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- Karma and pharma: Americans didn't want to help the FBI search for the killer of UnitedHealthcare's CEO
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in New York. The FBI and the NYPD offered $60,000 for information about the killer. However, users of social networks, who are usually actively involved in the search, this time not only did not want to help the police, but also sought to hinder the investigation. On various Internet forums, the shooter began to be perceived as a hero taking revenge on the entire American health insurance system. What problems have accumulated in the American health care system - in the material of "Izvestiya".
Did not want to help
In the morning of December 4, an unknown person shot several times from a silenced pistol in the back of 50-year-old CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson near the entrance to the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel, where the annual conference of investors of the company in Manhattan was held.
Three shell casings were found at the scene. The victim died at the scene from his wounds. The assailant fled the scene.
UnitedHealth Group, which provides health insurance, medical device delivery and management, healthcare software sales and pharmaceutical services, employs more than 100,000 people nationwide and ranks fourth in the Fortune 500. The company ranked first among other healthcare firms in the U.S. in revenue last year.
The FBI and NYPD were investigating the murder of Brian Thompson and offered a total of $60,000 ($50,000 from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and $10,000 from the police) for information about the CEO's killer.
CCTV footage of the alleged killer quickly appeared on the Internet, some of which clearly showed the attacker's face. Usually users of social networks are actively involved in the search, conducting independent investigations.
On the Internet there are entire communities of people who specialize in deanon of criminals. However, this time the police faced the fact that many people not only did not want to help, but even sought to interfere with the investigation.
Social media was abuzz with calls to flood law enforcement with messages mislocating the assailant. The authorities faced the fact that citizens began to sympathize with the killer more than with his victim.
More to come. On various Internet forums, the shooter was seen as a hero who was taking revenge on the entire U.S. health insurance system.
Many doctors, patients and activists criticize insurance companies, which, as they believe, try to save as much money as possible and often refuse to pay for medical services, because of which patients have to do it themselves, spending hundreds and thousands of dollars.
Suspect Profile
A short time later, the suspect in the murder of the top manager was apprehended in Altoona, Pennsylvania. About him reported by one of the employees of McDonald's. The man named Luigi Mangione had with him a so-called ghost gun, presumably printed on a 3D printer, and several ID cards.
"A ghost gun is an untraceable firearm that is constructed from parts sold on the Web, it has no serial number. No additional background checks are required to purchase such weapons.
According to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, the weapon is similar to the one used to kill Thompson.
Also, the detainee had with him a multi-page handwritten document. According to CNN, citing a police officer, although the document did not contain specific threats against other people, it did contain a sense of animosity toward corporate America. Law enforcement officials are confident that the attacker acted alone.
What is known about the suspect is that he was born in Maryland, attended the Gilman School, a private boys' school, and then went to the University of Pennsylvania, a member of the elite Ivy League.
Most recently, Luigi Mangione lived in Honolulu, Hawaii and worked as a data engineer at TrueCar, a digital retail website for new and used cars.
What the experts think
The U.S. health care system is in a disgusting state right now, and the strong hand of the market is in full force there, admits Anastasia Bunina, a junior researcher at the Primakov Center for North American Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
- Even if a person has an insured event, there are no guarantees that he or she will receive the necessary support. The economic policy of insurance companies is to pay out as little as possible, to go to all sorts of tricks, to go to court, to look for witnesses, in general, to use all means to prove that a person does not deserve the money he or she is supposedly entitled to," explains Anastasia Bunina.
At the same time, insurance premiums are quite high, because without insurance, going to the doctor is even more expensive, and almost all pills are prescribed, she emphasizes.
- The result is that so many people simply don't have the insurance they need. Obama has made it so that almost all Americans should be covered by mandatory insurance, while the payment on it should be much less," the Americanist explained in a conversation with Izvestia. According to her, Trump wanted to cancel Obama's initiative and made the insurance payment optional, but he failed to completely cancel the system.
She added that the Republican now proposes to regulate health care and insurance even less so that, as he puts it, free competition reigns there and people can choose who they would rather go to.
Such an initiative ignores the fact that all these companies are absolutely predatory and have people's best interests at heart.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump
- At the same time, they have huge lobbying structures, which spend a lot of money to ensure that no laws unfavorable to them do not pass at the federal level," summarized the expert.
Joseph Burns, head of the Association for Health Care Journalism (AHCJ) Health Policy Division of the Association for Health Care Journalism (AHCJ), agrees with the fact that during the second presidential term of Donald Trump it is very likely that health care spending will be severely cut.
"Trump and the Republican-backed Congress are expected to impose restrictions on abortion and cut spending on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. They may also end US cooperation with other countries on global health initiatives and any response to a new pandemic," the expert said.
According to Burns, much will depend on who will be appointed head of the U.S. Department of Health, as well as the head of the Food and Drug Administration. It is also important what role Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will play in determining this policy.
Political scientist Fyodor Lukyanov in his Telegram channel "Russia in Global Politics" emphasized that President-elect Trump, forming a new administration, is making rather unexpected proposals.
"Whatever the nomination, it's a dust bag. Robert Kennedy on health care - powerful. You can't just take big pharma, of course, but if anyone can try it, it's someone versed in the world of reptiloids. So Kennedy is the right person," the expert joked.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
