in. Let's get a couple of the
rules engagement out of the way so we can get started. First,
if you want to send me a text message, let
me tell you just how important text messages are. So
I walked into the studio this morning, and I've got
my notes and my tabs, and I'm going through the
(00:28):
process process of getting all of them open, ready to go.
And then I open the text line and I start
reading the text messages from the past, say twenty four
hours or so. And there's one that came in this
morning which is going to complete it completely alters what
I was planning to do. So if you think just
(00:49):
because I don't respond to a text message, and I rarely,
if I ever respond to the text messages, but I
read them all the time, and oftentimes you bring up
points that caused me to rethink a topic, cause me
to go back and redo a topic, or to cover
a topic again, or in the case of today, completely
obliterates almost everything that I plan to talk about. So
(01:10):
text messages are an integral part of the program and
a certainly a way for you to participate and for
you to remain engaged in the program and engage and
stay engaged with me. So, if there's something you want
to tell me, there's something you want to ask me,
there's a comment you want to make, the most effective
thing that you can do is send me a text
message on your message app. Whatever app you use, doesn't
(01:33):
make any difference. The number is three three one zero
three three three one zero three, and you just start
your message out with one of two words Michael or Mike,
and then just tell me anything and ask me anything.
The other thing you can do, obviously, the other way
to engage with me is to follow me on social media.
You can go follow me on X In fact, go
do that right now. Follow me on X formerly Twitter
(01:54):
at Michael Brown USA at Michael Brown USA. And on
Facebook it's at Michael D. Brown at Michael D. Brown.
And the only reason I put on tell you about
Facebook in particular is because there's a private group that
you can participate in where all of you all across
the fruited playing that listen to the program, can you know,
post memes, comments, stories, you know, discuss among yourselves things
(02:17):
I've talked about or you think are important. And I
look through there and look through there trying to kind
of see what all of you are talking about. That's
at Michael D. Brown for Facebook, but I'm more actively
engaged on Twitter or X at Michael Brown USA. Let
me read you the text message because there's so many avenues,
(02:38):
and again, text messages are interesting because it's it's hard
to read your tone. Sometimes I don't know whether people
are being sarcastic or silly, because I you know, I'm
you know, if you've been listening to this program over
the past few years that we've been on the air,
or you listen to me locally here in Denver, you
listen to me during the morning program, which I know
that many of you do. You know that I'm a
(03:02):
smart ass, and I'm pretty sarcastic, and I just call
it as I see it, and I really you know,
it's it's difficult to explain, but when you've when you've
worked at the level of the federal government that I have.
(03:23):
And you've been involved in politics literally since you were
six years old, and you've been through everything that I've
been through, all these wonderful experiences and all these horrible
experiences in my life. You reach a point where you
just don't give an S word. You just really don't
the things that the thing that you care about are
your friends and your family, and of course I care
(03:44):
about you know, am I doing the best that I
can when I go on air. So it's other than that,
I really just don't care. I really just don't care.
I care about the country in general. I know that
there's certain things I can do, I can try to influence,
but you the amount of care that you have is
(04:05):
is unlimited, but you don't spill all of that care
out to just every little thing that comes across. And
so you reach that stage in your life where you
just realize you got to pick and choose what you
care about. And so sometimes people will say things on
the text line that I'm not quite sure whether they're joking, kidding, serious,
being sarcastic, being a smart ass like I am. So
(04:28):
it's you know how it is, you get a text
from a friend and you're not. You know, you've got
to know that friend. Well. I you know, I don't
know all every one of you. Some of you I do,
but not very many. But all of you know me.
So I get a tech I get the text messages,
and sometimes I, you know, freely admit I misinterpret what
(04:48):
they say, and I may be doing a little bit
of that with this text message. But I thought it
was important enough that I wanted to share it with you,
and I wanted to walk through some of the stuff
that I've talked about already this week. So some of
you may hear a repeat, because you know, I've got
things in my head that I know I've said this week,
which I may say again. But it's important enough because
(05:10):
it speaks to a broader issue in the country that
I know you've had discussion with family and friends about it,
and that's health insurance, healthcare, Luigia Mangione and Obamacare, all
(05:31):
of that murder left versus right, rich versus poor, elite
versus the the just the goobers like us in the world,
all of those things are all packed into this one story.
Here's the text message, Mike the radio host. Now again,
(05:54):
because you know, I don't know whether this is a
text that was done like through sera or through voice
to text, or someone's typing really quickly on a phone
or a laptop. I don't know. So I don't know
whether when they say the radio host or they mean
radio hosts. You know, I'm not really sure, so I
just had to take it at face value. So they right,
(06:17):
the radio host speaking on behalf of the right, which
you know that would include me because generally speaking, I'm
right of center. I'm I'm a conservative slash libertarian. The
radio host speaking on behalf of the right continues to
say that the left is the cause of the death
(06:38):
of the CEO, referring to Brian Thompson, the former CEO
of United Healthcare, and that the left is the one
supporting that they I guess the radio hosts or anybody
talking about it who believes that could not be further
from the truth. This is not a left versus right,
but a rich and powerful versus poor and slave like
(07:01):
I feel, the more radio hosts speak out as they
have have been could eventually be putting targets on their
backs that they will never see coming. I'm not sure
of your opinion on this yet, because you haven't been
on the radio yet today, but please take the consideration
how much pain has been caused to normal people because
(07:21):
of the rich and powerful with no repercussions on them.
All right, let's start deconstructing this first. I've been talking
about this all week long, which is why I encourage you.
And I know that everybody can't listen to me all
the time, although you should. I know that you can't
do that, but I do encourage you that if you
like what you hear on the weekends, I really would
encourage you to listen to me on the weekday because
(07:44):
then you get a flavor because I don't cover you know,
I do five days a week from six to ten
mountain time, and then come back into the studio or
maybe from the you know, my home in New Mexico
or my home in Denver, but you know today I'm
in the studio, and then I do three three hours
on the weekend, which gets repeated many places later into
(08:04):
later today on Saturday. And then like here in Denver,
we have several AM stations and a couple of FMS,
and they will replay the program on those stations, so
I get a broad distribution of all of the programming. Now,
just as a footnote here, if you want to listen
to me during the weekday on your computer or on
your by the way, newly upgraded iHeartRadio app, search for
(08:27):
the Situation with Michael Brown or six point thirty KHOW
six thirty KHOW in Denver, and you can listen live
on the weekends. Of course, you can always download the
podcast and you can get you can listen to all
of it. So there's that point I wanted to make. Now,
let's talk about putting targets on our backs. I truly
(08:53):
don't give a rats ask about that one. I am am.
