Adjuster's Aftermath
The assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO reveals a nation boiling over with anger at corporate greed and inequality
The assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has ignited a wave of public discourse and activism, highlighting systemic failures in the U.S. healthcare system and growing class inequality. Across the nation, posters, hacked traffic signs, and social media content both celebrate and critique the killing, symbolizing widespread frustration with corporate greed and denied medical care. While some view the incident as a flashpoint for class solidarity, bipartisan legislative proposals and some corporate responses may signal a possible and peaceful turning point in addressing these long-standing grievances.
PITTSBURGH — A poster featuring a screen capture from the security camera footage of the December 4 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, allegedly by Luigi Mangione in New York, was plastered on the Allegheny Health Network Downtown Medical Center last week.
It read, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping,” a quote of advice from local hero and children’s television celebrity Fred Rogers, best known for “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” The poster seemingly both celebrated the assassination of the healthcare CEO and suggested that the shooter was a good person, a helper. Similar posters were found across the city, including at the Holiday Market in Market Square.
What’s happening in Pittsburgh isn’t unique and certainly not isolated. Posters like the ones here can be found all across the country, like the “Wanted” posters in Manhattan, which display the headshots of healthcare executives and carry messages like "HEALTH CARE CEOS SHOULD NOT FEEL SAFE"— the one of Brian Thompson has a red X across his face. Others reference the phrases found on the bullets allegedly used by Luigi Mangione — “deny, defend, depose.” In Seattle, a hacked electronic traffic sign was seen flashing “ONE LESS CEO MANY MORE TO GO.”
“Some attention in this case, especially online, has been deeply disturbing, as some have looked to celebrate instead of condemning this killer,” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said during a recent news conference. “In America, we do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint.” Shapiro was instantly skewered online in a meme of him signing war munitions used to kill people to resolve policy differences, which were produced in Pennsylvania earlier this year.
Taking it off the streets
Messages celebrating the assassination and criticizing corporate executives are everywhere. At the seemingly innocuous Bop the Top Tour on Friday night at Big Night Live in Boston, over a thousand people danced to Hannah Montana’s “He Could Be the One” while images of Mangione, including his mugshot, flashed on the screen. At the same time, the crowd cheered with fevered excitement as the DJ exclaimed, “You gotta give the people what they want, right?”
When NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield and Alex Capariello reported live last week from the State Correctional Institution Huntingdon in Pennsylvania, where Mangione is being held, they engaged in an impromptu “interview” with prisoners across the chain link fence and barbed wire, who were inside the prison watching the show. The prisoners screamed, “Free Luigi!” On NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” host Chris Rock joked in his opening monologue, “Sometimes drug dealers get shot,” referencing Thompson’s killing and role in the healthcare system.
Online reporting and commentary are spreading like wildfire.
shared Magione’s “manifesto" on Substack when the legacy media refused to do so. He subsequently reported on a New York Times staff memo asking reporters to “dial back” using images of Mangione in its stories. TikTok creators sang original ballads and folk songs that celebrated Mangione or expressed anger toward the healthcare system and the rich; one even fashioned the Christmas carol, “God Ye Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” with new lyrics harshly criticizing billionaires. Some content creators have claimed that their posts related to the shooting are being taken down.“Mangione merch” is for sale on nearly every creator platform, including TikTok, Etsy, eBay, and Amazon, despite the platforms’ attempts to ban their promotion and block transactions from occurring. However, images of Mangione, often depicted as a saint or archangel or the popular Super Mario Bros. character, Luigi, can be found on apparel, coffee mugs, prayer candles, and even Christmas tree ornaments. Vendors are finding workarounds to AI content moderation by modifying the spelling of Mangione’s name or obscuring his face in promotional videos and images.
Boiling Point
The ruling elite never learns history’s lessons, which is why the working class rises and revolts against them time and time again. However, this time may not be limited to the working class, and the festering anger of the masses may be ready to spill over. Americans are frustrated, and frustration can lead to hopelessness, which can be dangerous and deadly.
MoneyWise found that over the past five years, 97% of occupations' salaries have failed to keep up with inflation, analyzing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Federal Housing Agency (FIFA), and Redfin to determine how salaries have kept up. It found that average salaries fell 8.2%, while home prices rose an average of 56%. During roughly the same period, the top 1% has seen their wealth increase significantly, with some reports stating it has grown by nearly 50%.
In addition, a study from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University this year found that increasing health insurance costs are eating up a growing proportion of worker’s compensation. Since the late 1980s, the cost of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) healthcare benefits has increased much faster than workers’ wages, contributing to rising income inequality.
Further, according to Gallup, less than a third of Americans believe their healthcare is actually good, and a majority believe the healthcare system has major problems—one out of six believe it is in crisis. The Kaiser Family Foundation found this year that 41% of adults have healthcare debt, including debt on credit cards or owed to family members. Medical debt is the leading cause of personal bankruptcies in the U.S., accounting for over half a million of them each year.
“I think people need to really understand how much everyday people are living with,” Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said on the steps of the U.S. Capitol last week. “This is not to say that an act of violence is justified, but I think for anyone who is confused or shocked or appalled, they need to understand that people interpret and feel and experience denied claims as an act of violence against them.”
Violent vigilante actions like the assassination of Thompson, which would have never been tolerated just a few years ago, suddenly seem reasonable when people see health insurers, big businesses, and billionaires as aggressors or, worse, killers. It’s no wonder the public's reactions seem to range from a casual shrug to all-out glee. It’s no shock that some are lionizing Luigi.
Let them eat cake!
While national data is hard to come by, doctors regularly note that treatment is increasingly being delayed by demands for pre-authorization or denied altogether. So, it’s no surprise that the chief executive officer of UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, Andrew Witty’s op-ed in The New York Times, felt so incredibly out of touch with the pulse of the nation.
