Young, well educated Luigi Mangione is certainly learning that corporate America does not take kindly to the killing of one of their own. When he took the life of Brian Thompson, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of United Healthcare, one of the largest US health insurance providers, there was an immediate shocked reaction by corporations, the media, and politicians.
They saw it as a threat to all corporate leaders, who now feared for their lives. Bullet casings found at the scene had the words “delay,” “deny,” and “depose” scrawled on them. These are phrases used by health insurance companies in the US to avoid paying claims. The corporate heads were shocked. On the other hand, the media was inundated by people reporting their bad experiences with health insurance companies who denied their claims for needed treatments, surgeries and procedures.
“The rage that people felt at the health insurance industry, and the elation that they expressed at seeing it injured, was widespread and organic. It was shocking to many, but it crossed communities all along the political spectrum and took hold in countless divergent cultural clusters.” [1]
“Believing the health insurance industry is at least partly responsible for the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO is not some fringe position. 69 percent of Americans say health insurance claim denials had “a great deal” or “moderate amount” of responsibility for the killing of CEO Brian Thompson, according to a new poll conducted by NORC at University of Chicago. Nearly as many (67 percent) blamed health insurance company profits.” [2]
For example, as CEO Brian Thompson received total compensation of $10.2 million in 2023. He also owned $20 million in the company’s stock. The company’s profits rose on his watch, jumping to more than $16 billion that year from $12 billion in 2021. But amid the growth, the company and its parent also attracted scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators who accused them of systematically refusing to authorize health care procedures and treatments.
The resentment has grown in recent years, health insurance executives, policy experts and pollsters say, fueled by the rising costs of medical care and the emergence of huge bureaucracies that make seeing the doctor more difficult.
High deductibles and co-payments are causing nearly two of five working-age adults to delay visiting the doctor and filling prescriptions, according to an August study by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit, bipartisan health care research foundation. Those who do get care can become burdened by medical or dental debt, something almost one-third of working-age adults report experiencing, the study said. [3]
New York Governor Kathy Hochul condemned the numbers of people who complained about health insurance companies, likening it to support for Mangione’s action. She is now meeting with corporate leaders to provide better security for corporations in New York City (NYC).
After Mangione escaped the scene of the killing, there was a massive manhunt across several states by federal and state forces. When he was brought back to the city, he was taken on a perp walk surrounded by a mass of helmeted police, armed with assault rifles, although Mangione was handcuffed and shackled. NYC Mayor Adams and the police commissioner even joined the perp walk, a highly unusual action. After his arrest, a manifesto written by Mangione was found.
The manifesto indicated that he saw the killing as a direct challenge to the health care industry’s “corruption” and “power games.” “Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming,” the document read.
Mangione was first charged with murder as an act of terrorism, which carries a possible sentence of life in prison without parole. New York does not have the death penalty. So, later he was brought back to court to face another charge. He is now facing a federal charge of murder through use of a firearm and a firearms offense, which does carry the possibility of the death penalty, though federal prosecutors will determine whether to pursue the death penalty in a non-death penalty state.
Mangione’s treatment can be compared with that of white supremacist Dylann Roof who killed nine Black people in a church in South Carolina in 2015. Looking at the images of Roof’s arrest, he was given a flack jacket and is handcuffed and was led along by one or two cops. He was not surrounded by a mass of armed police. He was obviously not a threat; he only killed Black people.
Roof, of course, is now one of three death row inmates whose sentences were not commuted by President Biden’s recent commutation of all other death row sentences.
Joan McKiernan
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