I'm not trying to bring on any sort of threat.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not asking for, you know,
to to for someone to try to shoot at me
or anything, or someone to try to be But I
do want to address some of the experiences that I've
had in my life about putting targets or getting the
(09:17):
target put on your back, because that's something that I'm
quite aware of and I'm quite accustomed to. It's the
Weekend with Michael Brown. Don't forget again. The text line
is three three one zero three three three one zero three.
Just start the message with the word Mike or Michael,
let's talk about targets in my back. That's next. Hey,
(09:42):
welcome back to the Weekend with Michael Brown. Glad to
have you with me. We're talking about the and and
don't don't run away when I tell you what we're
talking about, because I know you think you've heard everything,
but you haven't yet, so so stick around. We're talking
about the uh, the murder in New York. What's it
been now week and a half or something, Brian Thompson,
the CEO of United Healthcare. And I'm and I'm playing
(10:04):
off a text message that came in at ninety three
this morning, so it's it's fresh, and it's so there's
so much packed into this text message that I want
to I want to deconstruct it because there's there's a
lot of things I want all of you to think about.
And Clig Frank it caused me to think about a
(10:24):
few things. So the gist of the text message is
that any radio talk show hosts they're talking about this
is left versus right is wrong, and that it's really
about rich versus poor. I would say it's actually about
elite versus normal people, and that you know, maybe radio
(10:45):
hosts aren't talking about it because it's going to put
a target on our backs. And I certainly read the
text message as it's going to put a target on
my back. And I kind of laugh at that, because, well,
if you know anything about my background, oh, hang on,
guess what I've had. I know, people like to talk
(11:07):
about how they've had death threats. I don't normally talk
about it, but when I do, let me tell you something.
I've had real, legitimate death threats that have been investigated
by the FBI, particularly when I was the under Secretary
of Home MN Security. I have been escorted out of
this building that I am currently in by the Denver
(11:30):
Police Department while they searched anaria because some nutjob was
running around the building, you know, screaming my name looking
for me because something I'd said. I have no idea
what I'd said, and uh was I mean, maybe it
was just crazy. But who wants to deal with a
crazy person? And I don't want to deal with the
crazy person because look what happened to Daniel Penny on
(11:52):
that New York City subway train where he was trying
to protect himself and protect others. And I make no
bones about it. That I am an active concealed carry
person and I know how and have for since I
was probably ten years old, known how to use firearms.
(12:13):
And while I do not want to use a firearm,
I have no reservation about using one to protect myself
from my family. So if someone thinks that I'm unwilling
to talk about this issue or this murder one, you
haven't been listening to me. And because I've talked in
(12:34):
depth about it. And two, I'm not fearful of targets
on my back. I don't want to target on my back,
but I know that, based on my previous life and
my previous careers, and I know that based on my
current career, that I always have a target on my back,
and so I always preach and talk to I don't
(12:57):
know I've ever talked to this national audience about it,
about how you need to learn to be situationally aware.
You know, as a guy who for six years had
a security detail, I learned it awful lot about self
defense and situational awareness, and so I'm constantly doing that.
I have certain little habits that I won't describe to
you because I really don't want you to know what
they are, But I have certain little habits that I
(13:18):
develop based on my security team teaching me how to
be aware of certain things, and how to write an
elevator and how to check into a hotel room, any
number of things. So while I don't want to target
on my back, I'm certainly aware that just because of
the nature of what I do, I do. But let's
talk about the murder of the CEO. It is about
(13:41):
everything that's in this text message. It is about the
right versus the left. It is about Marxists versus conservatives,
or Democrats versus Republicans. It is about eliteists versus the
rest of us. It's about all of those things, and
in a big bucket, it's about healthcare in this country,
(14:06):
pure and simple. There's no way around it. And if
you don't think that, for example, that it's not about
left versus right, somebody that kind of personifies both elitism
and uh, the left would be Senator Elizabeth Warren or
(14:33):
Pocahontas as she's known. That is the senator from Massachusetts
who said recently in an interview on I think it
was MSNBC, she made some statements that I found astonishing.
(14:54):
Listen to her.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
We were talking a lot about this FLUIGIMNNGIONI the you know,
the case about the United Healthcare. See, people are very
angry United Health.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
I think for good visage.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Just so you know, this is Joy Read, the black
female host who I think does a weekend or a
night a late night show.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Denying care and the whole system. And we were just
talking the previous block and you know, telling us that
is not the way you change.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
You have to regulate them.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
And so we've got attempts to try to rein in
some of these big businesses the consumer of.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Now, we got to rain in big business. Now. Are
all big businesses bad? No? Do I think that some
of the CEOs of big businesses are bad? Yes, Like
I don't look upon Microsoft as inherently being a bad corporation.
(15:40):
I don't look upon Apple, and full disclosure, I'm a
shareholder of Apple. I don't look upon Apple as necessarily
an evil corporation. I don't. I really don't see Tim Cook,
the current CEO of Apple, as an evil person. But
I do see some companies as being evil, and I
see companies that, uh, And I don't think you can
(16:03):
be a good company with an evil CEO, because an
evil CEO sets the culture of that company. So if
you're a bad CEO or an evil CEO, or an
incompetent CEO or a non caring CEO, then that's going
to soak down through all the way down to you know,
the maintenance people, and that's going to create a culture.
(16:28):
It's really bad for that company and it's bad for shareholders. Well,
it's not always about evil corporation.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
To regulate, and so we've got attempts to try to
rein in some of these big businesses to consumer financial protection.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Here, which now, exactly what do you mean so you
want to guy, see this is Marxism. They want government
to step in and rein in corporations. Uh, well, which corporation?
If we have bad corporation, if we have evil corporations
and good corporations, which one are you going to reign in?
Which ones are you not? Now remember this is all
(17:03):
in the context of them discussing about the murder of
the United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. It was your creation.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
The Trump administration wants to get rid of it.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
That is, like protecting people from like credit card fraud.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Yeah, what happens if that goes away, So look terrible
for individuals, But stop and think overall about the social contract,
you know, part of the deal, and how we've kept this.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
This democracy's economy of this country on a fairly steady
path for more than two hundred years.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Has been that those at the top pay a.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Little more in taxes, are a little less rich than
they otherwise might be.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Now that's pure Marxism class warfare. Oh, you know, we
kept social compact together because we wanted rich people to
be a little less rich. Really, and what does that accomplish?
What does it accomplished? And does it justify the murder
of a CEO. It's the Weekend with Michael Brown. Text
work or Michael to three three, one zero three. We'll
(18:02):
continue this next tonight.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Michael Brown joins me here, the former FEMA director of
talk show host Michael Brown.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
Brownie, No, Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
The Weekend with Michael Brown. Hey, welcome back to the
Weekend with Michael Brown. Glad to have you with me.