“We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it,” he wrote. “We are willing to partner with anyone, as we always have — health care providers, employers, patients, pharmaceutical companies, governments and others — to find ways to deliver high-quality care and lower costs.”
Witty conveniently failed to mention that UnitedHealthcare’s first motivation is profit and shareholder value, like any publicly traded company. He also left out that it has the highest claim denial rate of any health insurance company in the U.S., about a third of all submitted (UnitedHealth Group has contested this data point as “misinformation”). And he neglected to share that Brian Thompson’s care at Mount Sinai West, where he was taken after being shot, may not have been covered by his own company’s insurance policy since the hospital has been “out of network” since January 1.
Witty’s op-ed joins a long list of gaffes and tone-deaf commentary coming from the c-suite, including Kellogg’s CEO, Gary Pilnick, who had a “let them eat cake” moment earlier this year when he suggested consumers feeling the financial pinch of “greedflation” should eat cereal for dinner to manage increased costs. American online streamer and YouTuber Hasan Piker said of UnitedHealth Group, “I don’t think they can finger-wag their way out of this.”
The Great Unifier
Luigi Mangione doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and Brian Thompson wasn’t killed for who he was—by all accounts, both were great guys with loving families. Instead, the killing has come to symbolize something far larger: anger boiling over at a capitalist system run amok and a ruling elite consumed by unchecked greed and ambition, often detached from any sense of social responsibility.
For decades, the ruling elites have successfully managed to sow division despite most Americans wanting the same things. However, soaring healthcare costs could be the rare issue that unites Americans and gets them to reach across the divides. Nearly everyone has faced a denied insurance claim or been blindsided by an unexpected medical bill. This shared experience—rare these days—cuts across partisan and class lines and underscores a collective frustration with the status quo.
Much of the public discourse has centered on provocative “what ifs” and thought experiments that go beyond the cost of healthcare and corporate greed. For example, what if the rate of gun violence against CEOs mirrored that against children? Would stricter firearm regulations swiftly follow? These questions reflect not just anger at the healthcare industry but also a broader sense of the systemic failure of business and government, highlighting a rising awareness of class inequality and an emerging sense of class solidarity.
Across political and class divides people are now openly asking whether the ruling elite has exploited the system for personal gain at the expense of everyone else, effectively stymying or killing the American Dream. This growing skepticism reflects a profound erosion of trust in institutions that once promised to protect and serve the people.
Struggling Forward
The normal swift vilification of the accused assailant didn’t happen in the Thompson killing, and that has left those in power scratching their heads. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, for example, said the Biden administration condemned the “horrific” killing but declined to answer follow-up questions about whether health insurance companies treat people fairly, citing the ongoing law enforcement investigation.
“Thoughts and prayers” and a promise to “do better” weren’t enough to quell the public discourse. There was no clear path forward, and the responses from business and government were mixed.
Health insurance company Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield immediately reversed a policy that was set to go into effect in February that would have limited anesthesia coverage during surgeries and other procedures.
In Florida, Briana Boston was charged with threats to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism for saying, "Delay, deny, depose, you people are next," while speaking on a recorded line with a Blue Cross Blue Shield representative about a denied medical claim.
In Congress, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), along with Representatives Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) and Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) introduced The Patients Before Monopolies Act, a bipartisan legislative proposal aiming to dismantle the integrated structures of insurance companies, pharmacy-benefit managers (PBMs), and their affiliated pharmacies a week after Thompson’s death. However, with the House ending its session today, the Senate tomorrow, and the new Congress starting on January 3, the bill is effectively dead on arrival. Only time will tell if it is reintroduced in a bi-partisan fashion in both houses next year.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is reportedly considering a special hotline for CEOs to report safety threats, demonstrating the state’s support for business leaders.
On Tuesday, New York City charged Mangione with first-degree murder, a near-unprecedented move typically reserved for domestic and international terrorists. It’s a message to the public never to try this again and that those who support him are terrorists by default.
What’s next?
The big question going forward is whether the anger directed at the ruling elite will escalate over the holidays and into next year. Could there be copycat killings? Could the unrest morph into something bigger and more disruptive, like the revolutions in France in 1789 or Russia in 1917, or could it just be another Occupy Wall Street or Black Lives Matter moment? It’s too soon to say, but it feels like we’re at a tipping point akin to other seminal moments in history.
Over 130 years ago, just upriver from Pittsburgh on the banks of the Monongahela River, steelworkers and factory owners clashed over working conditions and wages, resulting in the deaths of 16 people. The violence of the Homestead Steel Strike awakened class consciousness and paved the way for class solidarity and the modern labor movement, not some peaceful protest. America is a nation born in blood, and its past has been punctuated by violence, especially when it comes to class struggle.
History suggests that violence will likely beget more violence, at least in the short term, as more people believe they have a license to air their grievances outside of the normal channels, whether that be online or in real life. However, the long-term implications of Thompson’s killing and the subsequent aftermath remain unclear.
Maybe, just maybe, the future will be punctuated with a lot less violence. Maybe, just maybe, there will be common-sense solutions that benefit the masses rather than just those at the top. Maybe, just maybe, the ruling elite will see people as human beings rather than just numbers on a balance sheet. Maybe, just maybe, a little humanity can right our path.
“I think for CEOs, that was like a terrifying moment because it was the first time that they saw that we see them the way they see us,” Josh Johnson from Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” said in a standup set this week. “This overwhelmingly positive response was kind of this wake-up call that we don’t see them as people either.”
Excellent article, providing a balanced and measured perspective to a challenging topic in the US.
Patron Saint of “adjustments?” As by a chiropractor? I was reared Catholic but haven’t heard of that Patron Saint!