Deny, Defend, Depose: They Eat Off Your Family Member's Grave
Exposing "the rotten core of American health care," the shooting of United Health's CEO/ mafia kingpin sparked a flash flood of long-simmering fury at the "legalized murder practiced by all the Brian Thompsons" of a universally despised system run by "heartless vampires" who routinely refuse care in exchange for bloody profit. The pitiless response by tens of millions of their victims: Wanted posters, judging the shooter "too hot to convict" and grimly declaring, "Thoughts and prayers are out of network."
Early last Wednesday, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, was en route to an investor conference at the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan, reportedly to collect his massive Christmas bonus, when he was shot in the back and killed, allegedly by 26-year-old Luigi Mangione. The action, both shocking and deeply unsurprising, was widely met with "a morbid sense of inevitability" from a wrung-dry populace; Elizabeth Warren spoke for many when she asserted, "Violence is never the answer, but people can only be pushed so far.” Citing the brutality of a much-hated, for-profit system run by rapacious executives getting rich by denying (sometimes lifesaving) healthcare to sick people who often subsequently either die or go bankrupt trying not to, Maureen Tkacik of The American Prospect wryly noted, “Only about 50 million customers of America’s reigning medical monopoly might have a motive to exact revenge upon the UnitedHealthcare CEO.”
The numbers are telling. A recent Kaiser report found that Americans owe at least $220 billion in medical debt, which for about three million is over $10,000; in a poll asking who they blame for exorbitant health prices, 97% named insurance companies. Last year UnitedHealthcare, the world's eighth largest corporation, had the highest denial rate - 32%, double the industry average - while taking in $371.6 billion, $47.5 billion more than the year before; their net profit was$22 BILLION. CEO Thompson made almost $20 million, or almost $40K a day, mostly in non-taxable bonuses or stock options; unknown to shareholders, he had also allegedly dumped $15 million in stocks and faced a federal investigation. Almost 70,000 Americans needlessly die each year due to denied care; at United, that decision was often made by an AI robot found to make medically unsound decisions in 90% of its cases - which the company, and presumably Thompson, knew.
Among the world's 10 highly developed countries, the U.S., the only one without universal health care, ranks last. But despite ubiquitous, verifiable, deeply cruel evidence of the failings of a profiteering private system, idiotic self-serving Republicans continue to argue that health care, like any other aspect of governance subsumed by late-stage capitalism, "should be run like a business," apparently by the same morbidly rich oligarchs who not only have no interest in meeting citizens' needs but don't even want to pay their own friggin' taxes. In a "cosmic confirmation" of the hollowness of their argument, on the same day Thompson was shot, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield announced it would newly, insanely limit coverage on anesthesia during surgery. After an outcry, they retracted the change. Still, pundits noted of the attempted move, a corporate world so brazenly unshy about its own arrogance "is not one that incurs sympathy for a dead CEO."
Some did insist on sympathy: "A Man Was murdered (and) You're Laughing?" But the shooting often inspired tales of righteous rage at a ravenous company whose ghouls "eat off your family members grave." A mother was told an overnight hospital stay was "not medically necessary" after her 12-year-old's heart surgery. The families of two patients who died sued for using "a flawed AI model (in) place of real medical professionals to wrongfully deny care.” An oncologist raged - "Dear buttheads" - about the refusal to cover anti-nausea meds for a child during chemo: "No reason to be nauseated." "Obviously, you know better about the side effects of chemo than me, my peers, and the entire scientific community," he wrote. "You have saved your greedy, blood-sucking corporation a great deal of money I'm sure." "We mourn the death (of) Brian Thompson..." one wrote. "Wait, I'm sorry. We mourn the deaths of 68,000 Americans who needlessly die each year so that insurance executives (like) Thompson can become multimillionaires."
Added to the rancor often bubbling under the surface as we rant and fret and watch bills pile up, there's a growing incidence of random political violence born of our polarization; a poll last year found almost 1 in 4 Americans agreed "patriots may have to resort to violence (to) save our country," though as usual "save our country" is open to wide and lunatic interpretation depending on who you are and who you kill. George Zimmerman, Kyle Rittenhouse, Daniel Penny and many, many cops have gotten away with (usually racist) murder. But none of them killed a rich, white, male, elite member of the master class. Thus does the killing of one of their own evince predictable pearl-clutching when someone eventually takes "lethal exception" to a grossly unfair system that has failed so many. "Corporate America is nervous," says one observer of the brutal "wake-up call" of Thompson's killing."The mood changed dramatically in a very short period of time.”
Despite the elite's fearful, phantasmic vision of a class war led by angry, unwashed, pitchfork-wielding Bolsheviks, alleged shooter Luigi Mangione not only doesn't fit the profile, but comes from their own gilded ranks. The scion of a prominent Baltimore real-estate consortium and valedictorian of his pricey prep school, he earned a B.A. and Master's at Ivy league Penn before he reportedly suffered a painful back injury and tough surgery, moved to Hawaii, and went AWOL from his famiiy in recent months. As for the manifesto and digital foot print he left behind: While law enforcement initially said he betrayed “some ill will towards corporate America" and idiotic Ted Cruz cited his concerns about capitalism and climate change to proclaim "leftism is a mental disease," Mangione's politics have been best described as "indecipherable," with "all-over-the-map," vaguely libertarian beliefs that don't fall neatly into either end of the political spectrum.