We're talking about the assassination of Brian Thompson and and
what are we to learn from this? Who are we
to blame? Is this a left versus right, conservative versus liberal?
Is this is this elitist versus regular people? The answer
(18:37):
is yes, it is all of those things. And this
all stems from a text message that came into my
inbox this morning that talks about and by the way,
that individual has has since texted again and said, well
said this directly. Please don't take my previous message as
(18:58):
a threat from me in any way. And when I
say host, I mean the host that I hear every
day on the radio, which is some other people, not me.
Why I didn't take it as a personal threat, but
it was kind of iffy, and my point was I
never I've never not talked about something. First, let me
(19:20):
back up to iHeart and Premiere Radio, which syndicates this program.
Not anyone in management, from the CEO all the way down.
No one has ever told me what I can talk
about or not talk about, what I can say, or
what I cannot say. And as I've told you, maybe
(19:40):
many in this audience don't know this, but during COVID,
my local cluster, my local management gave me a full
hour on our blowtorch station every evening between six and seven.
They gave me an hour during COVID to present the
opposite of what they said. Look, we've heard you talk
(20:03):
on your regular program about how you disagree with a
lot of the stuff going on with COVID. Would you
like to come over here on this other station and
talk about that also, to give this other audience a
different perspective on COVID. And I'm like, yes, but I'm
going to say some things that are going to be
anti government. They're going to be anti even what Iheart's doing.
(20:26):
Are you okay with that? Sure? We want an opposing
point of view. It's almost like it's like almost the
days of Equal Time. We want you to come on
and present a different perspective because we think people need
to hear a different perspective. So I really admire iHeart
for doing that. I've never felt pressure to say or
not say anything. In fact, sometimes I think I've kind
(20:49):
of come close to the line of making jokes about
some of the inept things that we do in radio,
some of the stupid things that we do in radio.
And I freely talked about that. And I think that
goes back to the point I made in the last
segment about as a guy who's had actual threats, have
been investigated by the FBI, in fact, people have been
arrested for it, and that I've been escorted out of
(21:13):
this building because of crazy people making threats to me.
I just you can't live your life and fear, and
I certainly don't. And I know how to defend myself
and I'm certainly willing to do so. Now let's think
about Let's go back to joy Read and this conversation
with cintor Elizabeth Warren. Because they encompass everything, they blame everybody.
(21:42):
Let me back it up just a little bit.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
This democrauss economy of this country, on a fairly steady
path for more than two hundred years, has been that
those at the top palttle.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
More in taxes, are a little less.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Rich than the otherwise might be, and everybody else at
least gives a chance.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
And what happens when.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
You turn this into the billionaires one.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
At all is they get the opportunity.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
To squeeze every last penny.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Yeah, and look, we'll say it.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Over and over.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Violence is never the answer. This guy gets a trial
who's allegedly killed the CEO of United Health. But you
can only push people so far, and then they start
to take no matters.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
It's their own hands.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Yeah, oh so violence is never the answer. But violence
is never the answer. But you push people so far
and they take things into their own hands, that might
be true politically. That's what we see in Syria, that's
(22:45):
what we see in Venezuela. That's what we see in Cuba.
That's what we see. That's what we saw in seventeen
seventy six. But that's a political revolution. Is the assassination
of a health care CEO going to lead to changes?
Is that? Is that what it's going to take. Well,
(23:08):
let's go to the New York Times. The New York Times,
of all places, published an editorial, a guest opinion, a
guest editorial written by Andrew Whittie. You that is, he's
the CEO of United health Group, the parent company of
(23:30):
United Healthcare, and he writes, leim me scroll through this.
He writes. We know the health system does not work
as well as it should, and we understand people's frustrations
with it. No one would design a system like the
one we have, and no one did. It's a patchwork
(23:50):
built over decades. Our mission is to help make it
work better. We are willing to partner with anyone, as
we always have healthcare providers, employers, patients, pharmaceutical company's, governments,
and others to find ways to deliver high quality care
and lower costs. You know, he could have written whatever
he wanted to, except that The New York Times has
(24:13):
had to close off comments, not just because of that
one paragraph. But I think that's the paragraph that sticks
out most to me about something really stupid to say.
He continued on, Clearly, we are not there yet. We
understand and share the desire to build a healthcare system
that works better for everyone. That is the purpose of
our organization. Really, because if that's the purpose of your organization,
(24:38):
I would say you have failed miserably. Now do you
think what I just said justifies the killing of the
CEO of United Healthcare, not the parent company, but Brian
Thompson of the insurance company itself. No, it does not.
After two four hundred and sixty eight comments, the New
(24:59):
York Times shut it down. Let me read you just
a couple of comments, because the point I'm trying to
make is there are people in this country who are
willing to look beyond the murder and instead focus on
(25:19):
why he did it, which I find fascinating because all
we have is manifesto, and even though I don't even
know whether that manifesto is really real or not, and
we now know that he was even an insured of
United Healthcare? So why pick Brian Thompson? Did you pick Brian? Hey? Hey, Luigi?
(25:40):
Did you pick Brian Thompson? Because United Healthcare had the
highest denial rate claims denial rate of all the health
top health insurance insurance in the country. Is that why?
Greg from Cleveland commented, mister Woody, the money talks, which
is why you will You will not walk nor run
(26:02):
to change the system that lines your pockets at the
expense of your paying customers. I chose that because it's
just short and succinct, but I think that comment reflects
the feelings of many people. You can hold, as I've
told my audience time and time again, you can hold
two conflicting or two separate thoughts in your head at
(26:25):
the same time, and even though they may appear to
be contradictory, you can still hold those two thoughts in
your head. For example, I abhor the violence first of all,
LIGI this dirt bag was a coward shot him in
the back. Really, you know, if you've been a real assassin,
(26:48):
you would have walked up to him face to face
and shot him while you looked at him in the eyes.
But you didn't do that because you're a coward, you're
a scumbag, you're a psychopath in my opinion, and you
deserve whatever you're going to get. But the second point
is you can believe as I do, that while health
(27:11):
care in this country is the best in the entire world,
the health care system sucks, absolutely sucks, and it's gotten
even worse since. Now, let me make it political, since
the Democrats, solely Democrats, not one Republican vote, implemented Obamacare.
