Las Vegas UnitedHealthcare Building Vandalized, Graffiti Reads ‘Deny, Depose, Defend’

Posted on: December 13, 2024, 03:48h. 

Last updated on: December 13, 2024, 03:48h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

The UnitedHealthcare office complex in Las Vegas was recently vandalized, with graffiti reading, “DENY, DEPOSE, DEFEND.”

UnitedHealthcare Las Vegas
The exterior of the UnitedHealthcare office complex in Las Vegas has been vandalized with graffiti. The three words refer to criticism of the U.S. healthcare industry on allegations that insurers prioritize denying medical claims. (Image: X)

The three words, more commonly “delay, deny, defend,” refer to the critical assessment of health insurance providers and how they prioritize denying medical claims. The words were emblazoned on the shell casings found near UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s body after he was gunned down outside a hotel in Midtown Manhattan earlier this month.

Casino.org’s Scott Roeben, who runs the ever-popular Vital Vegas X account, was the first to share the photo of the Las Vegas UnitedHealthcare office donning the three words in red spray paint. The complex is home to Optum, Inc. and the Health Plan of Nevada, both of which are subsidiaries of UnitedHealthcare.

On Friday, the New York City Police Department said there is no indication that Luigi Mangione, the alleged gunman, was ever insured by United. But Mangione, 26, had a disdain for the state of the U.S. health insurance industry and seemingly targeted the CEO of the nation’s largest insurer as retaliation.

Extradition Likely

Law enforcement experts are concerned that the ruthless murder of Thompson could lead to copycats. A Florida woman was arrested and charged this week after she allegedly threatened a representative with Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Delay, deny, depose. You people are next,” Briana Boston, 42, of Lakeland, can allegedly be heard saying on the recorded telephone call.

Boston was upset after her medical claim was denied. She was charged with threatening to commit a mass shooting or act of terrorism and remains in a Polk County jail.

The insurance words stem from the 2010 book, “Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.” The book was written by Jay Feinman, a professor at Rutgers Law School in New Jersey.

Mangione continues to fight his extradition from Pennsylvania where he was discovered inside a McDonald’s in Altoona. Despite law enforcement saying the casings found at the murder site matched the gun found in Mangione’s possession when he was arrested, the 26-year-old comes from a wealthy family in Northern Maryland and is expected to fight the charges against him.

On Polymarket, bettors have risked more than $121K on whether Mangione will plead guilty. The current odds suggest there’s only a one in four chance.

The odds favor Mangione being extradited to New York next month, with January the front-runner at 57%. December is second at implied odds of 29% and February is third at 17%.

Polymarket customers also think there’s a decent chance that investigators will determine that Mangione used psychedelics, with those chances at 59%.

Nevada Healthcare 

Like so many other states in the U.S., UnitedHealthcare is the largest insurer of Nevadans with nearly 400K enrolled members.

About one in two Nevadans get their medical insurance through their employer. A little more than 35% are on Medicaid and Medicare, and 11% are uninsured.

According to KFF, a health policy research firm, the average annual family premium per enrolled employee for an employer-based health insurance plan in Nevada is approximately $22K.