If the police are looking for possible reasons behind the shooting death of UnitedHeathcare CEO Brian Thompson, they have a lot of digging ahead of them. Via Rolling Stone:
Another ongoing lawsuit against UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, named Thompson along with two other top executives. A pension for firefighters in the city of Hollywood, Florida, filed the securities fraud class action earlier this year, accusing Thompson and his colleagues of selling $120 million of their UnitedHealth shares after learning of a U.S. Justice Department antitrust investigation of the company — but before the probe became public.
Between coverage of such alleged profiteering, UnitedHealthcare’s grim reputation, and disclosures of the millions the company spends on lobbying and Thompson’s $10 million salary, there was hardly a shortage of material for vicious riffs. “It’s no surprise that gallows humor is responding to the assassination of a gallows business model CEO,” observed Dr. Steven Thrasher in a post on X. A professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School, Thrasher is the author of The Viral Underclass, a book about inequalities in healthcare that determine who has privileged access to medical resources. “Health insurances lets ghouls decide whether you live or die based upon how much your life or death will affect shareholder value.”
I wonder if Dr. Oz sold his $500K in shares, too?
I’m gonna guess that the motive behind the shooting was more personal — like claims denial. Just a hunch.
Maybe it’s time to rethink that “shareholder value” mantra.
This shocking assassination does inadvertently accomplish something for the rest of us. The political table has now been set for violent reaction to attacks on Obamacare, and any attempts to cut Social Security and Medicare.
Republicans who want to stay alive really ought to think twice.
There’s a lot of free floating rage out there, just looking for a place to land. We saw that with the election. But Republicans are still under the comforting illusion that they’ll be able to control it.
They won’t. Not in the nation of easily accessible guns and numbness to public shootings. Oh well. Reap what you sow, etc.
Maybe this is only the beginning of what historians will call the Pitchfork Era.