(27:33):
Do you recall if you like your doctor, you can
keep your doctor. How many of you been able to
do that? Do you recall Obama telling us that, oh,
by the way, you adopt my plan, and the average
family of four is going to pay fifteen hundred dollars
or what I think it's twenty five twenty five hundred
dollars a year, but two hundred dollars a month. How
(27:58):
many of you are paying two one hundred dollars a
month for health care for you and a family of four.
How's that working out for you, it's not working out
for you because politicians and the government intervene into a
private market, into a free market, and they completely distort
that market. How badly do they distort that market? Because
(28:20):
perhaps a company like United Healthcare, which is a vertical monopoly,
you know, they in at least out West and particularly
in Colorado, but out West, they wanted the Kroger and
safe Way wanted to merge, and the Department of Justice
intervened and they've blocked that merger. Now, whether that was
(28:44):
a good idea or a bad idea, I leave that
to individuals. I've got an opinion that's kind of in
the middle. But they didn't want that merger because it would,
in their opinion, drive up grocery price. Is even more Well,
if we're going to break up or prevent grocery stores
(29:06):
from merging, why do we allow a company like United
Healthcare to be a vertally vitally vertically integrated monopoly. They
own their own claims department, They own their own pharmaceutical company,
They own their own hospitals, they own their own group
of doctors. They own virtually the entire gamut of putting
(29:26):
together a healthcare system. United Healthcare United Health owns a
United Health Group. And when we get back, I'll give
you an example. I'll give you an example of how
this system that we have is totally messed up. But
does this messed up system, in the example I'm about
(29:46):
to give you, justify the murder of a CEO. No,
it does not, not in the least. Instead, what you
ought to be doing, as opposed to killing somebody and
then trying to take sides on it is demanding that
we break up the monopolies. Yeah, and we demand that
(30:07):
we figure out a way that you can't have these
vertally vertically integrated monopolies that control every single aspect from
the time a patient walks into an exam room or
walks into a pharmacy, or walks into an urgent care
or a surgical center and walks out, and everything's controlled
(30:28):
by one group. I'll be right back. Hey, welcome back
to the beginning with Michael Brown. Glad to have you
with me. But we're talking about a text message that
I received this morning about the United Healthcare shooting and
it let me give you my example to show you
(30:51):
how messed up and their thoughts. You know, I don't
like the outfit pro Publica because they're really left and
they really are biased in the reporting, but occasionally they'll
put together it's like a broken clock is right twice
a day. Well. Pro Publica has a story about a
(31:12):
student at the University of Pennsylvania, nothing to do with
with the shooter, who had a disease and United Healthcare
denied the treatment. It's a horrendous story, but it's a
great example of how this system that's been created is designed.
(31:32):
You know. It's like I had an old professor when
I was in college, an undergraduate school that had theory
that organizations grow and then they get to the size
where they are unmanageable, and when they beget to be unmanageable,
they start going off the deep end and they start
doing you know, unethical or illegal things, and they no
(31:56):
longer care about their customers. And that's always stuck with
me because I think it's true about government, and it's
true about a bunch of large corporations. Even though I'm
not anti large corporation, I do believe that that principle applies.
And sometimes a CEO doesn't really know. I mean, I know,
even as the undersecretary when I had you know, one
(32:19):
hundred thousand employees and a you know, one hundred billion
dollar budget that I didn't know every single thing going on,
so I had to manage as best I could and
delegate as best I could. But the example I wanted
to tell you real quickly was, so I make no
bones about it, I take sleep medications because I just
can't turn my brain off at night. It's just going
(32:40):
all the time. So for I don't know, the past
ten twenty years, I've been taking sleep medication and my
PCP wanted me to try There's a new class of
drugs out and he wanted me to quit taking one
drug and start trying this new drug. So I weaned
myself off one to start taking the new drug. But
here's the kick the new drug. The retail price is
(33:02):
fifteen hundred dollars a month. Fifteen hundred dollars a month
for a thirty day supply. Now, I went to my
insurance company and said, I need this covered, and so
I appealed it. I'm a lawyer, I know how to
do this crap. So I did it. They came back
and said, yes, we'll cover it. Great. What's the cost
(33:23):
going to be to me? You ready it's going to
be seven hundred dollars a month. Yeah, we'll pay eight hundred,
but you're going to pay seven hundred. And So before
I decided to appeal that appeal, I started digging around.
I can go to good RX, and I can get
it through good RX for one hundred and thirty five
dollars a month. Now what's the difference. Well, the difference
(33:47):
is my insurance company and the drug company are all
going through what's called a pharmacy benefit manager a PBM.
These are middlemen that negotiate the price for different insurance
company and different pharmacies. But I can go over here
to this little independent group called good RX, who negotiates
on their own without the use of a pharmacy benefit manager,
(34:12):
and they get it from the drug company at a
reduced rate. So I'm paying one hundred and thirty five
dollars a month, and that good RX is still making
money on it. So the real price of the drug
is probably less than fifty dollars a month, but the
pharmacy benefit managers jacket up to fifteen hundred dollars a month.
(34:36):
That's the problem with a vertical integrated monopoly, and that's
part of the problem with the entire healthcare system in
this country. Doctors are giving up their practices and going
to work for corporations because they spend so much time
just trying to process claims. I read a story about
it doctor in particular, who published his story about selling
(35:00):
his practice, and I think he's actually going to retire
because he had so much One doctor had so much
staff that did nothing but file insurance claims and then
have to appeal the claims, and then he'd have to
fight with the insurance company because he wanted a particular
treatment for his patient and the insurance company balked at it.
(35:22):
That kind of system is unsustainable. But does any of
that justify the murder of a CEO. No, it just
means that at some point the system's going to collapse.
The system will collapse. Now, what you should be fearful
of is if and when that system collapses, people, particularly
(35:45):
on the left and some conservatives, will go screaming for
socialized medicine. Have you ever dealt with socialized medicine? Go
to Europe, look at the National Health Service in the
United Kingdom. Oh, you have a fractured well, we'll take
care of that in a couple of weeks. Oh, you're
appendix burst. Well, come here. We'll put you on a
(36:07):
gurney somewhere in the hallway and we'll get to you
when we can. Oh you have cancer, you've got you've
got diabetes. Well we've looked at your chart. You eat
too many cheeseburgers and French fries, so we're not going
to treat you for your diabetes. You're overweight, well sucks
to be you. You quit eating what you're eating. Yeah,
(36:28):
it's all totally fed up. So we came with Michael Brown.
Any comments text Those comments are questions to three three
one zero three. Just start the message with the word
Mike or Michael. Let's move on because I'm really kind
of tired of this topic. Don't go away.
