Police arrested a person of interest in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s on Dec. 9, linking suspect Luigi Nicholas Mangione with the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Police found documents that implied Mangione’s “ill will towards corporate America.”
Mangione checked out of a hostel on the morning of Dec. 4 before waiting outside of the Hilton in Midtown before shooting Thompson with bullets marked with “delay,” “defend” and “depose” written on them before speeding off on a bike and most likely boarding a bus.
What’s most encapsulating about this case is not the actual killing, which many Americans are already accustomed to, but the message it gave.
One TikTok user responded to a post by CNN: “Thoughts and deductibles to the family. Unfortunately, my condolences are out-of-network.”
So many Americans being in support of the same thing, especially concerning gun violence, is incredibly rare and exemplifies the anger of the working class who have been personally victimized by the billionaires of the healthcare industry.
UnitedHealthcare has a particularly notorious record. The company has a claim denial rate higher than most in the industry and uses a faulty AI processing system to justify the refusals. The company has been the subject of an antitrust lawsuit by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). The DOJ has also accused Thompson of insider trading after they sold $120 million worth of stock without telling other investors.
The resentment Americans have isn’t solely limited to UnitedHealthcare, but the system as a whole. All private healthcare companies face little to no obstacles in their profit-seeking agenda.
America is one of only three countries in the classification that lack any form of universal healthcare. This reality makes it so that most Americans rely on private options, opening the door for price hikes on medical necessities that are otherwise inelastic in their demand.
Americans pay nearly $4,000 more on average than all OECD nations on healthcare, and 62% of all debts in the US are medical-related. Those in Europe pay more taxes, but that increase doesn’t equal the average economic instability and overall health Americans face.
These realities make it so that such a cold-blooded and brazen crime can be broadly received as commendable. When New Yorkers are even holding a look-alike contest in Washington Square Park where contestants wore the same outfit that the assassin wore before shooting Thompson, something has to be severely wrong with the system.
If there’s one thing that Americans want to make clear to the police and other corporate billionaires, it’s that there’s no sympathy left to give.
