Rolling Stone weighed in on what those who check into Twitter or TikTok have probably already noticed: Social Media Has Little Sympathy for Murdered Health Insurance Exec. At this point, there is comparatively little new news about the killing of UnitedHealth’s Brian Thompson in Manhattan even though it’s over a full day since the event.1 Police are under great pressure to solve a high profile murder quickly. The perp apparently was in the vicinity before the shooting, it’s not yet clear how long, although some opine not very long. He shot Thompson twice, once in the calf and once in the torso. Gun mavens (we have a tweetstorm below) explain how the weapons choice and gun handling caught on film reveal him not to be a pro.2
In case you have not heard, UnitedHealth was a standout denier of insurance claims, which is a fraud that these companies get away with on a pervasive basis. Our tale of tweets below shows not just barely coded views that Thompson’s death was karma, that the claim denials from which he profited resulted not just in dozens but likely hundreds, even thousands of preventable deaths, even though vigilante justice is not a socially desirable way to achieve redress.
Frankly, I am surprised something like this has not happened sooner. It’s not hard to think of cases of the C-suite killing people for fun and profit. Ford Pintos. Opioid makers with addiction creating sales strategies, with Purdue Pharma the lead but far from only actor. Vioxx, where Merck gamed the clinical trial data to hide extra heart attack deaths, which were so frequent that when the drug was taken off the market, that US mortality rate declined. Monsanto (now Bayer), where the company would have its staff apply the Roundup weedkiller only in heavy-duty protective gear, but never issued similarly stern warnings to customers.
A close ally during the foreclosure crisis described some of his cases from his days as a class action and even individual tort lawyer on mesothelioma cases. The end state of the cancer is horrific, with the patients often having their ribs break as the cancer both fills up their chest cavity and greatly constricts their breathing capacity. In one, which I gather was not atypical, the defense attorneys kept deposing him, 10 hours a day, days on end, in his deathbed in the hospital. They were not just trying to catch him in an inconsistency. They were trying to kill him faster via the stress and reduction of sleep so he would not be able to testify in court.
He lived long enough to do so. The spectacle of him being wheeled in, with an oxygen tube and dressed to show his distended upper torso was so appalling to jury that it was not hard to establish that he had been desperately harmed, merely firming up how the defendant was responsible.
My contact had to stop doing these cases. It was too psychologically draining even though he would win big awards.
And then the defense bar got good at finding ways to escape meaningful punishment. For instance, Alabama had once been a good venue for this sort of case (forgive me for sparing you why). But the state Supreme Court is elected. Those races soon attracted more in campaign donations than any judicial contest in the US. At one point, the chief justice race got $13 million in donations, far more than the governor’s race.
The result was any large damage award in Alabama would be cut back on appeals to $1 million, as in couch lint for a big company.
Now back to Thompson. I’ll let the tweets do the talking since I don’t have much to add.
Brian Thompson reportedly had a salary of $10 million per year, and $20 million in United Health Care stock. His net worth was $43 million.
He was CEO during the COVID-19 crisis, at a time when UHC was denying 1/3rd of claims.
Not celebrating his murder, just making a point. pic.twitter.com/3zNDxtjB6P
— Dr. Andrew Saturn (@badspaceguy) December 4, 2024
UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson was just 50 years old at the time of his murder, which is a lot more tragic when you know that his life expectancy as a member of the Top 1% was 88, or 15 years longer than the life expectancy of the average American male https://t.co/VU5Xoi7cqD
— moe tkacik (@moetkacik) December 4, 2024
you only feel this way if you accept that the social murder of millions via loss of healthcare is fine but the murder of one (1) CEO is a horrific crime, in which case you’re an inhuman monster who’s not worth listening to anyway https://t.co/WPrFoonRQ8 pic.twitter.com/4nBGfe3e12
— the thicc husband & father (@lukeisamazing) December 5, 2024
He is a mass murderer.
He runs an organisation that commits social murder on a massive scale, for profit.
It's exactly as evil as it sounds, and the inability of you liberals to realise and accept that is partly why it's all going to get a lot worse than one CEO gunned down. https://t.co/1EAUw94L9j
— Ben King (@Grimeandreason) December 5, 2024
People don’t realize the banality of evil.
That CEO wasn’t walking around shooting people, he was sitting in an office enforcing and supporting policies that actively signed death sentences for countless people. Not only that – he profits from their deaths. https://t.co/yyq0DJPM8P
— Han 🍉 (@theunrealhannah) December 5, 2024
The Dem establishment still argues that Medicare For All is an electoral loser, all while people hate health insurance companies so much that the overwhelming response to an insurance CEO's murder seems, from what I've seen, to be "yeah that seems about right."
— Aaron Regunberg (@AaronRegunberg) December 4, 2024
Let's talk for a moment about why someone would want to murder the CEO of UnitedHealth pic.twitter.com/4ofQPkbL4d
— Democrats hate the working class (@DoctorFishbones) December 5, 2024
I'm starting to think the ppl that got more upset about Oct 7 than the preceding oppression/subsequent genocide of Palestinians, & the ppl who are more upset by the murder of a healthcare CEO than the systematic killing of 10,000s of ppl via denial of healthcare, are the same ppl
— Rohan Grey (@rohangrey) December 5, 2024
My official response to the UHC CEO’s murder pic.twitter.com/YpDoBJh19v
— Ron W (@FIPmyWHIP) December 4, 2024
There's been a bunch of misinformation about today's murder of United Healthcare's CEO. I'm going to debunk some of the firearms nonsense that's been stated.
Myth 1: The pistol was a Welrod / B&T Station 6!
Categorically false. pic.twitter.com/HhFcxKFhFw
— Louis vil LeGun 🍌 📟 (@LouisvilleGun) December 4, 2024
The murder of the CEO and the reaction reveals:
– Americans are blindingly angry
– Due process is no longer trusted
– Vigilante justice is outlet for deepe feelings.Very similar to the Gilded Age of the 1880s and the 1930s. There's a failure of the social contract. https://t.co/rb8nSan4HO
— People's Art of War 人民兵法 (@pplsartofwar) December 5, 2024
I've narrowed down the suspects in the CEO murder case… pic.twitter.com/PqXY767V8u
— My remaining here is masochism. 🍉 (@AliaStultulo) December 5, 2024
______
1 I dimly recall from the many episodes of various crime shows my mother liked to have droning on while I was trying to work that trails for suspects get cold after 48 or 72 hours. Better informed views welcome. Perhaps the window has widened with more pervasive surveillance tech. Gothamist seems a bit surprised the murderer has not yet been captured, describes some of the additional information tidbits, and suggests how he may still be tracked and caught.
2 Those of you who consume murder mysteries likely know this already, but a friend who started up a US operation in Moscow in 1993 and says she was the only person in that era to sue a Russian oil company, win in court, collect the money and live to tell the tale, had her ex-KGB driver explain how professional hits work. They take 3 people, A, B, and C. A does the killing. B has hired A. The client hires C, who finds B.
B kills A and is in turn killed by C so as to assure it will be very hard to connect the client to the killing.
A is cheap. B is not.
I guess since it is now being reported that the shooter had carved into the casings “DEFEND” “DENY” and “DEPOSE” that this was very likely related to the activity of the insurance company, likely not covering someone’s health care issues. I am with you Yves, it is astounding that this has taken this long to happen. The tragedies I have seen over the years have just been breathtaking. And all the while this was happening, we have constant assurance from the likes of Pelosi and Elizabeth Warren that we should all be happy – we all have “access” to health care.
