It’s usually a simple thing to decry murder, as most people can see the tragedy involved in the loss of a human life well before its time, with a family left behind. Life isn’t always simple, though, as the recent murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has proved.
The U.S. has a healthcare system that’s complex and expensive, but UnitedHealthcare and its behaviors are particularly nasty, with some going so far as calling Thompson a “serial killer” for his policies and the effect they had on real, everyday people.
So it’s not surprising to find that many people lack empathy for the CEO’s murder. Indeed, many people have celebrated Thompson’s death. This weekend, in scenes that have been called “macabre,” some held a “lookalike” competition for people to dress up as the killer whose identity remains a mystery and his capture uncertain.
Many turned out for the event, dressed up in ghastly cosplay approximating the killer’s outfit as captured on camera. The competition, held in Washington Square Park, did announce a winner. Some on X were quick to point out that the actual killer could have turned up and won, with none the wiser, while others decried the whole situation as an example of a dystopian society:
Though seen as “macabre” or “dystopian,” many people look at what’s happened and see it as a natural consequence of a system designed to avoid its obligations. Thompson presided over the introduction of an AI model that’s used to deny policyholders’ claims, despite being “flawed.” The reason for continuing its use? Only 0.2% of people appeal the decision. Denial of healthcare rips families apart, causing some medical bankruptcy, while others die from lack of care — care that they’d paid for through premiums.
As tragic as the loss of life is, it isn’t hard to see just why people aren’t feeling it. This isn’t about the killer, and it’s not even really about Brian Thompson. It’s about a healthcare system that seems designed from the ground up to extract money and deny healthcare, leaving a trail of death in its wake. The words found engraved on the bullets used during the shooting are “deny,” “defend,” “depose,” a reference to the tactics used by healthcare companies to avoid providing healthcare.
The strength of feeling around this event is one that few people would have predicted, and certainly one that has put fear into other insurance companies. One X user suggested that the billionaires at the top of extractive systems like this one have a reason to be worried:
It is tragic when a family loses a father, a husband, a brother, or a son. It’s tragic when it’s due to murder, and it’s tragic when it’s due to denial of essential and life-saving healthcare. Vigilante justice is wrong. But where this murder was an isolated event, a reaction, denial of healthcare is a systematic societal problem affecting many Americans each and every day.
From this perspective, it is obvious why ordinary Americans have little love for one of the biggest winners of the system, i.e., the for-profit companies and their leaders, with an incentive to deny care to as many people as possible.