DePaulo Consulting, LLC.

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May 12, 2026

In our first installment, we stood at the bar of the Overlook Hotel, watching Jack Torrance take his first drink from Lloyd. We talked about how easy it is for a corporation to start with a healthy goal—like steady growth—only to let the “drink” of infinite shareholder returns take over entirely.

When this happens, the human element of a business is the first thing to be sacrificed.

To see this madness in its purest, most chilling form, we have to look at an industry that was originally created to protect human life, but has instead become a masterclass in human exclusion: Health Insurance.

The Original “First Drink” (Mutual Aid)

At its absolute core, the concept of insurance is beautiful. It is built on a very simple, human premise: collective risk. Historically, communities realized that if one person’s house burned down, or if one family member fell critically ill, the financial blow could ruin them. But if everyone in the community chipped in a small, regular amount into a shared pool, the collective safety net would catch whoever fell.

[The Original Social Contract of Insurance]

[ Individual ] ──┐

[ Individual ] ──┼─> [ THE SHARED POOL ] ──> [ Financial Safety Net ]

[ Individual ] ──┘                            (When disaster strikes)

This was the “first drink.” It was a healthy, balanced system. The goal of the insurance provider was to manage this pool responsibly, cover administrative costs, make a reasonable profit to stay sustainable, and—most importantly—be there to pay out when tragedy struck.

Then, the drink took the man.

Enter the House of Math: The Quest for 100% Risk-Free Profit

As shareholder primacy took hold, health insurance companies realized that paying out claims was a direct threat to their quarterly profit margins. Under the pressure of Wall Street, “managing risk” morphed into a new, obsessive objective: eliminating risk entirely.

But how do you eliminate risk in a world full of fragile, biological humans?

You use big data, advanced mathematics, and artificial intelligence to isolate and discard the sick.

Today’s health insurance giants are no longer safety nets; they are highly sophisticated casinos where the house has rigged the deck using three primary tools:

1. Predictive Modeling and the “Genetic Squeeze”

With the rise of consumer DNA testing, electronic health records, and predictive AI, insurance algorithms can now forecast your future health risks with frightening accuracy. If the data suggests you have a high probability of developing a chronic illness in ten years, the company’s goal is to price you out now or deny you coverage before you become expensive.

2. Micro-Segmented Premium Hikes

Instead of pooling risk across a massive, diverse population, algorithms now segment users into hyper-specific risk categories. If you belong to a demographic or genetic trend that shows even a minor uptick in risk, your premiums are surgically raised. The collective safety net is systematically dismantled, leaving the vulnerable completely isolated.

3. Automated Denials (AI as the Bad Guy)

Investigative reports have recently revealed that major insurers have used AI algorithms to review and deny hundreds of thousands of medical claims in seconds. Doctors employed by these insurers barely look at the cases; the algorithm automatically flags claims for denial based on hyper-rigid, profit-maximizing criteria, forcing sick patients into a grueling, bureaucratic appeals process they are often too tired or ill to fight.

The Ultimate Irony: A Service that Despises its Own Purpose

Think about the sheer, Torrance-level madness of this.

A health insurance company’s entire value proposition is to protect people from the unexpected. Yet, the obsession with infinite growth has driven them to use the world’s most advanced technology to ensure they only cover people who won’t actually need it.

  • The perfect customer is one who pays premiums forever and never gets sick.
  • The enemy is the human being who dares to use the service they paid for.

When a health insurance executive looks at a spreadsheet and sees that denying a life-saving cancer treatment will boost the company’s stock by a fraction of a percent, and they choose the stock… the drink has taken the man. The Overlook Hotel has claimed another soul.

But this cold, mathematical exclusion isn’t just happening in healthcare. It has a louder, more dramatic sibling over in Silicon Valley—where the people who build our digital world are being treated as disposable line items.

Next Week — Part 3: The Layoff Paradox (How Tech Giants Fired Thousands While Fueling the C-Suite)

Mike DePaulo, LSSBB, CDR,

DePaulo Consulting, LLC.