There are now 4 active GoFundMe issues in my community alone with fully “insured” people begging for help with their family members. I do not recall this being an ongoing issue at all before Obamacare.
This has now taken a very personal turn for those profiting off this system. I think the chances of them paying a bit of attention to this are minimal.
As Stoller has pointed out, the ACA actually led to additional healthcare consolidation, as a means to get around the medical loss ratios that cut into profits.
Thanks Obama!
To add insult to injury, the Romney/Obama scam is a giant subsidy for the health care extortion industry. Of course medical bill bankruptcies existed before the ACA, and consolidation would have almost certainly occurred with or without it. Either way, the US is the only country in the OECD that does no have a modern, comprehensive health system. It is a national scandal, shame and an in-our-face demonstration of institutional corruption. And it’s getting worse…
So why is Obummer still strutting around like he’s some kind of an elder statesman, the “adult in the room” of the Democratic mafia?
He should have been cosigned to obscurity by now if we have anywhere near a decent society.
Just think, instead of making the rush to ‘fix healthcare’ the democrat party could have worked to quickly codify abortion rights. Of course, that would have been a problem because then they wouldn’t be able to fund raise on the issue anymore.
An outstanding coworker who is essential to my work reentered the workforce after ObamaCare. Spouse is an independent IT consultant who does very well. I asked: Before ObamaCare their family (parents plus two children) health insurance (sic) premium was $300/month with a reasonable deductible. After ObamaCare, the premium rose to $3000 per month with an outlandish deductible. Their job-based family coverage (adequate) is similar to their previous independent coverage at a similar cost to the family.
The late, great Michael Harrington included health insurance-based “job lock” in his work in the late-1970s. Still a thing…only worse.
I can confirm this insane rise in health insurance costs for the self-employed after Obama Care. This is for a professional couple (lawyer and CPA) with two kids, all very healthy. Our deductibles were $12,000 in-network and $40,000 out of network. The networks were a mess – the names of our plan were different on the contract, the website and on our insurance cards so you could never be sure that you had a provider in network.
I think the request for help just wasn’t as easily publicized before ObummerCare. “As Good As It Gets” was a warm-fuzzy take on how insurance companies screwed people. And doctor and hospital bills were a lot less expensive before ObummerCare and hospital/pharmaceutical/insurance consolidation. A trip to the ER can now cost what a week’s stay in the hospital used to cost, not to mention the insane premiums and almost everything is a High Deductible Health Plan now.
So far, no media source has called this an act of political terror, as if they want to keep a lid on the discussion.
Really, it is an act of Counter Terror. Just the previous victims turning the tables and exacting some revenge.
As synchronicity would have it, I had a doctor visit hours ago during which we both ranted about insurance company denials of coverage, which she spends too much of her precious time fighting, the high cost of healthcare that produces substandard results and so on. Then we spent a few minutes discussing the status of my coronary health, which ain’t bad for a codger of my age. It’s the rest of me that’s falling apart.
Cory Doctorow’s Radicalized anticipated violence against insurance executives back in 2019. Imagine the challenges the detectives have –
“Make a list of everyone with a serious grievance against UHC”
“Here you go sir”
“Can we narrow it down to NY State maybe?”
“This is just Manhattan sir”
I have to admit, when I saw the first head line I keyed in on:
“Health” + “CEO” + “shot”… and immediately stopped caring what had happened to the guy.
Frankly I am surprised this is not happening more often. Given the state of the US of A right now.
Looks like the Invisible Hand pulled the trigger…
Let every greedy life destroying profit uber alles CEO take note of this.
Mayby they will need armed guards accompanying them and armored vehicles whenever they go out in public?
Violence is of course bad and unacceptable.
Then there’s the more palatable Maxine Waters approach, which is to yell at them and make life miserable whenever spotted in public.
https://fortune.com/2018/06/25/rep-maxine-waters-tells-supporters-to-harass-trump-cabinet-members/amp
after the army, my brother did a stint as a professional, armed bodyguard for a publicly traded company and its CEO. essentially he was a glorified chauffeur as one bodyguard has limited value in an ambush (and protectees did not want to feel smothered by a constant tail). which also looks like the case in the CCTV video of the incident.
if this was UNH-grievance-related, expect more CEOs to go full Zuck-Bezos with their security arrangements. paid for by the shareholders, of couse. (cue small violin)
Won’t those CEOs be surprised when the aggrieved start using drones.
I’ve had that same thought after reading about fiber optic drones used by Russia that can’t be electronically jammed. In the near future I’m not sure how Presidents and CEO-types can risk appearing in outdoor public spaces.
Precise attacks without direct line of sight needed open up frightening possibilities
Access to drones will be strictly regulated.
Belarus is already doing that, although they are good guys in the grand scheme of things, so they should indeed be doing it.
But the CEOs will be the least of our problems if the drones are not regulated. It is the perfect precise-indirect-fire untraceable crime.
So first organized crime groups will start settling scores with each other (I am in fact surprised they haven’t already started doing it on a mass scale — videos from Ukraine have been all over the internet for nearly three years now), then it will be a free-for-all where everyone can be killed by dropped grenades on the street, in their yard, through their window, etc., for whatever reason (settling inheritance disputes, jilted lovers, just because, and so on).
It will be a total dystopic nightmare.
Leave it to humanity to weaponize everything!
Including health/medical care
Access to drones will be strictly regulated, just like with guns and drugs.
Harder to make than drugs, but easier than guns
Go long EMP makers?
The Red Army Faction killed a bank CEO using a crudely shaped charge and a copper plate, creating what is today known as an Explosively Formed Penetrator (Very common in Gaza today), to destroy said banker, his armored car, and his security detail all in one go. Triggered by the passage of the car- all very low tech- no drones needed and that was back in the 80’s. This is far, far easier to do today. These people will always be get-able.
By the time drones get meaningfully restricted, it will be too late.
Seems like what’s being described but not acknowledged is, we are headed to everybody killing everyone else. From mass shootings to death threats towards all kinds of people in public service, this has been building for a while.
And no, I’m not being sarcastic. Seen the same thing in our environmental work, with toxic polluters destroying peoples lives with SLAPP lawsuits. FOR $$. *SAME* *EXACT* *THING*.
Wish I had a magic wand. I was optimistic until around 2017, but just saw everything we (safe water projects) worked for ending up in greater risk. I have no idea what can be done.
How does a fiber optic drone work without electronics?
It trails a cord to the controller??
Oh, and the assassin rode away on a bike. At least he’s concerned about climate change.
It has electronics, and a big spool. ATGMs have been doing the wire unspooling since forever (the “W” in TOW stands for wire-guided), but only for control (no small cameras back in the day).
It appears some were/are aware of the risk of something like yesterday’s incident, according to this report from NBC news:
What is most astonishing to me is that in such a heavily policed and surveiled, not to mention crowded, area as midtown Manhattan, he was able to get away, despite supposedly visiting Starbucks right before the killing and showing his face. And he took a bikeshare bikes! Which are all totally gos’ed.
The surveillance state has been shown up. Look for them to arrest someone, anyone, at all.