Fo Night.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Michael Brown joins me here, the former FEMA director of
talk show host Michael Brown.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Brownie, no, Brownie, You're doing a heck of a job
the Weekend with Michael Brown. Hey, welcome to the Beacon
with Michael Brown. Glad to have you with me. I
appreciate you tuning in. Let's get a couple of the
rules engagement out of the way so we can get started. First,
if you want to send me a text message, let
me tell you just how important text messages are. So
I walked into the studio this morning, and I've got
my notes and my tabs, and I'm going through the
(00:28):
process process of getting all of them open, ready to go.
And then I open the text line and I start
reading the text messages from the past, say twenty four
hours or so. And there's one that came in this
morning which is going to complete it completely alters what
I was planning to do. So if you think just
(00:49):
because I don't respond to a text message, and I rarely,
if I ever respond to the text messages, but I
read them all the time, and oftentimes you bring up
points that caused me to rethink a topic, cause me
to go back and redo a topic, or to cover
a topic again, or in the case of today, completely
obliterates almost everything that I plan to talk about. So
(01:10):
text messages are an integral part of the program and
a certainly a way for you to participate and for
you to remain engaged in the program and engage and
stay engaged with me. So, if there's something you want
to tell me, there's something you want to ask me,
there's a comment you want to make, the most effective
thing that you can do is send me a text
message on your message app. Whatever app you use, doesn't
(01:33):
make any difference. The number is three three one zero
three three three one zero three, and you just start
your message out with one of two words Michael or Mike,
and then just tell me anything and ask me anything.
The other thing you can do, obviously, the other way
to engage with me is to follow me on social media.
You can go follow me on X In fact, go
do that right now. Follow me on X formerly Twitter
(01:54):
at Michael Brown USA at Michael Brown USA. And on
Facebook it's at Michael D. Brown at Michael D. Brown.
And the only reason I put on tell you about
Facebook in particular is because there's a private group that
you can participate in where all of you all across
the fruited playing that listen to the program, can you know,
post memes, comments, stories, you know, discuss among yourselves things
(02:17):
I've talked about or you think are important. And I
look through there and look through there trying to kind
of see what all of you are talking about. That's
at Michael D. Brown for Facebook, but I'm more actively
engaged on Twitter or X at Michael Brown USA. Let
me read you the text message because there's so many avenues,
(02:38):
and again, text messages are interesting because it's it's hard
to read your tone. Sometimes I don't know whether people
are being sarcastic or silly, because I you know, I'm
you know, if you've been listening to this program over
the past few years that we've been on the air,
or you listen to me locally here in Denver, you
listen to me during the morning program, which I know
that many of you do. You know that I'm a
(03:02):
smart ass, and I'm pretty sarcastic, and I just call
it as I see it, and I really you know,
it's it's difficult to explain, but when you've when you've
worked at the level of the federal government that I have.
(03:23):
And you've been involved in politics literally since you were
six years old, and you've been through everything that I've
been through, all these wonderful experiences and all these horrible
experiences in my life. You reach a point where you
just don't give an S word. You just really don't
the things that the thing that you care about are
your friends and your family, and of course I care
(03:44):
about you know, am I doing the best that I
can when I go on air. So it's other than that,
I really just don't care. I really just don't care.
I care about the country in general. I know that
there's certain things I can do, I can try to influence,
but you the amount of care that you have is
(04:05):
is unlimited, but you don't spill all of that care
out to just every little thing that comes across. And
so you reach that stage in your life where you
just realize you got to pick and choose what you
care about. And so sometimes people will say things on
the text line that I'm not quite sure whether they're joking, kidding, serious,
being sarcastic, being a smart ass like I am. So
(04:28):
it's you know how it is, you get a text
from a friend and you're not. You know, you've got
to know that friend. Well. I you know, I don't
know all every one of you. Some of you I do,
but not very many. But all of you know me.
So I get a tech I get the text messages,
and sometimes I, you know, freely admit I misinterpret what
(04:48):
they say, and I may be doing a little bit
of that with this text message. But I thought it
was important enough that I wanted to share it with you,
and I wanted to walk through some of the stuff
that I've talked about already this week. So some of
you may hear a repeat, because you know, I've got
things in my head that I know I've said this week,
which I may say again. But it's important enough because
(05:10):
it speaks to a broader issue in the country that
I know you've had discussion with family and friends about it,
and that's health insurance, healthcare, Luigia Mangione and Obamacare, all
(05:31):
of that murder left versus right, rich versus poor, elite
versus the the just the goobers like us in the world,
all of those things are all packed into this one story.
Here's the text message, Mike the radio host. Now again,
(05:54):
because you know, I don't know whether this is a
text that was done like through sera or through voice
to text, or someone's typing really quickly on a phone
or a laptop. I don't know. So I don't know
whether when they say the radio host or they mean
radio hosts. You know, I'm not really sure, so I
just had to take it at face value. So they right,
(06:17):
the radio host speaking on behalf of the right, which
you know that would include me because generally speaking, I'm
right of center. I'm I'm a conservative slash libertarian. The
radio host speaking on behalf of the right continues to
say that the left is the cause of the death
(06:38):
of the CEO, referring to Brian Thompson, the former CEO
of United Healthcare, and that the left is the one
supporting that they I guess the radio hosts or anybody
talking about it who believes that could not be further
from the truth. This is not a left versus right,
but a rich and powerful versus poor and slave like
(07:01):
I feel, the more radio hosts speak out as they
have have been could eventually be putting targets on their
backs that they will never see coming. I'm not sure
of your opinion on this yet, because you haven't been
on the radio yet today, but please take the consideration
how much pain has been caused to normal people because
(07:21):
of the rich and powerful with no repercussions on them.
All right, let's start deconstructing this first. I've been talking
about this all week long, which is why I encourage you.
And I know that everybody can't listen to me all
the time, although you should. I know that you can't
do that, but I do encourage you that if you
like what you hear on the weekends, I really would
encourage you to listen to me on the weekday because
(07:44):
then you get a flavor because I don't cover you know,
I do five days a week from six to ten
mountain time, and then come back into the studio or
maybe from the you know, my home in New Mexico
or my home in Denver, but you know today I'm
in the studio, and then I do three three hours
on the weekend, which gets repeated many places later into
(08:04):
later today on Saturday. And then like here in Denver,
we have several AM stations and a couple of FMS,
and they will replay the program on those stations, so
I get a broad distribution of all of the programming. Now,
just as a footnote here, if you want to listen
to me during the weekday on your computer or on
your by the way, newly upgraded iHeartRadio app, search for
(08:27):
the Situation with Michael Brown or six point thirty KHOW
six thirty KHOW in Denver, and you can listen live
on the weekends. Of course, you can always download the
podcast and you can get you can listen to all
of it. So there's that point I wanted to make. Now,
let's talk about putting targets on our backs. I truly
(08:53):
don't give a rats ask about that one. I am am.
