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How to Fix America’s Broken Healthcare System
Before it serves up more Luigi Mangiones.
The Luigi Mangione Saga.
Social media has at least partly lionized Luigi Mangione, who walked up behind United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson a month ago and shot him several times, leaving him dead at the scene. When Mangione was captured several days later, not only did he have the murder weapon in his possession but a how-to notebook and a manifesto in which he all but confessed to the crime.
My conclusion: he wanted to be caught, because he saw himself as a man with a mission.
Since the details of the case are well known, I won’t elaborate those further. I’ll just get to the mission, noting those things the case has highlighted.
Such as: America having the most expensive healthcare system in the world but being something like 42nd in life expectancy. Seems to me Mangione’s manifesto mentioned this.
Large numbers of Americans live in fear of being bankrupted by an unanticipated health emergency. For good reason. The healthcare system is the biggest cause of personal bankruptcy in the U.S.
“The vast majority of Americans have, if not been personally impacted by denials of insurance, seen it happen to our family members,” states Corryn Freeman of the Future Coalition, which advocates for healthcare expansion.
The sense that leviathan healthcare corporations are prioritizing profits over lives has led to a seething underground anger. Mangione didn’t create this anger, he just catalyzed its release.
Which is why we saw tweets like the following:
“Thoughts and deductibles to the family. Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network.”
“Sympathy denied. Greed is considered a pre-existing condition.”
“My only question is did the CEO of United Healthcare die quickly or over several months waiting to find out if his insurance would cover his treatment for the fatal gunshot wound?”
“Today, we mourn the death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, gunned down…. Wait, I’m sorry — today we mourn the deaths of the 68,000 Americans who die needlessly each year so that…