I’ll bet the NYPD is looking for the shooter as diligently as they would a bike thief.
I imagine almost every NY policeman has a relative, or close friend involved in a health insurance horror story…
Decades ago I did some “health and safety” work for a firefighters’ union (not management), but the Italian trustees didn’t want that, since it might show the members that the Irish trustees were more concerned. So I spent too much time looking at denied claims — everyone could agree on importance of that! Insurance claims and parking/traffic tickets.
> And he took a bikeshare bikes!
Like me, you believed what the media reported. They now say.
Does Lyft have GPS on all of their bikes? If not, how would they know?
Who knows? Maybe the NYPD should have asked them. Or the journalist should have asked them? I’ve given up following the details since none of the reporters seems to be reliable.
It was early morning, very possibly right around the shift change.
There isn’t a big police presence at 7AM in midtown because precisely nothing happens at that hour, except for traffic related stuff.
By luck or savviness, shooter picked a very favorable time.
NYC does not have CCTV. It has private security cams. I once had need to try to find a taxi that dropped me off and our building didn’t get a good enough image.
The perp ducked into an alley not covered by cams. He could have changed his jacket and put his backpack into another bag there. Or when he supposedly got to Central Park.
See more generally:
https://www.quora.com/How-do-so-many-murderers-not-get-caught-How-do-they-not-leave-a-trace-behind
Maybe this is what gets the ball rolling.
And I’m sure every C-suite person in the world is wondering the same.
Yes, historically, once someone does the unthinkable, whatever it happens to be, then others do it as well. I expect this to happen again and again. Also, if someone is willing to die to kill someone else, it is difficult to stop them. Think car bombs or suicide vests. Such a shame, isn’t?
I imagine I am not the only one here who has thought of acts of less than a nonviolent nature against the plutocracy. If I was able to clone myself I would be in a planning stage, serving time or dead.
Yes, my wife and I like to amuse ourselves talking about it. Usually it starts with if you are terminal what do you have to lose. Why not take out an evil CEO, billionaire or politician and make the world a better place.
Coincidentally Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield immediately changed their criminal anesthesia policy today.
Feels a bit like a spark that both the red team and blue team agree on. Duh, it’s always been a class war. Viva la something or other.
Making peaceful change impossible makes violent change inevitable.
I don’t condone violence but at this point I’m not going to condemn it. Changes that need to happen are going to happen one way or another.
The mob murder of a CEO was the trigger for the civil war in the backstory of the Archdruid’s novel Retrotopia.
you beat me to quoting JFK.
I suppose the end result will be CEOs (and families) retreating to bullet-proofed fear bubbles, never again to stroll on the beach, and greater surprise when the peasants take up pitchforks.
As drone technologies developed and fielded in Ukraine migrate into our civilian world, we are seeing the shape of a brave new world.
CEOs: “I will, from now on, be working remotely” lol
so will the drones
(1857) Frederick Douglass, “If There Is No Struggle, There Is No Progress”
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1857-frederick-douglass-if-there-no-struggle-there-no-progress/
“Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.
This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. In the light of these ideas, Negroes will be hunted at the North and held and flogged at the South so long as they submit to those devilish outrages and make no resistance, either moral or physical. Men may not get all they pay for in this world, but they must certainly pay for all they get. If we ever get free from the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must do this by labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and if needs be, by our lives and the lives of others.”
—–
This episode has been interesting to me. First, as I considered my initial reaction to the news. Where I was surprised I wasn’t upset, which set off a round of internal soul searching about why my first visceral reaction led to that response. Second, while thinking through the first reaction, I came to the conclusion that if I were selected to sit on the shooter’s jury.. I would not vote to convict.
The fact I have gone so far down this path is astonishing to me.
I’ve been considering all of this myself. I don’t endorse vigilante justice, because there’s no end in sight after it starts. That said, I can’t say I have any sadness for the death of someone at the highest levels of the insurance industry, an entire industry built atop profitability through denial of care, social murder. Someone that rises to the level of CEO in such an organization is complicit in casual murder. And not the sort of murder out of passion, or by accident, and not the sort where we don’t know where ultimate responsibility lies, where the wrong person, as it were, ultimately is condemned.
My initial reaction was surprise that, for once in a shooting in America, a member of the rapacious elite was a target, rather than kids in a school, or minorities in a shopping mart or at worship. Somehow until now the elite seem to always avoid consequence.
“if I were selected to sit on the shooter’s jury.. I would not vote to convict.”
There is historical precedent for your sentiment. One case that jumps immediately to mind is Pat Crowe who was the first successful American kidnapper in a high profile case in the twentieth century. He kidnapped the scion of the Cudahy meatpacking family in 1900 and got away cleanly with a large ransom in gold (the victim was released unharmed). After five years of living as a fugitive Crowe turned himself in. His trial took place in Omaha, a town the Cudahys more or less controlled. Despite the prosecution’s 40 witnesses, a firsthand account of a confession to a priest, and no testimony by his defense, the Cudahys were so reviled locally that the jury acquitted him. Several years later he admitted his guilt.
OJ Simpson comes to mind.
“Changes that need to happen are going to happen”
Completely and demonstrably false. It just keeps getting worse, and the money and power keeps moving to their side. There is no indication that one person in an industry of millions makes any difference at all. There will be thousands of want to be murders lined up to make $10 milllion a year. They’ll use your money to get better security.
I didn’t say that the change would be for the better, only that change was inevitable. It could get much worse, especially if changes evolve in a libertarian- darwinian might makes right winner take all environment, which is IMNSHO where we’re currently headed.
Going to throw something a bit contrarian out there:
Taking a closer look at the posts of protests, the CEO and his peers are presented as the murderous class.
“That CEO wasn’t walking around shooting people, he was sitting in an office enforcing and supporting policies that actively signed death sentences for countless people. Not only that – he profits from their deaths.”
Which could be interpreted as: it’s less likely the murder was instigated by the class of people that have suffered the BS for this long. What is known is that people that profit from death are very likely to kill.
.
Necrophagist parasites who the sycophant media portray as philanthropists and pillars of the community. It looks like some people have had enough being extorted, lied to, while the perps make billions.
When a society becomes so top-heavy and polarized, it usually results in violence. The US has the most heavily armed civilian population in the so-called developed world, by a big margin.
Like many here, I am surprised that this sort of thing has not happened before.
It hasn’t been revealed that “this sort of thing” is the the thing that happened.
He rolled with a murderous crew (profit over people)…so to speak. So that can’t be excluded from speculation.
As of today, the same “health care” system is still rolling along. Profits protected.
Coldest reaction of all:
“From a corporate viewpoint, investors should know that UnitedHealth’s management bench is typically quite deep. We expect the company to smoothly transition Thompson’s role to an internal candidate under the direction of CEO Andrew Witty.”
https://www.morningstar.com/stocks/unitedhealth-under-tragic-circumstances-management-keeps-2025-guidance-intact-investor-day
This is the reaction I’d expect from a company who’s business model is based on denying healthcare. Life is cheap and the profits must flow.
I must be watching too much Dune recently.
I read your last sentence as:
‘Life is cheap and the spice must flow.’
That bench could be looked at as beneficiaries.
I am wondering if this couldn’t be some kind of situation like in the movie Network.
