The reason Luigi Mangione assassinated UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is corruption and greed in American medicine. Medical treatment in this country is extremely expensive. If the average person gets sick and is forced to pay the medical bills, even part of them, it often times destroys them financially. Wealthy insurance companies actively look for loop holes to deny care for their customers, so nobody is safe. When a claim is denied and the bill goes to the customer it can be the monetary equivalent of being forced to pay for kilo bags of cocaine used to supply your local drug dealer. It can be that expensive.
I heard a story about a person who made the mistake of using a hospital emergency room. They spent a total of 3 hours in the hospital. About 20 minutes was spent with the doctor, and another 30 minutes for some medical tests. The rest of the time was spent sitting in a room waiting for the doctor to come back and tell them they were good to go. While they were waiting for the doctor a hospital administrator presented them with a bill for $400. They paid it thinking that was the total amount, but unknown to them, the administrator was milking them for money knowing most people can't afford the real bill which was coming later. Later eventually arrived and the person received a medical bill for $5000. Yes, 5 grand for what amounted to less than 1 hour of work done by the hospital. I've also heard stories about hospitals charging $400 for an over the counter aspirin.
Who can afford to visit a hospital that charges $5000 for what amounts to a little more than a doctor consultation? How does a hospital justify rates so high? The answer is they can't justify it, and their business model can't survive without insurance companies. Take insurance companies away and hospitals are forced to lower their fees or go out of business.
American medicine has become a legal racket that targets the sick and vulnerable. There was a time in America when we didn't have insurance companies and medical costs were reasonable. Most people could visit their local hospital or doctor without fear of the cost. We were a healthy community back than caring more for one another, but now we're something else.
Insurance companies deny care to people all the time even after the medical treatment is done, which leaves the insured with an enormous medical bill. It can easily destroy your life savings and leave you and your family bankrupt, while this industry profits from it. I heard UnitedHealthCare used AI to deny care to 90 percent of claims. It's for these reasons Mangione targeted the CEO of UnitedHealthCare, the largest insurance company in America.
Do I condone what Luigi Mangione did? Of course not, but I can understand his frustration.
