Last week’s shocking killing of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive, Brian Thompson, reopened a national wound inflicted by the delay and denial of health coverage to countless Americans.

This was a violent crime that won’t solve anything. But the ensuing organic and spontaneous outpouring of populist anger underscored how many Americans have been cruelly and unjustly denied medical treatment.

After an election that showed widespread discontent with the status quo, this should be a wake-up call for Washington. Despite progress on healthcare coverage and rights, protecting American patients is unfinished business.

In the 1990s, California pioneered a patients’ rights movement that gave those covered by HMOs a right to second opinions, independent medical reviews of coverage denials and guaranteed coverage of certain commonly denied procedures. Many states adopted California’s model, and President Obama’s Affordable Care Act took important steps to insure the uninsured and prevent companies from denying coverage to people who want it.

But America’s patients never got equitable access to justice when claims are denied. People who buy their own insurance or get it through a government job or program such as Medicare have the right to sue for damages if they believe they have been harmed by an unreasonable denial. But most of us get health insurance through our jobs and have no such right to go to court, no matter how outrageous the denial or tragic the consequences. More than 100 million Americans have no legal recourse if a health insurance company messes up our claim.

In the 1987 case Pilot Life Insurance Co. vs. Dedeaux, the Supreme Court ruled that people with employer-provided coverage do not have a right to sue their insurer for damages but rather only for the value of the denied benefit. If the covered person dies, any suit is rendered moot.

Despite many attempts to change this, including through Obamacare, the ruling has stood. That’s why insurance companies often act as if they have a license to kill: They face scant legal consequences for any harm they cause by delaying or denying payment for needed care.

A 17-year-old Angeleno, Nataline Sarkisyan, became a poster child for addressing this injustice. Nataline, who had recurrent leukemia, had to wait too long for insurance approval of a liver transplant that doctors considered likely to save her life. Her mother, Hilda Sarkisyan, protested with nurses at the headquarters of their health insurance plan, Cigna. When the company finally approved the surgery under pressure, it was too late: Nataline died in 2007, hours after the approval was granted. And because of the Pilot Life decision, the family had little legal recourse.

The Sarkisyans have crusaded to have the Pilot Life ruling overturned and to spare others their daughter’s fate. Congress has made it easier to obtain coverage but has yet to give patients the leverage they need once they have insurance: the right to collect damages from companies that behave horribly.

This shouldn’t be hard. Congress — whose members do enjoy a right to sue over denials of their own health insurance claims — has many options for limiting the extent of insurers’ exposure to lawsuits, such as making them liable only when they show gross indifference to a patient’s suffering.

Insurance companies pay attention to whether patients can take them to court. At least one company, Aetna, even had a training tape showing how to process claims differently for those with and without a right to sue.

If insurance companies have no legal incentive to approve a claim, they will too often deny or delay it. It’s time for Congress to restore the possibility of justice for millions and answer the urgent calls for reform.

Jamie Court is the president of the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog.

A sports memorabilia auction is never as gripping as the ballgame that gave the item being auctioned immense value. But bidding for the baseball Freddie Freeman crushed for a grand slam that gave the Dodgers a walk-off victory in Game 1 of the World Series against the New York Yankees in October did generate its own brand of drama.

The ball was sold for $1.56 million Saturday night by SCP Auctions, but not before a spirited back-and-forth between bidders that extended the bidding 2½ hours beyond the initial deadline.

The money goes to the family of the 10-year-old boy who corralled the ball in the right-field bleachers at Dodger Stadium amid the delirious celebration after Freeman homered with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning, and the Dodgers one out away from defeat.

The moment will forever live among the very best in Dodgers history, rivaling Kirk Gibson’s eerily similar walk-off homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. The memory will always be cherished by Zachary Ruderman and his parents, Nico and Anne. The money will be life-changing for the Venice family.

Yet it appeared the bidding wouldn’t reach seven figures when the highest offer was $800,000 with five minutes left in the weeklong auction. But a bid of $850,000 triggered a 30-minute extension, which again counted down to nearly zero before a $900,000 bid was entered.

On it went, each extension nearly expiring before the next bid was made, all the way to $1.3 million. The buyer’s premium and fees hiked the total to $1.56 million.

“It was crazy,” said David Kohler, president of SCP Auctions. “Sometimes it happens. We are thrilled at the result and are honored to handle one of the most important artifacts in World Series history.”

The record auction price for a baseball is $4.392 million, set only two months ago for the ball Shohei Ohtani hit at LoanDepot Park in Miami on Sept. 19 to become the first MLB player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season. The previous record of $3.05 million was paid in 1999 for Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball from the 1998 season.

How the money from the sale of the Ohtani ball will be divided is in dispute. Max Matus filed a lawsuit in Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit Court against the man who ended up with the ball, Christian Zacek, fellow Florida resident Kelvin Ramirez and Goldin Auctions, claiming ownership of the ball.

There is no such controversy surrounding the Freeman ball, which soared directly at Zachary Ruderman, whose avowed favorite player is Freeman and who keeps score at the frequent games his family attends.