That was my first reaction as well. I thought that the medical industry has turned into such a racket that, now since the economy is so dysfunctional, it is one extortionist killing another. It’s coming down to a turf battle with some criminal organization at every turn probably offering “protection.” And bribing congress lavishly.
It makes me nostalgic for the old-school Mafia, La Cosa Nostra. At least they had a code of ethics and were more transparent and honest about extortion.
Exactly.
But my first thought was that if he was admitted an out of network hospital and received treatment for gunshots, he likely would have emerged with stents, a defibrillator and maybe an LAA occlusion as well.
The hospital the ambulance took him to, Mount Sinai, was out of network – UHC removed it last year.
Here’s hoping for copycats.
It seems to me a more effective form of protest than Aaron Bushnell’s (Pbuh). If you’re willing to give up your life, might as well take down an oligarch or warmonger down with you. Things might actually improve if more people went down this road.
If there are more actions of this sort, when will they be called “terrorism” and not a revenge crime? And it might be that terrorism would be the right term, though I’m sure the MSM will work mightily to obliterate the difference between terrorism directed at elites and at the masses. For the former, the case of The People’s Will in 19th c. Russia comes to mind. For more on them, Franco Venturi’s Roots of Revolution is great.
And now we can expect the Thermidor without the actual revolution…entirely unsatisfactory!
The Media will be on board with the Thermidorians for sure.
While cycling at the gym, I just watched CNN coverage of the killing. The anchor and reporter were very serious and grim about the killing. They were supportive of the police investigation, imploring the public to assist the NYPD in finding the perpetrator by showing the security camera captured images of the suspect: “we hope these pictures allow him to be apprehended quickly” etc.
When the segment ended, the cut to commercials was fascinating: diabetes monitoring device, diabetes medication, eczema medication and then two ads in a row (!!!) for different Medicare Advantage providers (one cheap-looking ad & one slicker one for Humana)
It’s as if there was an algorithm selecting the ads based on the segment content…but unaware of the context. Kind of like having travel ads during a segment about a plane crash.
The Media knows where it’s bread is buttered, though.
NPR coverage of the killing also has a kind of “Let’s Go, Brandon” quality to it. They are trying hard not to see any issues that could be behind the act. Eventually, they’ll have to make some carefully evasive mention of systematic claim denials, but in a carefully metered way.
The killer was mentally ill. That’s what they always say on the news to dismiss the shooter’s actual grievances, even when they were stated clearly and openly. The grievances cannot be aired because other people might agree.
Good pivot to Russia on this. Many young people who were in the upper classes or close to it used acts of violence against the tsar simply because they saw no alternative. Lenin’s brother being hanged in a plot to assassinate Alexander III was the event that created his radicalization. Are we about to see a turning point in this worst of timelines.
Terrorism is exactly the right term for for-profit “healthcare.” Exactly.
OMG, hemeantwell, that’s my favorite book of all time! I have always carried it with me. I didn’t know that there was anyone still alive who knew of it.
One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.
Don’t need to kill, just spend some time in the street during a General Strike. America, you’re not without agency.
Unless and until heath care is separated from employment, there’s not going to be a general strike in the USA. Too risky for most people.
A good deal of my time as a union organizer was essentially selling health insurance.
And if it’s government provided healthcare, there won’t be a protest against the government because it’s just too risky.
Americans are muppets, period.
On December 12th it will be 15 years since my father passed away from something that’s treatable, unless you put profits before lives. His only crime was to develop Type 2 diabetes while going uninsured, because he couldn’t afford insurance premiums while paying a mortgage and starting a business. Shortly after he died Obamacare was passed, which marked my break with the Democrat Party as well, for putting the profits of insurance and pharma companies before human lives.
I guess that’s the long way to say that I couldn’t possibly care less about Thompson’s murder, nor do I care about how his family feels. After all, in our system his death is a tragedy while my father’s death is a statistic.
If the shooter only got two shots off, and one was a relatively harmless calf strike, then I question the narrative that he was an amateur. A single-shot kill to the chest area is either very good marksmanship or very lucky. Unknown whether the ammo was a hollow-point or other type designed to do maximum damage.
(I didn’t see anything in the tweetstorm to substantiate the claim that he was an amateur, but I don’t have access to twitter to see much more than single posts.)
Later tweets suggest that his gun jammed because he did not know how to use the silencer properly. So I guess he may have used guns professionally but was not a fully kitted pro assassin.
Stayed calm under pressure, dealt with a setback, adjusted his target and got off a kill shot. Sounds at least competent, to me.
Dead is dead.
The gun may not have jammed. It may have been deliberately modified so that the slide does not move to prevent it from making noise, so as not to attract attention when fired on the street.
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2019/08/17/hush-puppy-project/
Yes, there is apparently disagreement about this, but it does not seem that the assembly functioned in an optimum manner.
The video, found at the Water Cooler, features some elements lending crédence to this view. To my knowledge, limited by American standards, a jam in a semi-automatic pistol would usually involve a shell casing failing to be ejected fully through the top of the slide, and a conséquent failure to feed a new round into the chamber. In dealing with this, the gun people around me were taught that they had to slap the magazine, then rack the slide in order to clear the jam; whereas the shooter appears to merely rack the slide (seemingly without losing focus), suggesting, perhaps, that this was the functioning he expected, maybe to do with a type of suppressor necessitating this action. I’ll let more knowledgeable people correct me or fill in any details.
Subsonic round?
Was he a veteran, I wonder. There is a talent pool out there.
Hard to say. I don’t understand if the shooting was putting a bunch of people at risk or this was a situation with minimum crowd.
Hitting a walking man in long pants “the calf” is a heck of a shot or random. Honestly, I have been reading jokes and don’t know of “the calf” means dead through the meat of the calf, or just somewhere between the ankle and the knee – possibly just grazing.
Maybe they’ll catch the shooter who will argue for a lesser charge claiming “I only meant to scare him!”
Midtown Manhattan before 7am is pretty thinly populated. Had I been going to work that day, it’s likely I would have been in the vicinity, as that’s one of the routes I could take, and the time that I’m on the street.
The center of mass shot would have been the first shot fired- target was unaware and easy to hit. The calf shot would have been one of the following shots that struck the target while he was falling and moving more erratically, and thus more difficult to hit. His calf may also have moved into the path of a well-aimed shot to center of mass while falling as well.
From the unedited video, it appears that the calf shot might have been the first one — Thompson stumbles with evident leg pain, and leans against the wall, before the next shot, when he falls to the ground.
I read somewhere on Twitter that he used subsonic munitions. According to Wikipedia, since they go slower, they don’t make a sonic boom and are quieter, and they’re often used with noise-suppressors. But they don’t make a large enough bang to make the slide go back fully, so he had to do that manually. Sounds pretty professional to me, but I don’t know much about guns.
Correct, you need to change the spring out with the use of subsonic rounds.
His gun failing to cycle properly suggests a non professional. Linked X thread says that they found spent cartriges and live rounds on the ground, which also does not sound very professional.
The cartridges were supposedly marked, and thus meant to be found.
Bear in mind that in cities, the police use a system called Shot Spotter. Shot Spotter is a distributed passive acoustic system that listens for gunshots. If more than one Shot Spotter detector hears the shots, it can triangulate the approximate location of the shots and it automatically notifies EMS with this data.
