Is that this a “John Wick-meets-Erin Brockovich” homicide, or one thing else altogether? Yesterday morning, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in Midtown Manhattan in what authorities say appears to be like like a focused assault.
The killer was masked, and his gun was outfitted with a silencer. He “apparently knew which door Mr. Thompson was going to enter and arrived outdoors the resort about 5 minutes earlier,” per a New York Instances report. After he killed Thompson, the shooter fled through e-bike. He has but to be apprehended.
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United offers well being care protection to virtually 50 million folks, bringing in $281 billion in income and paying Thompson $10.2 million in whole compensation yearly.
Usually, when somebody is tragically murdered (God relaxation his soul), it might not be customary to say their comp package deal. However it’s sadly related to this story as a result of hordes of individuals have seized on this homicide, appearing prefer it was warranted as a result of a well being care firm CEO have to be, of their telling, fairly evil. Some have theorized that it is a spurned affected person, somebody who was deeply wronged, who could have a vendetta in opposition to Thompson. That’s doable, however we do not know sufficient but.
Some folks have taken to celebrating this theoretical vigilantism, like outstanding journalist Taylor Lorenz, who in few phrases has prompt that extra CEOs be gone after on account of their perceived misdeeds.
— Taylor Lorenz (@taylorlorenz.bsky.social) 2024-12-04T21:31:56.268Z
“And other people surprise why we wish these executives useless” she wrote yesterday on the identical website.
“No shit homicide is unhealthy,” wrote journalist Ken Klippenstein on the platform Bluesky, which seems to largely be for individuals who’ve exited X in a huff. “The jokes concerning the United CEO aren’t actually about him; they’re concerning the rapacious well being care system he personified and which People really feel deep ache and humiliation about.”
At the moment we bear in mind the legacy of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein.bsky.social) 2024-12-04T16:30:54.583Z
In 2021, the corporate got here beneath fireplace as a result of it introduced a plan to start out denying cost for emergency room visits deemed unnecessary (one thing opponents additionally supposed to do). “Threatening sufferers with a monetary penalty for making the fallacious choice might have a chilling impact on looking for emergency care,” wrote the chief govt of the commerce group American Hospital Affiliation on the time.
However take into account the incentives right here: In fact an business commerce group representing hospitals desires extra use of companies, and thus extra payout. And after all the entity doing the paying out desires to make sure sufferers are considered and there is much less overuse of pricy companies. Everyone seems to be enjoying their half completely right here; there’s probably not a nasty actor, per se—simply two oppositional events responding to incentives.
However it’s that sort of nuance that the professional–socialized-health care homicide cheerleaders preserve lacking: This method certain is damaged. There isn’t any value transparency, and thus it is very exhausting to train actual alternative earlier than you obtain a service. Upcoding—when well being care suppliers play quick and unfastened with the billing codes to get extra reimbursement from both insurance coverage firms or the federal government—occurs on a regular basis. Regulatory necessities continually drive up prices. Clients aren’t effectively served by this, however it’s probably not the person firms which are responsible, not to mention the individuals who run them.
This is not to say United by no means does something fallacious. One ProPublica investigation coated how the corporate tried to disclaim protection to a chronically ailing faculty pupil, and the way his household sued. Such a denial of protection occurs to a not-insignificant variety of claims, and there are many tragic tales of sufferers who had been wronged. Alternate options like socialized medication, administered by the federal government, do not create a lot better outcomes. (Authorities actors additionally reply to incentives, do not you already know.)
as a thriller author I remorse to tell everybody that the John Wick-meets-Erin Brockovich principle of the insurance coverage CEO homicide (i.e. an act of revenge for company greed) is by far the least prone to show out, its immense recognition nonwithstanding
— Kat Rosenfield (@katrosenfield) December 5, 2024
CEOs like Thompson aren’t cartoon villains twisting their mustaches, and Bluesky venting about how a lot you need the guillotine to come back for them does not repair a damaged system or make you morally respectable. Although the favored principle is {that a} hit man will need to have been employed by a affected person who has egregiously wronged by the corporate, this ignores that individuals who have a tough time paying their medical payments sometimes have wads of money laying round to infuse into an murderer’s pockets. Extra data will come out over the approaching weeks, and within the meantime, let’s simply all comply with ignore journalists on Bluesky.
Do not let the door hit you on the way in which out: Gary Gensler, present chair of the Securities and Change Fee, will soon be out, changed by Donald Trump’s choose, Paul Atkins. Atkins “served as a Republican Commissioner from 2002 to 2008 throughout the post-Enron local weather when the SEC sought to broaden its attain within the identify of stopping fraud,” reports The Wall Road Journal. “He often criticized the company for needlessly meddling in markets by issuing guidelines that raised prices for public firms and traders.”
Atkins isn’t any opponent of crypto; the value of bitcoin shot up after the choose was introduced, rising 6.1 % to $103,801 this morning. Atkins has been important of ESG requirements (which the Journal rightly provides “bully public firms into advancing the left’s local weather and cultural agenda”) and the SEC mandating greenhouse-gas emission disclosures. He is an all-around nice choose, and a welcome corrective given the years of SEC harassment the crypto business has endured.
Scenes from New York: A significant pro-building housing plan is predicted to be accepted by metropolis council.
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- “Elon Musk is heading to the Capitol on Thursday to stoke congressional enthusiasm for his formidable effort to slash at the least $2 trillion from the federal funds, a degree of austerity unprecedented within the US for the reason that winding down of World Battle II,” reports Bloomberg. You actually like to see it.
- “Numerous People’ metadata has been stolen within the sweeping cyberespionage marketing campaign carried out by a Chinese language hacking group dubbed ‘Salt Hurricane,'” per Reuters. “We imagine a lot of People’ metadata was taken,” a senior U.S. official instructed the newswire. “We don’t imagine it is each cellphone within the nation, however we imagine it is doubtlessly a lot of people that the Chinese language authorities was targeted on.”
- Economist Russ Roberts has a great thread concerning the well being care system and the discourse surrounding Thompson’s homicide.