I'm not trying to bring on any sort of threat.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not asking for, you know,
to to for someone to try to shoot at me
or anything, or someone to try to be But I
do want to address some of the experiences that I've
had in my life about putting targets or getting the
(09:17):
target put on your back, because that's something that I'm
quite aware of and I'm quite accustomed to. It's the
Weekend with Michael Brown. Don't forget again. The text line
is three three one zero three three three one zero three.
Just start the message with the word Mike or Michael,
let's talk about targets in my back. That's next. Hey,
(09:42):
welcome back to the Weekend with Michael Brown. Glad to
have you with me. We're talking about the and and
don't don't run away when I tell you what we're
talking about, because I know you think you've heard everything,
but you haven't yet, so so stick around. We're talking
about the uh, the murder in New York. What's it
been now week and a half or something, Brian Thompson,
the CEO of United Healthcare. And I'm and I'm playing
(10:04):
off a text message that came in at ninety three
this morning, so it's it's fresh, and it's so there's
so much packed into this text message that I want
to I want to deconstruct it because there's there's a
lot of things I want all of you to think about.
And Clig Frank it caused me to think about a
(10:24):
few things. So the gist of the text message is
that any radio talk show hosts they're talking about this
is left versus right is wrong, and that it's really
about rich versus poor. I would say it's actually about
elite versus normal people, and that you know, maybe radio
(10:45):
hosts aren't talking about it because it's going to put
a target on our backs. And I certainly read the
text message as it's going to put a target on
my back. And I kind of laugh at that, because, well,
if you know anything about my background, oh, hang on,
guess what I've had. I know, people like to talk
(11:07):
about how they've had death threats. I don't normally talk
about it, but when I do, let me tell you something.
I've had real, legitimate death threats that have been investigated
by the FBI, particularly when I was the under Secretary
of Home MN Security. I have been escorted out of
this building that I am currently in by the Denver
(11:30):
Police Department while they searched anaria because some nutjob was
running around the building, you know, screaming my name looking
for me because something I'd said. I have no idea
what I'd said, and uh was I mean, maybe it
was just crazy. But who wants to deal with a
crazy person? And I don't want to deal with the
crazy person because look what happened to Daniel Penny on
(11:52):
that New York City subway train where he was trying
to protect himself and protect others. And I make no
bones about it. That I am an active concealed carry
person and I know how and have for since I
was probably ten years old, known how to use firearms.
(12:13):
And while I do not want to use a firearm,
I have no reservation about using one to protect myself
from my family. So if someone thinks that I'm unwilling
to talk about this issue or this murder one, you
haven't been listening to me. And because I've talked in
(12:34):
depth about it. And two, I'm not fearful of targets
on my back. I don't want to target on my back,
but I know that, based on my previous life and
my previous careers, and I know that based on my
current career, that I always have a target on my back,
and so I always preach and talk to I don't
(12:57):
know I've ever talked to this national audience about it,
about how you need to learn to be situationally aware.
You know, as a guy who for six years had
a security detail, I learned it awful lot about self
defense and situational awareness, and so I'm constantly doing that.
I have certain little habits that I won't describe to
you because I really don't want you to know what
they are, But I have certain little habits that I
(13:18):
develop based on my security team teaching me how to
be aware of certain things, and how to write an
elevator and how to check into a hotel room, any
number of things. So while I don't want to target
on my back, I'm certainly aware that just because of
the nature of what I do, I do. But let's
talk about the murder of the CEO. It is about
(13:41):
everything that's in this text message. It is about the
right versus the left. It is about Marxists versus conservatives,
or Democrats versus Republicans. It is about eliteists versus the
rest of us. It's about all of those things, and
in a big bucket, it's about healthcare in this country,
(14:06):
pure and simple. There's no way around it. And if
you don't think that, for example, that it's not about
left versus right, somebody that kind of personifies both elitism
and uh, the left would be Senator Elizabeth Warren or
(14:33):
Pocahontas as she's known. That is the senator from Massachusetts
who said recently in an interview on I think it
was MSNBC, she made some statements that I found astonishing.
(14:54):
Listen to her.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
We were talking a lot about this FLUIGIMNNGIONI the you know,
the case about the United Healthcare. See, people are very
angry United Health.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
I think for good visage.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Just so you know, this is Joy Read, the black
female host who I think does a weekend or a
night a late night show.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Denying care and the whole system. And we were just
talking the previous block and you know, telling us that
is not the way you change.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
You have to regulate them.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
And so we've got attempts to try to rein in
some of these big businesses the consumer of.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Now, we got to rain in big business. Now. Are
all big businesses bad? No? Do I think that some
of the CEOs of big businesses are bad? Yes, Like
I don't look upon Microsoft as inherently being a bad corporation.
(15:40):
I don't look upon Apple, and full disclosure, I'm a
shareholder of Apple. I don't look upon Apple as necessarily
an evil corporation. I don't. I really don't see Tim Cook,
the current CEO of Apple, as an evil person. But
I do see some companies as being evil, and I
see companies that, uh, And I don't think you can
(16:03):
be a good company with an evil CEO, because an
evil CEO sets the culture of that company. So if
you're a bad CEO or an evil CEO, or an
incompetent CEO or a non caring CEO, then that's going
to soak down through all the way down to you know,
the maintenance people, and that's going to create a culture.
(16:28):
It's really bad for that company and it's bad for shareholders. Well,
it's not always about evil corporation.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
To regulate, and so we've got attempts to try to
rein in some of these big businesses to consumer financial protection.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Here, which now, exactly what do you mean so you
want to guy, see this is Marxism. They want government
to step in and rein in corporations. Uh, well, which corporation?
If we have bad corporation, if we have evil corporations
and good corporations, which one are you going to reign in?
Which ones are you not? Now remember this is all
(17:03):
in the context of them discussing about the murder of
the United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. It was your creation.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
The Trump administration wants to get rid of it.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
That is, like protecting people from like credit card fraud.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Yeah, what happens if that goes away, So look terrible
for individuals, But stop and think overall about the social contract,
you know, part of the deal, and how we've kept this.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
This democracy's economy of this country on a fairly steady
path for more than two hundred years.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Has been that those at the top pay a.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Little more in taxes, are a little less rich than
they otherwise might be.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Now that's pure Marxism class warfare. Oh, you know, we
kept social compact together because we wanted rich people to
be a little less rich. Really, and what does that accomplish?