I do not believe this person is a professional hitman, but they are obviously extremely security conscious, knowledgeable of state security apparatus capabilities, they have some serious planning skills, and a lot of motivation.
I’d bet money this was a printed gun (Glock 19 pattern), shop-built suppressor, and hand-loaded ammunition.
The state is dealing with a very intelligent, capable, and aggrieved individual- a serious opponent that will likely serve as an inspiration for others.
Marked cartridges meant to be found sounds like something a fan fiction writer would come up with, in order to task Herlock Sholmes with breaking the code and solving the mystery.
P.S. I must say that I was very amused with vision impaired X sleuths thinking that he was using Welrod, like it’s something one can get from local gang member or Wallmart. For anyone that is not James Bond, it would probably be easier to get VSS Vintorez than Welrod.
The USA populace is so heavily armed, I have wondered what took so long before an aggrieved person took out an oligarch instead of perpetrating the usual massacre of children that we hear about so often.
Escalation of the Class War?
As someone pointed out yesterday, if the aggrieved figure out that killing off some random innocents is pointless and start targeting the PMC, it’s on like Donkey Kong.
Denninger refers to this as “the law of scoreboards.” You can only die once, and if you put up more points than one, you “win.”
See also, John Wick. Running up the score, makes Bobby Bowden blush.
Yes, Brian Thompson, was a dad and husband. He however chose to head a criminal company that not only daily violates their legal and ethical obligation to patients but also routinely bully physicians. The industry practice of denying and delaying payment to physicians is widespread; however, UNITED HEALTH CARE always seems to appear to be the most agregious criminal in the business. Most recently they have expanded their practices to illegally demand return of appropriate payments made then when challenged, deduct (steal) funds from other patients payments! Simple crooks. Karma seems to have caught up to one of the many.
Our health care system is broken and hopefully soon will have a meltdown that might then allow us a chance to regroup and as a society choose a more humane system. The canary is showing where we are headed.
Doctor Bastidas…..
Medicine should not be fee for service. That is the root cause and it corrupts doctors, insurance industry CEOs…..everyone. The British NHS (which they are dismantling because of payola to British politicians) would be a good model to start with…..funded at an adequate level which still would save the USG a ton of money. The biggest reason is that if doctors are on salary, with no performance bonus, they are the most likely to help people based on their training and they can ration care based on reason….. Insurance clerks, AI software engineers, MBAs, politicians and lawyers and even most nurse practitioners and physicians assistants are not medically trained to the same degree so we are doing care in this country with the least qualified people doing the real medical care and now trying to transition it to AI.
On a purely utilitarian calculus, if shooting the CEO in broad day light results in a change in policies resulting in a national reduction of deaths from preventable causes, this would be a real life illustration of the trolley car problem.
You have to wonder if a jury would convict. . . that would be the real signal.
Maybe the lesson is that about 70 percent of the public wants changes to the health care system to make it more affordable and accessible, and the politicians have ignored their desires. . . what is desired but impossible legislatively gets manifested in through other means.
I would suggest the golden rule for the 21st century should read something like “If the world would be a better place if you were shot today, maybe you should change your ways”.
Realistically the only change we’ll see is a massive security package given to the next CEO of UHC, and probably all the other major companies.
Bloomberg is on the story already. Security contractors are getting more inquiry calls.
But they will be concerned that the armed guards of the security contractors will turn on them someday?
Assuming robot security guards are eventually employed, might robots be “hacked”?.
Perhaps a far better feeling of security would be engendered by managing a company for the benefit of customers, employees and the public (that has granted limited liability via the corporate legal form) and not for the sole benefit of shareholders and senior executives.
You can bet the first thing these people did was to have their assistants call for bodyguards.
I thought about this as well. That the CEOs would seek security coverage. But whats to stop an assassin taking out lower level execs? Or any employee for that matter? What will happen to a company when the word gets out that you are at risk of getting assassinated just for working there?
Any law enforcement officer will tell you a random killing where the killer has no connection to the victim is almost impossible to solve.
If nothing else, kinda set’s the tone for all these bidnis people who want to come in and “disrupt things” with the new administration.
Maybe it was just putting down a marker on a sympathetic target.
I’m more interested in what happens if they catch the guy, go to trial and get a hung jury or not guilty. Interesting times indeed.
The event was singular, it needs to be systemic. The shot that should be fired is the whole damn U.S. for-profit healthcare system, one that causes pain and suffering to those who already are in pain and suffering.
We’ll see. I’m still a bit skeptical this is purely bc of rejected insurance claims. Medical expenses, insurance hassles regularly break people, yet nevertheless this guy had the money, time and resources to hunt down the CEO? Maybe the killer was a relative.
The images look a teeny bit like another C-suite denizen of UHC. Maybe his son?
Speculation is fun.
As seems to often happen, we may never get a straight answer about the killer, if he is ever identified. The guy may not be Jason Bourne but he’s trained enough to have pulled this off, including an awareness of where cameras are located. I find it difficult to feel for Thompson or even his family, and playing armchair detective is fun. I think the shooter might be antifa-sponsored, looking to kick things off.
The shooter rode home on his bike
Did the job very businesslike
You may like or oppose
Shooting fat CEO’s
What we need is a General Strike
Like music to my ears.
Like Seattle 1933 for a start. I spent two weeks with occupy there. I had hoped for the ball to start rolling. There will be shit going down sooner or later, inevitable.
Yes we do.
I think the shooter is a coward – damn coward – just like all the other shooters targeting all the different demographics – this idea that their is some connection that gives a motivation or cause some form of legitimacy to the cowards who do genocide, human rights violations, murder… sure give it an intriguing speculative fantasy spin and, I’m NOT picking on you B Flat, but a dude who kills someone while trying to evade capture is a coward.
Jason Bourne was a fictional character, just as, the thinking that some vast or just some level of training is necessary to pull off this act of cowardice.
If you call Brian Thompson a social murderer – you are stating a provable fact and maybe some legal rectitude is in order – unfortunately, you have the hurdle of intent as, so much of the legal issues are long nailed into the congressional legislation that has been going on for years. Maybe something like not changing course for the rendering of aid to a vessel in your vicinity, failure to act when lives are in danger, holding a board accountable for actions known to cause bodily harm, and the rest of the product liability issues.
Calling Brian Thompson a social murderer… no problem that… since I have stated that murder is a cowards act well, Brian Thompson is that, but let us not forget the legislation that made Brian Thompson a coward – legislation and economics(legislated) to be afraid of more than obligations to the public – how to explain why so many do not exhibit bravery. If your a finance guy, why not take a more humanistic tack instead of extracting so much from the public weal. Because if you don’t, your out a job and, you might very well get sued into oblivion. – you know the old over a barrel precarity(sp) thing.
A this sophisticated, highly trained, complex BS is just a way make the act more than it was. Guess the private security folks and law enforcement will make money on it but….
My apologies to B Flat for tagging on his line
I don’t feel picked on TomDority, you raise good points. The legalized thuggery of United Healthcare and so many other companies is the naked face of capitalism. I imagine our Congress critters would say it is still an improvement over the past with no safety net outside churches and charities. That’s the space in which politicians operate, a riff on TINA. But are the chickens coming home to roost? Maybe. But the Thompson’s of this world aren’t cowards bc why would they be, they’ve got all the permission and power to prey on us, freely. And if this killing marks a turn toward vigilante justice for CEOs, they’ll retire to their bolt holes and let their private security hold it down. Best not reject any claims from these hirelings.
