On December 4, 2024, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was shot outside a Manhattan hotel around 6:45 am. The shooter then fled the scene on a bike into the crowded streets of New York City. The New York police sent out a $10,000 reward for any information, which was followed by a $50,000 reward from the FBI. After police conducted a further investigation of the scene, they found bullet casings that had three words engraved into them: deny, defend, depose.
These engravings are very important to understanding the possible motive behind this murder. “Delay Deny Defend: Why insurance companies don’t pay claims and what you can do about it,” written by Jay M. Feinman in 2010, exposed the insurance industry for targeting and taking advantage of the commonwealth. Following the concept of that book, the shooter having carved those words out started a movement against the new age of insurance leading many to take the side of the shooter.
On December 9, 2024, police took in person of interest Luigi Mangione was in a McDonalds in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where the worker called the cops after noticing how well he fit the description of Thompson’s murderer. When cops arrived, he was found carrying a ghost gun which is typically assembled at home which is similar gun used in the murder, along with a manifesto explaining how he feels about corporate America, and the same fake New Jersey ID that was used to check into a New York hotel days before he allegedly took the life of Brian Thompson.
This arrest became a shock to all who knew Mangione. Luigi Mangione is a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a rich family in Maryland. He was valedictorian from his graduating high school class and is an engineering graduate from Penn. Before the murder, Mangione had undergone spinal surgery. It left him with many recurring problems stopping him from functioning properly even months after recovery. According to RJ Martin, Mangione’s roommate for six months, Mangione went silent for months, ignoring all friends and family after his surgery. On June 23, 2024, Martin texted him “Where in the world are you?”.
Now when it comes to motive there is one jarring one: the economic abuse from insurance companies. In recent years United Healthcare switched to an almost entirely AI system leading it to deny senior citizens necessary medication at a 90% error rate. This made it nearly impossible for those in need to get their medication. The Association of Health Care Journalists say that “U.S. drug prices are 278% higher than 33 other countries”. With this fact in mind, the general public believe insurance companies not covering basic health needs is unconstitutional especially when there is free healthcare in an array of other countries. This led to a shocking amount of support for Mangione’s case and backlash upon UnitedHealthcare online.
WMC’s nurse Moor has seen a difference in the insurance industry during her time as a nurse stating, “When I first started it covered a lot more services with less out of pocket for families and patients.”. Research shows the price of health insurance rose from being 5% of the economy in 1990, to booming to 17.3% of the economy in 2022. When speaking about healthcare Moor said “They need to start using the judgment of the doctors and not the cost for the procedure or the care.”
Whether the shooter was the mind behind the operation or just the gunman, the message was clearly sent. It was driven even further once his backpack was found in Central Park containing money from the game Monopoly. One can argue that this is to show how United Healthcare has a monopoly over big pharma or the fact that they steal from the poor and give to the rich. Either way it is very obvious this was heavily planned. Mangione is now being charged with murder as an act of terrorism and other misdemeanors such as tampering with records or identification, false identification to law enforcement, and possessing instruments of crime. More is still unfolding about this case.