What does it accomplished? And does it justify the murder
of a CEO. It's the Weekend with Michael Brown. Text
work or Michael to three three, one zero three. We'll
(18:02):
continue this next tonight.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Michael Brown joins me here, the former FEMA director of
talk show host Michael Brown.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
Brownie, No, Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
The Weekend with Michael Brown. Hey, welcome back to the
Weekend with Michael Brown. Glad to have you with me.
We're talking about the assassination of Brian Thompson and and
what are we to learn from this? Who are we
to blame? Is this a left versus right, conservative versus liberal?
Is this is this elitist versus regular people? The answer
(18:37):
is yes, it is all of those things. And this
all stems from a text message that came into my
inbox this morning that talks about and by the way,
that individual has has since texted again and said, well
said this directly. Please don't take my previous message as
(18:58):
a threat from me in any way. And when I
say host, I mean the host that I hear every
day on the radio, which is some other people, not me.
Why I didn't take it as a personal threat, but
it was kind of iffy, and my point was I
never I've never not talked about something. First, let me
(19:20):
back up to iHeart and Premiere Radio, which syndicates this program.
Not anyone in management, from the CEO all the way down.
No one has ever told me what I can talk
about or not talk about, what I can say, or
what I cannot say. And as I've told you, maybe
(19:40):
many in this audience don't know this, but during COVID,
my local cluster, my local management gave me a full
hour on our blowtorch station every evening between six and seven.
They gave me an hour during COVID to present the
opposite of what they said. Look, we've heard you talk
(20:03):
on your regular program about how you disagree with a
lot of the stuff going on with COVID. Would you
like to come over here on this other station and
talk about that also, to give this other audience a
different perspective on COVID. And I'm like, yes, but I'm
going to say some things that are going to be
anti government. They're going to be anti even what Iheart's doing.
(20:26):
Are you okay with that? Sure? We want an opposing
point of view. It's almost like it's like almost the
days of Equal Time. We want you to come on
and present a different perspective because we think people need
to hear a different perspective. So I really admire iHeart
for doing that. I've never felt pressure to say or
not say anything. In fact, sometimes I think I've kind
(20:49):
of come close to the line of making jokes about
some of the inept things that we do in radio,
some of the stupid things that we do in radio.
And I freely talked about that. And I think that
goes back to the point I made in the last
segment about as a guy who's had actual threats, have
been investigated by the FBI, in fact, people have been
arrested for it, and that I've been escorted out of
(21:13):
this building because of crazy people making threats to me.
I just you can't live your life and fear, and
I certainly don't. And I know how to defend myself
and I'm certainly willing to do so. Now let's think
about Let's go back to joy Read and this conversation
with cintor Elizabeth Warren. Because they encompass everything, they blame everybody.
(21:42):
Let me back it up just a little bit.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
This democrauss economy of this country, on a fairly steady
path for more than two hundred years, has been that
those at the top palttle.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
More in taxes, are a little less.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Rich than the otherwise might be, and everybody else at
least gives a chance.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
And what happens when.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
You turn this into the billionaires one.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
At all is they get the opportunity.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
To squeeze every last penny.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Yeah, and look, we'll say it.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Over and over.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Violence is never the answer. This guy gets a trial
who's allegedly killed the CEO of United Health. But you
can only push people so far, and then they start
to take no matters.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
It's their own hands.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Yeah, oh so violence is never the answer. But violence
is never the answer. But you push people so far
and they take things into their own hands, that might
be true politically. That's what we see in Syria, that's
(22:45):
what we see in Venezuela. That's what we see in Cuba.
That's what we see. That's what we saw in seventeen
seventy six. But that's a political revolution. Is the assassination
of a health care CEO going to lead to changes?
Is that? Is that what it's going to take. Well,
(23:08):
let's go to the New York Times. The New York Times,
of all places, published an editorial, a guest opinion, a
guest editorial written by Andrew Whittie. You that is, he's
the CEO of United health Group, the parent company of
(23:30):
United Healthcare, and he writes, leim me scroll through this.
He writes. We know the health system does not work
as well as it should, and we understand people's frustrations
with it. No one would design a system like the
one we have, and no one did. It's a patchwork
(23:50):
built over decades. Our mission is to help make it
work better. We are willing to partner with anyone, as
we always have healthcare providers, employers, patients, pharmaceutical company's, governments,
and others to find ways to deliver high quality care
and lower costs. You know, he could have written whatever
he wanted to, except that The New York Times has
(24:13):
had to close off comments, not just because of that
one paragraph. But I think that's the paragraph that sticks
out most to me about something really stupid to say.
He continued on, Clearly, we are not there yet. We
understand and share the desire to build a healthcare system
that works better for everyone. That is the purpose of
our organization. Really, because if that's the purpose of your organization,
(24:38):
I would say you have failed miserably. Now do you
think what I just said justifies the killing of the
CEO of United Healthcare, not the parent company, but Brian
Thompson of the insurance company itself. No, it does not.
After two four hundred and sixty eight comments, the New
(24:59):
York Times shut it down. Let me read you just
a couple of comments, because the point I'm trying to
make is there are people in this country who are
willing to look beyond the murder and instead focus on
(25:19):
why he did it, which I find fascinating because all
we have is manifesto, and even though I don't even
know whether that manifesto is really real or not, and
we now know that he was even an insured of
United Healthcare? So why pick Brian Thompson? Did you pick Brian? Hey? Hey, Luigi?
(25:40):
Did you pick Brian Thompson? Because United Healthcare had the
highest denial rate claims denial rate of all the health
top health insurance insurance in the country. Is that why?
Greg from Cleveland commented, mister Woody, the money talks, which
is why you will You will not walk nor run
(26:02):
to change the system that lines your pockets at the
expense of your paying customers. I chose that because it's
just short and succinct, but I think that comment reflects
the feelings of many people. You can hold, as I've
told my audience time and time again, you can hold
two conflicting or two separate thoughts in your head at
(26:25):
the same time, and even though they may appear to
be contradictory, you can still hold those two thoughts in
your head. For example, I abhor the violence first of all,
LIGI this dirt bag was a coward shot him in
the back. Really, you know, if you've been a real assassin,
(26:48):
you would have walked up to him face to face
and shot him while you looked at him in the eyes.
But you didn't do that because you're a coward, you're
a scumbag, you're a psychopath in my opinion, and you
deserve whatever you're going to get. But the second point
is you can believe as I do, that while health
(27:11):
care in this country is the best in the entire world,
the health care system sucks, absolutely sucks, and it's gotten
even worse since. Now, let me make it political, since
the Democrats, solely Democrats, not one Republican vote, implemented Obamacare.