Some murders are cowardly; I felt the Unabomber, for instance, was a coward. A “loner” insisted the world recognize him for it and wow us all with his smarts.
There are many why questions regarding the incident. The shooting occurred in perfect view of the security camera. The shooter left a message. The ceo looked like he was wearing a light blue jacket. Shooter still not captured but no emergency shutdowns for active shooters. Why didn’t the shooter do a gun in the gut style shooting especially with a camera there. My conspiracy theory is that the ceo is going into witness protection and they needed a very public display to avert the bad guys.
CEOs do not go into witness protection.
When they get called in trials or depositions, they get away with saying that they don’t remember.
> difficult to feel for Thompson or even his family
Some articles claim that he was separated from his wife at the time, saving you need to feel for her. I don’t know enough of the circumstances too speculate of other potential suspects.
My. take as well – this firm was also knee-deep in suits regarding its business and investor returns. Seems Mr. Thompson also cheated his backers to some degree. Investors want their cut, after all…
If a crime is committed, is it so hard to commit another? Let’s see if the solving of this crime takes more time than a few days. Of course, some perp will be “found” to serve the bloodlust of elite outcry, but the discomfort of doubt will continue to panic the perverse.
Meanwhile, the target is felt by all who carry the title.
$450 BILLION UHC 2024 revenue
$350 BILLION Exxon mobil 2024 revenue
Better than oil!
State actor. Asymmetric warfare. Watch Putin’s approval rating jump in the U.S.
“Joking” aside, I haven’t seen anyone comment on the perp’s backpack. I suspect a change of clothes, jacket/sweatshirt at least. Maybe a duffel bag in which to conceal the backpack. More unlikely, a suicide bomb in case things went south. Some snacks.
This may not have been pro, but it was obviously planned. I wonder how many devices (not necessarily in the technical sense) the perp employed to throw his scent. The phone call could be a ruse, but not necessarily — perhaps an accomplice, a spotter. Perhaps the ambitious COO.
Speculation is fun!
Maybe it was Banksy, upping his game. He never seems to get caught. But this appeared to be a younger man — Son of Banksy.
Here on NC, we even know who Banksy is. Or at least, our guy in Bristol says he does. :)
I’m thinking call on mobile alerting him to Thompson heading out the door.
For those preferring a tamer and more socially acceptable way to see a private healthcare head honcho getting his comeuppance, the 2007 movie FLAWLESS staring Demi Moore Michael Caine and Lambert Wilson is a favorite of mine.
Perhaps the fact that so many Americans are faced with life-and-death medical (and financial) decisions gives impetus to the need for universal, NON-PROFIT healthcare. But, or course, Joe “Lunchbucket” Biden famously said that if a universal healthcare bill came to his desk, he’d veto it -despite around 60%+ of the public being in favor of it. Some democracy. And these clowns wonder why they lost the last election.
Just a pet peeve of mine, but can we stop calling it “universal healthcare” what what we are talking about is “universal insurance.” Drives me nuts. Obamacare is not care, it is (crappy) insurance: Obamasurance.
Those of us trying to get Medicare for All advocate single payer “insurance.” Just like the righties, I don’t want the government in my healthcare, but having them pay for it with national insurance I’m on board with.
You have a point but this is politics and sometimes you need to hire the marketing types. In the 2016 campaign, Bernie Sanders realized that Medicare-For-All drew, by far, the most positive reaction from voters. It was much more favorably accepted than all other names including universal healthcare because Medicare was a known system and popular.
NevilShute, that was my thought exactly when I read comments last night, on another site. The anger and rage was overwhelming and went on page after page. I thought, holy cow, if someone had just featured health care alone on their platform, he/she would have won the election hands down.
I think you’re right on.
I can’t whole-heartedly condone the killing of anyone, even a health-care executive, but I would say anyone who didn’t see this coming was oblivious at best. Michael Moore did a spot on The Awful Truth over 20 years ago, inviting the CEO of an insurance company to the funeral of a man being denied coverage. The CEO of UHC was rich at a surprisingly modest level ($43 million net worth), so he couldn’t easily afford an army of security 24/7. Next one will have to include that in his package.
I’ve got my money on the shooter having a close relative (spouse) recently dying from a treatable condition having coverage denied by UHC. I wonder how much that narrows it down. Hundreds? Thousands?
Finally, I think Antifa needs to get to work on the re-write: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-IY1g2LARs
With a bit of luck, he’ll become the next D.B.Cooper.
Shouldn’t Have Denied Me
(melody borrowed from Somewhere They Can’t Find Me by Simon & Garfunkel, 1966)
Her eyes wide and staring at the tube lights above
Her hand squeezing tightly—she’s losing this fight
She’s on their transplant list—but money’s still owed
Insurance says no—her claim’s been denied
What can I do? They took her life away
All very workaday
Someone has to show them they’ve done wrong
I’ll let justice guide me
Well maybe I’ll go get me a gun
I’ll head to New York from Arkansas
That investors meeting, yes that whole thing looks lovely
I’ll drop their top man outside their door
Now I’ve got to plan for my getaway
Move like a ballet
Bike to van and then to Oregon
Vengeance is what drives me
Millions know how I feel, it’s a foregone conclusion
All the cash they are gettin’ don’t mean they will pay
Some will say it’s not right what I do
I’m just here collecting what’s due
This warning might save someone else from my fate
Who can know if I’ll get away?
World is a big place
D.B. Cooper grew old in Saigon . . .
Shouldn’t have denied me
While the public reaction to this murder has focused on the injustice of the US Health$care System, the actual assassination has a definite Boeing vibe to me.
If an institution that has a business model of killing thousands of people every month thought that Brian Thompson might be engaging in any activity that could endanger corporate profits, assassination would be an acceptable solution.
Brian Thompson was being investigated for Insider Trading – what was he saying to the investigators?
Yup – perhaps he was silenced before he could reveal too much to federal investigators. Gangster stuff…..
You have a point but this is politics and sometimes you need to hire the marketing types. In the 2016 campaign, Bernie Sanders realized that Medicare-For-All drew, by far, the most positive reaction from voters. It was much more favorably accepted than all other names including universal healthcare because Medicare was a known system and popular.
Ya, I like it as a hypothesis.
Making it look like a revenge killing for misdeeds is just a smokescreen.
An unsavory business operating within regulatory guidelines has more concern about government supervision than mistreated customers.
I hope that it turns out that the hospital that treated him is out of network for him and the estate gets a big bill that is not covered.
Lordie. Where were you in the aftermath of the GFC????
“I don’t remember”.
And the worst that would happen was he would be fined and disgorge profits.
As Faine Greenwood just said on Bluesky ( faineg.bsky.social )
‘I think MAGAs and their oligarch supporters really haven’t fully reasoned through “we’re going to make Americans as poor and desperate as possible to turn them into peasant vassals, but we’re also going to make sure they can still get lots of guns.” ‘
We’ve been enjoying the Hulu/FX series Say Nothing for a few months and it’s probably influencing the way I interpret this killing. The series did a good job in early episodes explaining the material roots of the conflict, Irish Catholic workers constantly denied better paying jobs and training by the Protestants.
