I’ve been quiet about Luigi Mangione and his alleged shooting of United Healthcare Group executive Brian Thompson, mostly because I wanted to absorb and think about the rage this event has raised in the American public.
I had my own experiences with United Healthcare a couple of years ago when both of my parents had nasty falls that landed them in the hospital and then in a rehabilitation center. Because it was unsafe for them to return to the home they’d lived in for years, I had the task of moving them out to live near me after buying a house nearby (they wouldn’t consider assisted living at all…long story). UHC was their Medicare Advantage insurer and I had to fight with them for every damn thing, and ended up having to spend thousands of my parents’ money to get them out of the damn rehab center and home. Even after that, I got bills for MORE thousands.
Suffice it to say, the first thing I did after getting them out here was switch to Kaiser, which is the only Medicare Advantage plan I’d ever recommend. I was still paying bills for denied claims by UHC for months afterwards. My stepdad had two melanomas removed just before all of this, and bills rolled in on that for months, too.
All of this to say I really understand why people are overwhelmed and pissed off at our crazy private healthcare system. But no one has put it as elegantly as AOC.
Speaking of Thompson’s shooting AOC observed, “I think that this collective American experience, which is so twisted to have in the wealthiest nation in the world, all of that pain that people have experienced is being concentrated on this event.”
Yes, not to mention that there’s a massive wealth transfer from the poor and middle class to for-profit health companies who center shareholders instead of insureds.
After clarifying that she isn’t endorsing acts of violence such as the one which just occurred, she laid a truth bomb — a ticking one — on the table.
“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,” she explained. “People go homeless over the financial devastation of of a diagnosis that doesn’t get addressed or, you know, the amount that they’re gonna have to cover with a surprise bill and things like that.”
She continued, “And when we kind of talk about how systems are violent in this country in this passive way, our privatized health care system is like that for a huge amount of Americans.”
Yes, it is. In 2010, I started writing here in defense of the ACA, which I still will defend because the only reason for it was to get rid of pre-existing conditions, which was truly an act of violence against every person in this country. But the system itself, from pharma to the expense of medical school, to the health insurance industry, is not good for our health. Denials are a slap in the face and can turn into beatings when they force people to have to fight inside the system for care. Yes, as it turns out the “death panels” are the private insurers, not the government. Quelle surprise.
In 2025, it looks like I will still be writing about healthcare, but this time far more critically. In light of the oligarchy that exists now, it’s clear one of our core values and messages must be putting an end to gun violence and healthcare violence. Medicare for all, please.
