Brian Thompson's killing sparks outrage over state of US healthcare
Source: The Guardian
Thu 5 Dec 2024 16.50 EST
Last modified on Thu 5 Dec 2024 20.03 EST
In the aftermath of the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, while Thompsons colleagues grieve and politicians decry his murder, some online discussion has shown little sympathy for Thompson or the industry he represented. Instead, social media has been in engulfed in expressions of anger at many Americans dire experiences at the hands of health insurance companies and outrage at the large profits that they generate.
That belies the shock also generated by the brutality of Thompsons death. The killing appeared premeditated and calculated. A gunman dressed in black waited for Thompson outside the midtown Manhattan Hilton where he was scheduled to speak at an investors meeting, approached him from behind with a handgun fitted with a silencer, and shot and killed the executive, according to police. He fled on an ebike into Central Park. A manhunt is ongoing. The motive is unknown.
Andrew Witty, CEO of the parent company, UnitedHealth Group, called the attack a terrible tragedy in a message sent to company employees and shared with the Guardian. Our hearts are with his family, especially his mom, his wife Paulie, his brother and his two boys, who lost a father today, Witty said. Amy Klobuchar, a Democratic US Senator from Minnesota, described the killing as a horrifying and shocking act of violence.
But in contrast, one commenter on CNNs Instagram post about Thompsons death wrote: Cant find the room to care over my daughters $60,000 cancer treatment. Thoughts and prayers.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/05/unitedhealthcare-brian-thompson-killing-online-reaction
Dennis Donovan
(27,411 posts)Now the norms of violence are spreading into the commercial sector, said Robert Pape, director of the University of Chicagos project on security and threats. Thats what I saw when I saw this.
We are on the cusp of a very violent time in our history...
BumRushDaShow
(144,199 posts)PJMcK
(23,008 posts)This morning, we learned that Thompson has been secretly separated from his wife for several years and they live in different homes. There have been threats made against Thompson in the recent past. He was busted for DUI several years ago. His salary and bonus were $10 million last year. All of this information is just 24 hours.
There is more to this story and it's going to be messy, I think.
24601
(4,030 posts)insurance policies.
I'll predict that the killing was planned & financed by someone who stood to gain personally and/or financially. The messages on the bullets may be just part of an attempt at misdirection.
Lonestarblue
(11,982 posts)Voters knowingly voted for the guy who tried to end healthcare for 20 million people back in 2017 and plans to finish the job this time. Voters wanted a guy who would get rid of all regulations, including those on healthcare providers. I dont recall which idiot Republican who said this but one not long ago said that people should have no health insurance and should just go back to paying their doctors directly because they just abuse their insurance. We will be lucky if any of us can afford healthcare by the time the Trump toadies are finished.
4catsmom
(291 posts)are doctors and hospitals
maxsolomon
(35,358 posts)not private insurers.
medicaire/medicaid isn't even the topic of the post you're responding to.
Iggo
(48,526 posts)Or are you one of the tens of millions who did not vote for that?
PedroXimenez
(630 posts)there was recently a finance billionaire on Rogan claiming that the CFB is responsible for people getting de-banked. When in fact it's the opposite, the CFB limits the ability of banks to do that. Of course Rogan ate up his lies.
LT Barclay
(2,773 posts)The government needs better PR. EBT cards should come in an envelope that says this is your welfare benefit
BumRushDaShow
(144,199 posts)that under Democrats, there has been the desire to avoid stigmatizing and shaming and thus over the years you saw "Food Stamps" morph into "SNAP", along with the "EBT", and "Welfare" became "TANF", etc.
Yet the tonedeaf shameless GOP humpers always quick to blame someone else, did what came naturally and "assigned blame" while they benefited from it by ignorantly attempting to redefine it when they were the recipients.
It's like the "Obamacare" vs the "ACA" brouhaha.
ck4829
(36,122 posts)C0RI0LANUS
(1,862 posts)Madame Defarge patiently knitting the names and crimes of the oligarchs in her quilt.