“Everybody was on their feet, nobody was even sitting,” Zachary told The Times. “I was standing on the bleacher seat so I could see. A second or two after the crack of the bat, I realized it was coming directly toward us.

“It was honestly a reaction, an instinct.”

Everyone sitting around him was delirious with joy at the Dodgers victory, remaining at the stadium while the team celebrated on the field. Nobody tried to snatch the ball from him.

“Hundreds of people were mobbing me,” Zachary said. “So many people wanted to take a photo with me and the ball. It was overwhelming.”

Early the next morning, Zachary accompanied his mom, Anne, on a business trip. He wore a Dodgers cap and T-shirt and a flight attendant asked him if he’d watched the walk-off home run.

“Yeah,” Zachary replied, “I caught it.”

The flight attendant jumped on the plane’s public address system and announced Zachary’s great fortune to the other passengers. He stood from his seat to applause.

The most expensive MLB item ever sold at auction is Babe Ruth’s 1932 World Series jersey, which sold for $24.12 million in August 2024. The Yankees No. 3 road jersey was worn by Ruth when he hit his legendary “called shot” home run at Wrigley Field.

The identity of the new owner of the Freeman ball has not been made public. Zachary Ruderman has had his moment of fame and — now — fortune, and his family only hopes the ball will be be displayed for Dodgers fans to enjoy and reminisce.

“It’s a lot more attention than my son has ever had,” Nico Ruderman said. “People recognize him. I mean, literally everywhere we go people stop him and want to take pictures with him. He’s really actually been loving it. It’s been a fun experience for him.

“It’d be great if the ball is displayed in Dodger Stadium so fans can see this special piece of history.”

Glendale’s blue-collar software firm ServiceTitan saw its shares close up 42% after debuting Thursday on the Nasdaq in its initial public offering.

The provider of business management software for plumbers and other contractors priced its IPO of 8.8 million shares at $71, raising gross proceeds of $625 million. The shares, which had hit $105 in early afternoon trading, closed at $101. The company has the potential to raise more capital if underwriters exercise a 30-day option to sell an additional 1.32 million shares.

The shares, which trade under the ticker symbol TTAN, were initially priced at $52 to $57 before being upped earlier this week to a range of $65 to $67, indicating demand had picked up for the offering. At its $71 debut price, the company had a market value of $6.42 billion, lower than the $7.6 billion valuation it had after a November 2022 funding round. However, with the surge in its stock price, the company’s market cap hit $9.1 billion at the close of trading.

“I was a bit surprised. I don’t think even the underwriters were expecting this,” said Riley Mullin, an analyst with Renaissance Capital, who noted the closing price was almost double the low end of the IPO’s first pricing range, making the company “richly valued.”

He said ServiceTitan benefited from a big interest in software and tech stocks, including artificial intelligence, as well as investor excitement over the incoming Trump administration.

There have been only a handful of software IPOs this year, with ServiceTitan the largest since data management company Rubrik went public in April. However, there are signs the market is recovering after being battered by inflation and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes.

ServiceTitan counts about 8,000 contracting firms as customers, providing a soup-to-nuts software package that can manage booking appointments, generating estimates and processing invoices as well as payroll and dispatching workers. Clients range in size from family-owned contractors to large national franchises totaling more than 100,000 technicians. The firms pay a subscription fee for its services.

More than $300 million of the IPO’s proceeds will go to retiring all of ServiceTitan’s nonconvertible preferred stock, a type of stock that typically pays holders a consistent dividend but cannot be converted into common stock. The company, which wants to expand the number of trades and markets it serves, will use the remainder for general corporate purposes and possible acquisitions.

ServiceTitan was founded in 2007 by two college friends from Glendale, Ara Mahdessian, 39, and Vahe Kuzoyan, 41, whose fathers worked as contractors. They both moved to L.A. as young children in the 1980s — Mahdessian from Iran and Kuzoyan from Armenia.

At an opening bell ceremony, Kuzoyan, the company’s president, called the trading debut “a very special day for ServiceTitan, but more importantly it’s an incredible milestone for this very special industry.”

The event also turned into a celebration of the founders’ parents, who rang the opening bell. “Our parents came to this country with no language, no money, and it was through this industry they were able to achieve the American dream,” Kuzoyan said.

ServiceTitan employed 2,870 workers as of July 31 at its Glendale headquarters and offices elsewhere in the U.S. and internationally. Competitors include BuildOps, Housecall Pro, Jobber and other companies that charge subscriptions for their web-based business management software.

The company previously raised about $1.4 billion from venture firms, including Iconiq Growth, Bessemer Venture Partners and Battery Ventures. The company had filed confidential paperwork for an $18-billion IPO in 2022, according to Business Insider, but didn’t proceed when the market froze up.

ServiceTitan reported revenue of $614 million in the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31, up nearly a third from a year earlier, and an operating loss of $195 million, 28% less than in fiscal 2023. It had about $147 million in cash and equivalents on hand as of Jan. 31 and was carrying $175 million in long-term net debt.

The company’s share structure will ensure that control remains with the co-founders. They are retaining all of ServiceTitan’s Class B shares, which are entitled to 10 votes each when shareholders make decisions about the company’s leadership.

Lead underwriters on the IPO are Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Citigroup.