He read a lot, and reviewed or quoted "a mish-mash" of books about back pain, AI, self-help, Kurt Vonnegut, Peter Thiel, The Lorax, The New Jim Crow; like many others, he didn't finish David Foster Wallace's arcane Infinite Jest. Most famously, last year he posted a review of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s manifesto, which he declared too violent but "prescient on modern society." He called Kaczynski "an extreme political revolutionary" who "had the balls to recognize that peaceful protest has gotten us absolutely nowhere, and at the end of the day he's right...When all other forms of communication fail, violence is necessary to survive." Among his disparate stances, he focused his anger most clearly on a failed health system where predatory insurance companies "abuse our country for immense profit." Posing the question, "What do you do?" he replied, "You wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention. It’s targeted, precise, and doesn’t risk innocents."
After the shooter went missing, frantic police offered a reward and sought tips from a public they didn't know had quickly chosen sides in the new drama, and it wasn't theirs. Many bitter responses echoed the language of stonyhearted insurers: "This claim for sympathy has been denied," "We need prior authorization," "My insurance doesn't cover vision so I can't really see." A mock logo showed United in a scope's crosshairs; when the company posted the sad news of Thompson's death, it swiftly met with over 65,000 laughing emojis. A typical online response: "Thoughts and prayers to the family of a billionaire guy who got rich off hardworking Americans' insurance premiums, and then signed their death warrants." New Yorkers held a shooter lookalike contest, all hood and mask, in Washington Square. The McDonald's where he was later caught got 1-star review bombed: "Has rats in the kitchen that will make you sick, and your insurance won't cover it."
Faced with omnipresent images from surveillance cameras of the masked, bundled shooter at his hostel, Internet sleuths found the green jacket he was wearing and declared it Levi's $225 Sherpa Lined Two-Pocket Hooded Trucker Jacket. Once posted, it drew hundreds of thousands of views; at Macy's, where it was being offered for just $80 using the code "FRIEND," it began morbidly flying off the shelves, with over 700 quickly sold and the large sold out. "I already loved Macy's but wow," said one fan. Another: "Macy's saying 'Not our CEO.' I love it." Never mind the old when-the-revolution-comes mantra about putting the owners of the means of production up against the wall; many were dismayed by the macabre spectacle of the rush to consume and emulate, however triflingly. Wrote one, "It is as chilling as it is pitifully ironic to see blood lust for corporate moguls bubbling up on the website of Macy’s." Once they caught Mangione, though, it got way worse.
Sensing the fervor for a righteous outlaw radicalized by the injustices of a skewered health system - the same system that hurt and infuriated us - officials worried Mangione could inspire other "grievance-driven malicious actors" to violence. Little did they know: When the flood of images began - handsome frat bro, six-pack gym bro, "appallingly glamorous" mugshot - the Internet swooned. Within hours, Mangione was "a hero," an icon, a sex symbol straight, gay or bi. There were video mashups, Biblical memes, gags about "the line for the Mangione conjugal visit," the fine Italian-American tradition of "taking matters into our own hands," the manhunt ending with police declaring "too hot to convict,'" the dating profile: "Loves to travel, leaves thoughtful notes, has hobbies (assassination)." Also, "He is setting unrealistic beauty standards for men - we can't all go kill someone...Who among us has not been radicalized by pack pain?...If he is fit, you must acquit...Today, we are all Italian." And online, companies are scrambling to remove Mangione merch and fundraisers where thousands of fans have donated.
Meanwhile, a nervous corporate America recoiled. As police warned of "a heightened risk environment," insurance companies increased armed security and began scrubbing names and photos from their websites; one security firm reported 70 calls a day from anxious insurers. Online, multiple posts warned of a secret "executive hit list" in the works, and said "CEOs should be afraid. They should act like they have a target on their back." This week, that target got closer as "Wanted" posters went up around New York City featuring the names, crimes and obscene salaries of eight insurance CEOS; some were also adorned with the Delay, Defend, Depose maxim of a now-best-selling exposé of insurance malfeasance. "Wanted. Denying medical care for corporate profit," one poster read. Another: "UnitedHealthcare killed everyday people for the sake of profit. As a result, Brian Thompson was denied his claim to life. Who will be denied next?"
Possibly nobody, at least in the ruling class. It could all end up as hyperbole, play-acting, the fever-dream of an aggrieved populace newly, painfully attuned to the wrongs done them by those who can, to date without accountability. Thompson is dead, Mangione's productive life is likely over, United is denying coverage to someone sick as you read this, and universal health care - as deeply moral as it is pragmatic - remains a chimera, nowhere in sight for at least four years; after that, Dems who've themselves supped at the trough of Big Pharma will have to do better. Grievously, for now we remain at the mercy of glorified, often criminal accountants who, playing God and doctor, make millions off the suffering of others. Only in America, says one sage, "You can be driven into homelessness by someone like Brian Thompson, then legally murdered by someone like Daniel Penny, while the money that could have saved you is spent on murdering children in Gaza."
In a leaked video to employees after the shooting, Andrew Witty, CEO of parent company UnitedHealth Group, vowed to continue preventing "unnecessary care" that would make the health system "too complex and ultimately unsustainable," aka would cut into profits. Witty, who last year was paid $23,534,936, mostly in non-taxable "bonuses," told staff to "tune out" criticism of their industry, which "does not reflect reality." Thousands responded with stories of their own reality: burst appendix care denied, delayed chemo until the cancer was terminal, declined back surgery so "25/8/366 AGONY," a father-in-law with colon cancer told he didn't need a colon scan, bladder treatment costing $250 in China and $13,200 in Texas, asthma meds denied: "BREATHING is apparently not necessary." Meanwhile Mangione, denied bail, is being held at Pennsylvania's SCI Huntingdon. This week, as media broadcast live outside, inmates yelled from their cells. "Conditions suck!" one shouted. From another, “Free Luigi!”
