I think it’s morbidly fascinating that the reaction to the CEO of UnitedHealthcare getting assassinated in New York City is mass jubilation. The Reddit pages are full of good riddances, and cheers to a deserved death for all the suffering the CEO and his company have caused. It’s a good thought exercise: if a million people become happy at the news of your death, perhaps you haven’t lived so honorably while you were alive.
It goes without saying, but murder is bad. Very bad.
The motive in killing the CEO of a private health insurer cannot be more obvious. Either the killer, or someone close to the killer, was done wrong by UnitedHealthcare. Most likely a denial of coverage for critical, life-saving aid. We cannot condone the how, but we can empathize with the why. In a country famous for gun violence and a lack of universal healthcare, It’s kind of surprising that something like this hasn’t already happened before. I think almost everyone has had - or knows someone who has - negative experiences with health insurance. You mean it’s only now that someone felt aggrieved enough to take premeditated revenge?
I guess the John Wick-type revenge plots are movie storytelling, not real life.
Because the pool of aggrieved UnitedHealthcare customers is so large (the company has the highest denial of coverage percentage of all health insurers), the number of suspects can literally be in the thousands. And because common sentiment is so against American health insurance - and healthcare in general, that even if the killer is caught, assembling an impartial jury just might be impossible. So many people on the subreddits I’ve read are applauding the actions of this healthcare Batman.
No matter what happens to the killer, the guy is already a historical legend. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield - another health insurer - announced today they are rolling back plans to limit anesthesia coverage. No doubt the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO is making substantive waves across the healthcare industry.
Got to catch them all!