Ultra-greedy and immoral US healthcare CEO shot dead

[UndercoverElephant]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/crmn2ry1224t

Good. Will be doubly good if the person gets away with it. Acts like this will change the world for the better. It is a direct threat to those in power. A true revolutionary act.

[BritDownUnder]

Not sure if any good will come out of it. CEOs are numerous and easily replaced with willing recruits given the pay. The US healthcare system contains so many duplications, lack of economies of scale and profit motive. However they pay for nurses and doctors is good over there so I read and the working conditions good.

Would be interesting to see if it was a personal grudge or as you say a revolutionary act.

[adam2]

I consider it possible that he was murdered by the family of someone who died because HIS insurance refused to pay for treatment, that they feel should have been covered by insurance.
It is the job of medical insurers to find reasons not to pay for expensive treatments.
Sorry that doctor is "out of plan"
Sorry but that treatment is "out of plan"
The hospital that you chose to attend is "out of plan"
We believe that your illness was the result of a "pre-existing condition" and therefore is not covered.

[Ralphw2]

The last time I can remember targeted assassination of this class of individual is the 1970s with groups like the Red Army Faction, small left wing anarchist groups in Europe ideology anti capitalist and probably covertly funded by soviet Russia. It will be interesting to see if this anything more than a disgruntled family member being all American and settling their grudge with a gun, or the start of a new movement with a more ideological bent. In these days of the new cold war I can imagine Putin funding this sort of activity.

I can also see it being a Trump supporter taking out a democrat fat cat feeling empowered to take revenge after the recent election. I notice the media is making a lot more noise about this incident than most US mass shootings which barely get reported.

[BritDownUnder]

One thing I was surprised to see was that Australia only got a nationwide universal health care system in 1984. Before that it was done on a state basis and only Queensland had something like a universal system. New Zealand you still have to pay to see the GP but not that much and I had no experience of the hospital system.

[UndercoverElephant]

I notice the media is making a lot more noise about this incident than most US mass shootings which barely get reported.

Yes. They are rattled.

[Mark]

Interesting - apparently he scrawled an anti insurance company message on the bullets used....
If true...., no doubting the motive...

Bezos, Musk and all the others will no doubt be busy reviewing their security arrangements....

[clv101]

Some have been surprised it's taken this long - a lot of fiction written about blowback for the C-suite.

[adam2]

Later reports confirm that this shooting was an expression of disgust at the health insurance industry.
Perhaps they should consider a UK style national health service. The total annual cost per head of healthcare in the UK is cheaper than in the USA.
The quality of care is better, as determined by the average lifespan in the UK being longer than in America.

Insulin and many other drugs and medicines are very much cheaper when purchased by the UK NHS, rather than by individuals in America.

[BritDownUnder]

Later reports confirm that this shooting was an expression of disgust at the health insurance industry.
Perhaps they should consider a UK style national health service. The total annual cost per head of healthcare in the UK is cheaper than in the USA.
The quality of care is better, as determined by the average lifespan in the UK being longer than in America.

Insulin and many other drugs and medicines are very much cheaper when purchased by the UK NHS, rather than by individuals in America.

Apparently the Obamacare was an attempt to do this. Unfortunately Hillary was chosen to manage this legislation and the Republicans managed to persuade the people who would have benefited from this that it was to their detriment. I think Obamacare would have been a compulsory insurance system not a publicly funded system - a similar system exists in New Zealand BUT covering quite specific medical treatment relating to road accidents and workplace accidents.

In my experience I was required to purchase a health insurance policy when I was at University in the US - you would not be allowed to attend courses until you paid it. I think it cost about $1000 for six months and would have covered ... wait for it ... 20% of my hospital costs. I would have presumably have been sued for the rest of them.

The writing on the bullets was, I think, the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose”.

The three words were written on the ammunition a masked gunman used to kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday. They’re similar to the phrase “delay, deny, defend” — the way some attorneys describe how insurers deny services and payment, and the title of a 2010 book that was highly critical of the industry.

[Ralphw2]

26 yo man arrested as a strong suspect for the murder. He appears to be an IT graduate loner who liked the unabomber manifesto.

[invalid]

Like the rest of us here then...

[Ralphw2]

I haven't seen 26 for a very long time.

[BritDownUnder]

An Italian-American by the sound of his name. His photo does not look like the CCTV photos.

The Unabomber had a point. I have not read his manifesto but I understand he was not a fan of modern life and technology.

[adam2]

I do not think much of the recently murdered CEO, but still can not condone the murder of people in peacetime*. No matter how strongly one disagrees with either the person, or with the system that they represent.

In wartime killing enemies is fine, I HOPE that someone kills putin, and in the last war would have supported any plots or plans to kill hitler, or other senior figures in the nazi war machine.