On Dec. 4, Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare was shot in the back by 26-year-old Luigi Mangione who was then arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and charged with murder.
The murder set off a frenzy of reaction, some of which were favorable to Luigi, and even praised his actions. It was the kind of event that got everyone talking. News commentators, social media users, and everyday people in our lives all had something to say about it. Some people posted videos on how they were happy to see an insurance CEO gunned down while others even gathered in person to celebrate Thompson’s murder.
Before I share my thoughts on the matter, I want to be clear that I do not condone violence of any kind. However, I, like many other people, have had to wrestle with some difficult feelings about the matter. While the act of murder is cruel and never acceptable in our society, I have to admit to feeling sympathetic to those who took satisfaction in seeing a healthcare CEO taken down.
It is evident from others I know personally and from what I have seen online, that many people believe that Mangione’s actions were justified, believing that Thompson had it coming.
People have told me how after learning more about Mangione’s own health issues they sympathized with his plight. Some told me that they thought he seemed like a genuinely sweet and smart guy. People were understanding of why he murdered Thompson, and people online began idolizing him, seeing him as what seemed like a sense of justice being served against an industry that is notorious for denying people’s claims for coverage for major medical expenses.
Even experts in the medical field have acknowledged the rage that people feel against the healthcare industry. Michael Stein, interim dean of Boston University’s School of Public Health, was quoted in an article published on the school’s website saying that people’s anger is understandable.
“There is rightful rage that we live in a country where one in five Americans spends at least one month each year without health insurance and even a brief coverage lapse can interrupt lifesaving treatment and cause financial ruin,” Stein wrote. “Add to that a system of profit maximization — prior authorization denials make us furious and feel the most personal—and the pernicious ongoing discussion of privatizing Medicare and Medicaid. These are political issues that affect the public’s health—but none of them will be solved by killing healthcare executives.”
Following the shooting, social media was full of posts in which people shared their stories of insurance companies denying their insurance claims for medically necessary procedures, some of which were consid- ered neces- sary to save someone’s life. People shared their cries of how they were wronged time and time again by health insurance companies. And apparently, when Mangione was finally arrested after a manhunt, he had three pages of writing that stated “Frankly, these parasites had it coming,” demonstrating his motivation for the killing.
Clearly, the public murder of a healthcare insurance CEO hit a nerve with the public at large. These insurance companies and rich CEOs seem to have no issues with ignoring the people, and the many issues they allow to happen due to their ignorance and neglect of their customers. Because that’s what we are to them, customers. And despite what the criminal justice system says, many see him as a modern Robin Hood-like hero.
While I don’t know much about him, I do feel strongly about his actions. And from what I have seen, he may not be the best, but he seems like a good guy who let his anger get the best of him. While he may have gone too far by committing a murder it makes me wonder if this incident will make insurance company executives reevaluate how their decisions to maximize profit harm their customers and our society. Sadly it seems like our complaints online or to their customer service phones don’t seem to have been effective.
If there is any kind of silver lining to this sad situation, perhaps, the insurance companies will pay more attention to our concerns and cries for help when we find ourselves in such vulnerable and desperate situations.
I know that some will say that murder is not acceptable in the slightest, which is understandable. It’s just a sad statement on our society if it takes a killing to get through to the CEOs that control these companies.
It’s truly unfortunate that many of us are so desperate for action that we have idolized Mangione, developing a mythos around him, using him to imagine all the ways we wish we could push back against the system.
And in all honesty, this all could’ve been avoided if they could just learn how to listen and understand what we, the people, are saying to them. The costs of living are just too high in our country and we need to do better to protect the most vulnerable among us, especially when we need to seek medical care. Genuinely we wouldn’t be this angry with health care insurance companies if they just learned to listen and lower their costs to make our lives just a bit more livable. That’s how they can fix the problem, our problem.
