Mangione extradited to New York in UnitedHealthcare CEO killing
Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the UnitedHealthcare CEO killing, will be transported to New York.
The claim: Post implies connection between medical debt forgiveness and UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting
A Dec. 13 Threads post (direct link, archive link) shows a screenshot of an NBC News report about a North Carolina-based healthcare provider wiping away medical debts. The image was shared in response to a post about reactions to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“North Carolina’s Atrium Health says it will forgive the debts of 11,500 people – less than a week after NBC News reported that the company has aggressively pursued former patients’ medical debts, placing liens on their homes to collect on bills,” reads the NBC News report.
“Also probably not at all related,” reads the post’s caption.
Some users appeared to believe Atrium Health’s decision to cancel medical debt was influenced by Thompson’s murder.
“Finally! Someone came up with a solution to our terrible health insurance companies,” wrote one user.
“Too little too late,” wrote another.
The post was liked more than 600 times in a week.
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Our rating: Missing context
The implied claim is false. The medical debt cancellations in North Carolina highlighted in the post were announced in September, more than two months before Thompson’s murder.
Atrium Health parent announced debt cancellations months before shooting
Thompson was fatally shot on Dec. 4 outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel. Luigi Mangione, 26, has since been charged with his murder. The killing prompted a number of reactions and online debate about the American healthcare industry.
But it did not prompt Atrium Health, one of the largest hospital systems in North Carolina, to cancel medical debt. The cancellations mentioned in the Dec. 13 NBC News post were announced well before Thompson’s death.
Advocate Health, which operates as Atrium in the Southeast, announced debt cancellations throughout its six-state footprint in a Sept. 18 news release. The changes included canceling liens placed on more than 11,000 homes to collect on unpaid medical bills and forgiving the debt tied to those liens. The network had announced in 2022 that it would stop filing lawsuits or seeking liens or judgments but did not seek to remove the liens already in place at the time.
Advocate Health did not break down how many liens were being canceled in each state, but Atrium and other providers in North Carolina had come under scrutiny for debt collection practices that included filing lawsuits and seeking liens over unpaid bills. A 2023 report from Duke University Law School and the North Carolina state treasurer’s office said Atrium filed more than 40% of the state’s medical debt lawsuits between January 2017 and June 2022 that researchers could identify. Four other health systems responsible for about 55% of the lawsuits documented in the report announced plans by October to follow Advocate’s lead and remove liens they filed.
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All 99 eligible hospital systems in North Carolina signed on to a program that would increase payments to them from the state if they forgave old medical debts and expanded eligibility for charity care programs, according to an August report by North Carolina Health News.
The NBC News X post linked in the story includes a link to the outlet’s story on people benefitting from Atrium’s actions. While the story ran after Thompson’s killing, the family featured in it saw its lien removed and debt forgiven in November.
USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the claim for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources
- North Carolina Health News, Oct. 29, Four more N.C. hospital systems cancel old medical debt judgments
- North Carolina Health News, Sept. 20, Atrium Health cancels thousands of past medical debt judgments
- North Carolina Health News, Aug. 13, N.C.’s new medical debt relief plan: 11 must-dos for hospitals
- Advocate Health, accessed Dec. 17, Commitment to affordable and accessible care
- Advocate Health, Sept. 18, Advocate Health Takes Bold Step to Address Medical Debt
- NBC News, Dec. 13, X post
- NBC News, Dec. 12, ’Like a miracle’: N.C. couple free of nearly $100,000 medical debt after 15 years
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