The poor Irish girls at the center of the story didn’t believe they had anything to lose but their misery. I can’t help wondering if there isn’t something resonant in this case. And in a country where extremely dangerous weapons are relatively much easier to obtain.
It will reveal “boring” facts like that he has not paid back his debts to the mafia. There is no sign of revolution here.
“Deny” “Defend” “Depose” — it wouldn’t surprise me if the shooter is a physician or healthcare provider.
In a culture of elite impunity self-help and vigilantism are inevitable. Trump’s appeal is because he is a criminal. When the mantra of our elites is rules for thee but not for me doing away with all rules becomes the transgressive zeitgeist.
Unfortunately, chaos and The Law of the Jungle are always worse for the weak than they are for the elites. One CEO is dead but United Health Care will simply grind on, paying off regulators and crushing hundreds of lives while profiting from ever more suffering and grief.
If this continues, i hope the focus is on efficiency. Presenting a PowerPoint to the board would take on a whole new meaning.
As if we need more evidence that US health insurance companies are some of the worst examples of predatory capitalism, Anthem BCBS now puts time limits for surgical anesthesia:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/doctors-raising-alarm-insurance-company-152730624.html
I was going to comment on this. I suppose with this means in practice is that they will only pay a certain dollar amount towards anesthesia on a surgical procedure. Seems like a small step from this to not covering anesthesia at all.
It seems amazing to me that someone would even propose this as a policy change without getting laughed out of the room, let alone have it make it into an actual contract change. From what I understand, surgical procedures can take wildly varying amounts of time depending on what happens during the procedure or what is found by the surgical team.
Next up: the policy will not pay for sterilization of surgical equipment.
Yes, if your surgery has complications and the doc needs to go into overtime, well that’s just too bad for you.
However Anthem has now walked that back since the shooting, lol.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/public-safety-and-emergencies/health-and-safety-alerts/anthem-blue-cross-blue-shield-calls-off-plan-to-cap-anesthesia-coverage-in-at-least-one-state/ar-AA1vlG1o
This was a brazen attempt by Anthem to force surgeons to be faster to save money… disgusting.
It is also possible the shooter is as intelligent and methodical as someone like Unabomber Ted Kaczynski was, as well as being extremely tech savvy. Kaczynski studied at Harvard. Perhaps our shooter knew his way around Langley before he went rouge.
Otherwise, how can an ordinary person gain access to a CEO’s whereabouts? The bike escape makes perfect sense because anyone who has been to NYC knows about traffic congestion. And using the subway at that hour guarantees dozens of people will notice you. Bear in mind Kaczynski sent one of his bombs to the president of United Airlines.
Doubtful – there was a clear picture of the guy’s face from a Starbucks that he visited just before the killing. A pro wouldn’t do something like that.
The problem here is that there is some doubt about the Starbucks guy and the Shooter being the same. Colour of hoody and type of backpack differ.
Even the face looks different in the 2 shots, but the clothing and backpack disparities are obvious.
I feel sorry for Starbucks guy. He probably will be apprehended and unless he has a good alibi, or cellphone data showing he walked the other way, he’s going to be strung up. Looks bad for police not to catch a high profile perp.
This is the one guy I really feel sorry for in all this. But I do appreciate the NYPD being so obvious.
(Even though I hope no one is stupid enough to do more than a quick where did you go after you got your drink question and confirmation, this is someone else I think will have a massive go fund me legal defense fund. Not to mention a very quick acquittal if they are stupid enough to 1. Harass him, and/or 2. Indict him.)
If Starbucks Guy has any friends, family,aquaintances who know how to archive digital images, he might want to ask them to copy and archive all copies of the images of him in Starbucks, and preserve them beyond reach of attempts to erase or change them.
Because the authorities might well try finding and retro-changing all the images and videos to give Starbucks Guy the exact same kind of coat and backpack that Shooter Guy has on. And if hidden legacy images of Starbucks Guy can’t be re-surfaced to refute that, then the authorities will get away with their “videoshop” of Shooter Guy’s coat and backpack onto Starbucks Guy.
Thompson had the law on his side– laws that enabled him and his accomplices to rob and murder with the stroke of a pen, a click of the keyboard, or simply through the twisting of words.
It’s telling that our society is governed by laws that do not just allow, but which actively enable persons like Thompson to profit from what is almost universally understood to be both morally and ethically wrong.
Sure enough questionable investigating is already in full swing. Doesn’t look like the same man to me. From the NY Post, yesterday:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/former-nypd-inspector-skeptical-unitedhealthcare-ceo-gunman-professional-zeroes-weapon-choice
Vs this afternoon:
https://nypost.com/2024/12/05/us-news/grinning-suspect-who-killed-unitedhealthcare-ceo-brian-thompson-police-seen-in-newly-released-pics/
In some of the video clips posted above the alleged suspect is wearing all black while talking on phone. In others, including during the shooting, his clothing is grey-brown.
Also no gloves? Fingerprints? And what about that car idling with lights on in the street right next to the shooting? Shooter seems to cross in front of it.
My wife reminds me that Medicare forced me to fill holes in coverage with tribute to one of the insurance leeches. I randomly chose United Health, which has so far challenged/stalled two prescriptions. So I’m happy to be able to cancel their coverage, maybe today! Wouldn’t it be fun if people react to this tragedy by gutting the company too. I wish another company was much better.
We have unfortunately a systemic problem. Now do a high level legislator, then a high level judge that sides with the criminality of business…
That would send a message…
The reaction to this incident has shown how fed up people are with our health care system.
The Dems could have tapped into this anger and turned it into a campaign issue.
Alas, the insurance lobby and campaign contributions will never allow that to happen.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/13/upshot/election-health-care-issue.html
The Campaign Issue That Isn’t: Health Care Reform
The topic has been a major concern in presidential elections for decades. Its absence as a top issue now is notable.
I hoped we would see some change after the 2007 release of Michael Moore’s “Sicko”.
The movie “John Q.” came out in 2002. Things have only gotten worse since then.
As usual, I find the reaction of the naked capitalism.com community gratifying! Not surprised about that, given our collective sociopolitical profile. Here is a prediction: I think RFK Junior’s chances of confirmation just went up, given his stance on the corporate side of the entire healthcare cluster. If even something like the New York Times is playing up the torrent of hatred unleashed against health insurance CEOs on its front page, perhaps the powers that be have read the tea leaves. Something needs to give, be shaken and stirred.
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/unitedhealthcare-brian-thompson-death-12-5-24/index.html
At least the security detail is safe and can re-apply for those Secret Service jobs protecting Trump
Or he could write books on mathematical logic, as van Heijenoort did, after failing in his first job, as secretary and bodyguard for Trotsky.
Assassinations of world leaders loom large in Barbara Tuchman’s wonderful tome The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914.
Was this a 1-off?
It’s 3, adding the 2 attempts this election season.
Someone had to know where he would be and when. How?
He was at least 90 minutes early for the conference.
Exactly. And why wasn’t he staying at the Hilton?!
That Hilton is not a fancy hotel. It’s for big conferences.
Guys like him stay at plush boutique hotels, although some of the large-ish ones are up to snuff. The Palace Hotel might make the grade.
I recall the story by someone who worked as a grunt for a health insurance company. There was a big motivational poster on one wall of the giant room she worked in which said:
‘Nuff said
This really reveals that the Democratic party could have won the Presidential election by proposing health care reform. Same for the Republicans. But neither end of the uniparty will propose anything so massively popular or so vitally required.