(27:33):
Do you recall if you like your doctor, you can
keep your doctor. How many of you been able to
do that? Do you recall Obama telling us that, oh,
by the way, you adopt my plan, and the average
family of four is going to pay fifteen hundred dollars
or what I think it's twenty five twenty five hundred
dollars a year, but two hundred dollars a month. How
(27:58):
many of you are paying two one hundred dollars a
month for health care for you and a family of four.
How's that working out for you, it's not working out
for you because politicians and the government intervene into a
private market, into a free market, and they completely distort
that market. How badly do they distort that market? Because
(28:20):
perhaps a company like United Healthcare, which is a vertical monopoly,
you know, they in at least out West and particularly
in Colorado, but out West, they wanted the Kroger and
safe Way wanted to merge, and the Department of Justice
intervened and they've blocked that merger. Now, whether that was
(28:44):
a good idea or a bad idea, I leave that
to individuals. I've got an opinion that's kind of in
the middle. But they didn't want that merger because it would,
in their opinion, drive up grocery price. Is even more Well,
if we're going to break up or prevent grocery stores
(29:06):
from merging, why do we allow a company like United
Healthcare to be a vertally vitally vertically integrated monopoly. They
own their own claims department, They own their own pharmaceutical company,
They own their own hospitals, they own their own group
of doctors. They own virtually the entire gamut of putting
(29:26):
together a healthcare system. United Healthcare United Health owns a
United Health Group. And when we get back, I'll give
you an example. I'll give you an example of how
this system that we have is totally messed up. But
does this messed up system, in the example I'm about
(29:46):
to give you, justify the murder of a CEO. No,
it does not, not in the least. Instead, what you
ought to be doing, as opposed to killing somebody and
then trying to take sides on it is demanding that
we break up the monopolies. Yeah, and we demand that
(30:07):
we figure out a way that you can't have these
vertally vertically integrated monopolies that control every single aspect from
the time a patient walks into an exam room or
walks into a pharmacy, or walks into an urgent care
or a surgical center and walks out, and everything's controlled
(30:28):
by one group. I'll be right back. Hey, welcome back
to the beginning with Michael Brown. Glad to have you
with me. But we're talking about a text message that
I received this morning about the United Healthcare shooting and
it let me give you my example to show you
(30:51):
how messed up and their thoughts. You know, I don't
like the outfit pro Publica because they're really left and
they really are biased in the reporting, but occasionally they'll
put together it's like a broken clock is right twice
a day. Well. Pro Publica has a story about a
(31:12):
student at the University of Pennsylvania, nothing to do with
with the shooter, who had a disease and United Healthcare
denied the treatment. It's a horrendous story, but it's a
great example of how this system that's been created is designed.
(31:32):
You know. It's like I had an old professor when
I was in college, an undergraduate school that had theory
that organizations grow and then they get to the size
where they are unmanageable, and when they beget to be unmanageable,
they start going off the deep end and they start
doing you know, unethical or illegal things, and they no
(31:56):
longer care about their customers. And that's always stuck with
me because I think it's true about government, and it's
true about a bunch of large corporations. Even though I'm
not anti large corporation, I do believe that that principle applies.
And sometimes a CEO doesn't really know. I mean, I know,
even as the undersecretary when I had you know, one
(32:19):
hundred thousand employees and a you know, one hundred billion
dollar budget that I didn't know every single thing going on,
so I had to manage as best I could and
delegate as best I could. But the example I wanted
to tell you real quickly was, so I make no
bones about it, I take sleep medications because I just
can't turn my brain off at night. It's just going
(32:40):
all the time. So for I don't know, the past
ten twenty years, I've been taking sleep medication and my
PCP wanted me to try There's a new class of
drugs out and he wanted me to quit taking one
drug and start trying this new drug. So I weaned
myself off one to start taking the new drug. But
here's the kick the new drug. The retail price is
(33:02):
fifteen hundred dollars a month. Fifteen hundred dollars a month
for a thirty day supply. Now, I went to my
insurance company and said, I need this covered, and so
I appealed it. I'm a lawyer, I know how to
do this crap. So I did it. They came back
and said, yes, we'll cover it. Great. What's the cost
(33:23):
going to be to me? You ready it's going to
be seven hundred dollars a month. Yeah, we'll pay eight hundred,
but you're going to pay seven hundred. And So before
I decided to appeal that appeal, I started digging around.
I can go to good RX, and I can get
it through good RX for one hundred and thirty five
dollars a month. Now what's the difference. Well, the difference
(33:47):
is my insurance company and the drug company are all
going through what's called a pharmacy benefit manager a PBM.
These are middlemen that negotiate the price for different insurance
company and different pharmacies. But I can go over here
to this little independent group called good RX, who negotiates
on their own without the use of a pharmacy benefit manager,
(34:12):
and they get it from the drug company at a
reduced rate. So I'm paying one hundred and thirty five
dollars a month, and that good RX is still making
money on it. So the real price of the drug
is probably less than fifty dollars a month, but the
pharmacy benefit managers jacket up to fifteen hundred dollars a month.
(34:36):
That's the problem with a vertical integrated monopoly, and that's
part of the problem with the entire healthcare system in
this country. Doctors are giving up their practices and going
to work for corporations because they spend so much time
just trying to process claims. I read a story about
it doctor in particular, who published his story about selling
(35:00):
his practice, and I think he's actually going to retire
because he had so much One doctor had so much
staff that did nothing but file insurance claims and then
have to appeal the claims, and then he'd have to
fight with the insurance company because he wanted a particular
treatment for his patient and the insurance company balked at it.
(35:22):
That kind of system is unsustainable. But does any of
that justify the murder of a CEO. No, it just
means that at some point the system's going to collapse.
The system will collapse. Now, what you should be fearful
of is if and when that system collapses, people, particularly
(35:45):
on the left and some conservatives, will go screaming for
socialized medicine. Have you ever dealt with socialized medicine? Go
to Europe, look at the National Health Service in the
United Kingdom. Oh, you have a fractured well, we'll take
care of that in a couple of weeks. Oh, you're
appendix burst. Well, come here. We'll put you on a
(36:07):
gurney somewhere in the hallway and we'll get to you
when we can. Oh you have cancer, you've got you've
got diabetes. Well we've looked at your chart. You eat
too many cheeseburgers and French fries, so we're not going
to treat you for your diabetes. You're overweight, well sucks
to be you. You quit eating what you're eating. Yeah,
(36:28):
it's all totally fed up. So we came with Michael Brown.
Any comments text Those comments are questions to three three
one zero three. Just start the message with the word
Mike or Michael. Let's move on because I'm really kind
of tired of this topic. Don't go away.
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