People forget that so-called healthcare reform was essentially forced on Obama, check the early 2008 primary information.
And I sometimes think it would have been walked back to “fighting for” as so much was IF the insurance industry hadn’t been facing growing disaster (more and more companies were eliminating health insurance compensation and individual purchase was rapidly declining). Instead we got policy that empowered insurance companies and eliminated or twisted most of the controls that made Swiss based policies remotely affordable and cost controlling. Saving private insurance was the real reason for the mandates, especially the employer provided insurance mandate.
Yes, Obamacare is pretty much a bailout of American healthcare insurance just like his Wall St bailout of the bankers. There was an effort to provide single payer as an option, but that effort was blocked. It amazes me that Obama is considered popular despite the fact that his bailouts are extremely unpopular with the American public.
Not saying “I’m Spartacus”, but with others sharing their experience: I was disabled in 2017, and from then until recently enjoyed Medicaid (relative to enjoying sickness and death). My condition improved, just in time for my father’s terminal cancer diagnosis. I spent the next year-plus taking intimate, full-time care of him, for which I’m very grateful. He died, and left me a portion of his pension from his university job. Only slightly larger than what I’d been getting from Social Security, it means that I have to go the the marketplace for health insurance. Mind, my condition has improved, but I still deal with several chronic health issues. I cannot afford health insurance, housing, and food at the same time. Which ought I to pick? So far, it’s been the latter two. Middlemen, or rentiers, are less productive members of society than are the disabled, the erstwhile ‘useless eaters’. I have no sympathy for the deceased.
I’m grateful for the reflections of others here, who raise valuable questions, such as the temperature of the anger of working class folks, and the likely responses. As others have mentioned, unthinking repression is the most likely response, as a punishment for rebellion, which is why, while I sympathize with the sentiment, I don’t generally advocate for what Marxists call ‘adventurism’. This said, when I was younger, I used to speculate that assassinations might instill the fear of consequences our ruling class do not feel because they have closed off legitimate pathways for reform. On their heads be it.
I’ll go you one step further and say it as: Off with their heads be it.
I find it interesting that the MSM is having to acknowledge the public response to the murder, but are going out of their way so as to avoid pointing out why. Starting with the disaster that is and has been the ACA, followed rapidly with the clear evidence that our system outright supports the insurance fraud committed by insurance companies rather than prosecuting it. (Most health insurance is a bait and switch con, if we are honest about it.)
Why in NYC? Why not back in Minnesota or somewhere else his business travels might take him?
Or, as it turns out, Manhattan is a surprisingly good place to flee a crime because you can just blend in, and this guy realized that and factored it in? Could this be what gets the plutocrats out of Manhattan?
The reward for info leading to the shooter’s arrest is $10,000, I think the average medical debt is around $18,000?
As of 2022, 100 million people in the U.S. have medical debt.
Is the reward based on in network or out of network information? Does one need a referral for the reward?
UHC has 51 million persons of interest.
Cheese on rice, these jokes write themselves. /s
Some good updates here, CBS. This caught my eye;
The suspect then waited for Thompson, police said. The CEO was staying at another hotel across the street from the Hilton, Kenny said Wednesday. Thompson left his hotel shortly after 6:40 a.m. and headed to the Hilton. Kenny said police are speaking to Thompson’s coworkers to understand why he was headed to the hotel so early, but said the CEO was in charge of the conference and may have been going over to help set up.
Could be a nothing burger, but this affair has an off feeling. Waiting on results from fingerprints and dna collected from a Starbucks coffee cup.
If that DNA sample was from the guy in the parka smiling on video then it will be worthless. The guy is wearing a different parka and is carrying a different pack so not the same guy at all.
Have we considered his wife as suspect? Somebody let shooter know when Thompson was heading for the door.
I’d say it was a hit. Not for any of the reasons above. Shooter may have been a hired hand with no clue about the real motive of the shooting for his ‘customer’. Didn’t want this UHC ceo to blab under oath about some people doing some tings a few years ago in front of Sen Ron Johnson, Hawley, RFK jr or Kash. Computer and servers are prob mopped up never to be seen again after the murder ‘investigation’. Seen different versions of this movie past several years.
Please see my footnote. He’d be dead by now if this was a professional hit.
It is possible to imagine a calculation taking into account the level of claims denial and increased revenue against PR and security detail costs, bringing in a number that represents risk to executives, that presents managers with a mix of options for maintaining the highest possible revenue level, while keeping executive risk within the non-lethal range. I bet someone is already working on it.
will be interesting to see if he was an independent actor killing a healthcare CEO for being evil, or more of a hired gun killing for like, mafia type reasons. i’m sure time will tell. interesting that we’re in our assassination era now. trump, this healthcare CEO, i’m sure more people i’m forgetting – wonder who will be shot at next?
In Houston a few years ago, a man shot and killed a prominent heart surgeon on the street because 20 years earlier the shooter’s mother had died while being operated on by the heart doctor.
From 2018: A man killed a Houston doctor over a 20-year-old grudge, police say
Somewhere between the plot of a “triumph over dystopian overlords” novel/movie (like V for Vendetta) and a more formal thesis on a multi-pronged attack on the root causes of our increasingly dystopian society (Society of The Spectacle meets The Jackpot?!), I had begun to ponder the geometry, as it were, of a battlefield informed by what our society has become and the swelling tide of suffering bubbling in it. All I can say is that if a politician falls next, I need not worry about bringing my literary ideas to fruition … I’ll be fairly certain at that point, that I am living in the world I was previously imagining.
And while I too am surprised it “took this long”, I am still in a state of mild shock … this is a turning point.
Since I do not believe in Insurance-based medicine I find the deceased rewards and status a peculiarity of US societal preferences. That aside I find it astounding that he could be so oblivious to danger as to walk outside in New York of all places without huge security
It is the inanity of it all. A man whose wife states he had received threats which surely makes one aware one is known and hated but to lack self-awareness. Then again hubris is common
The age of impunity is over …
One report says Thompson and his wife have lived apart in different houses in the same town for some years — is this a relationship issue, or is it a security measure? Family safety is going to be covered by the new security detail.
Important to realize that UBH also squeezes the providers as well (and so do most other insurance companies): Those charges which are denied then rachet back to the provider to collect. If they are in network, they have to charge the patient the non capitated amount, very significantly increasing the patient’s out of pocket costs. The capitation of billed charges (which are set as usual and customary amount) can be as high as 60 to 70%, with capitation of numbers of allowed hours. For example, see one insurance company’s capitating allowed hours for anesthesia for various procedures. More and more providers, are choosing to not take insurance but to offer a “superbill” with procedures codes and the patient is left to work out reimbursement from the insurance company. One cannot underestimate the squeeze on providers not only from a financial perspective, but also from the perspective of being over regulated by state health boards and professional associations, which are known for being lax on real issues of malpractice and overly stringent for those who step over the line on the politically prescribed approaches to common medical problems. William Osler would be appalled.
” Skin in the Game is back.”
NN Taleb on Twitter
The point of this murder that struck me was the value placed on a rich white man’s life as opposed to a poor black woman murdered in her car earlier in the week but then we know who did that, it was the police
Wait until you find out the value of lives of those murdered outside USA.