And how the response to his act—both by public officials and everyday people—gives us an opportunity to look at one thing Democrats can do to flip the narrative
Lawyer here, and I spent my entire career working in the regulated utility sector. The reason we regulate utilities is because the free market does not work well to deliver service at reasonable cost. I believe this is true for health care as well. I can hear all the jokes even as I type. But it sure seems to me that we have allowed ourselves as a country to believe that the market forces can deliver health services at lower cost, when it is abundantly clear that health care is not amenable to the kind of shopping and cost comparisons that will discipline most areas of the economy. And, we have allowed insurance companies to do the ‘work’ for us. We don’t really need a health insurance industry. But we have it because the money in that industry swamps most democratic efforts at reform.
In regulated industries, it is usually possible to discern 1. The actual cost to produce a unit of the product or service (e.g., a kilowatt of power) 2. The actual price being charged to the consumer of that product (e.g. my electric rates), and 3. The profit made by the provider. Although you can also get that information about many less regulated companies, I challenge anyone to find that information for any health care provider, insurance company, or other health-system-affiliated company. You can’t even have an intelligent conversation about reform without those numbers.
In my brief excursion into Traditional Medicare, I saw Medicare being ripped off 'biggly' by two different hospitals. Medicare discovered these two ripoffs about 6 months later, but in neither case did they get enough money back. Can you believe being charged $10,000 for a 5 minute 6 lead EKG? In the other case, the hospital charged 2 days for rooms, when the time was spend just sitting for about 6 hours, with a bunch of Ambulance people. The room charge was about $10,000 per day.
I do not see this murder as anything other than murder in cold blood. Think about it. What if that young man was upset with lawyers, then started murdering lawyers in cold blood. Lots of people are pissed at lawyers. I think this is a story of someone boldly at 7 a.m. in the morning picking off a fellow citizen walking to a meeting in NYC. That is the primary story here. What if it was a priest murdered in cold blood walking toward a building in NYC murdered by another citizen bound and determined to make a statement about the prevalence of child abuse in the church? What if it was a teacher, nurse or anyone whose very profession caused another citizen harm shot in the back on a morning walking in NYC or anywhere. Be careful of the profession you choose and think of yourself as never to be a target before you cheer on and even think this act of murder can be justified because of the problem we have in this country in health care. If you want our "system" to change then vote and write and march and be careful who you put in elected positions in our government; don't take them out thinking that is justified or heroic. What has become of this country where the news of a person killed in cold blood is celebrated? I've been aggrieved we all have our grievances but I'm not in the basement constructing a weapon and shooting people in the back. The next target could be any one of us. Don't you realize it?
I agree 100% with the points you are making. My initial comment though was really limited to the question of why we allow health insurance companies to set the terms of health care services.
Thank you. Please know that I understood what you communicated but it is also important to know your audience. The audience here is not interested in living and acting toward a solution, they are regrettably comfortable living and reacting in the problem. They feel this murder is justified. I speak to the “crowd” and state no one deserves to be murdered. Murder is never justified. But murder is less dangerous than a crowd thirsting for blood. That person’s murder coupled with the exponential growth of a “crowd” in favor of their murder opens the door for any one of us being murdered. I don’t understand why there is not more push back on what we are witnessing here. Those in the crowd in my view are also guilty because this is not a discussion about health care — the story is the murder and with each “bravo” the poster murders that human being over and over and over and over again.
But the shooter didn't just randomly pick someone off. They specifically targeted a healthcare CEO who was at a meeting to congratulate himself and his company on what a great job they've done denying people healthcare to inflate their profits. He specifically targeted someone whose decisions contribute to 68,000 needless deaths per year from Americans. Brian Thompson was particularly heinous because he oversaw the implementation of an AI with a NINTEY PERCENT ERROR RATE that denies people's claims automatically. He is a terrible person, and the world is a better place now that he is not in it. As long as we keep allowing these people to "calmly" implement systems that kill people to increase their profits, they will keep doing it. Stop limiting your perception of violence to only physical violence. The violence of these systems kills more people than any shooter every could.
If imagine the only reason you're willing to accept violence from the wealthy without repercussion is that it hasn't personally affected you yet. I've noticed that people are way more about "no violence" in this case when they're higher in the schema of privilege in our society.
Sorry, but I have enough self respect not to just accept violence that causes suffering every single day without repercussion. And if you think about it, I'm sure you don't want to live in a world like that either. Brian Thompson's entire career was violence. If someone wanted to shoot him, I wish that person nothing but the best.
Sorry, we cannot just start equating actions we disagree with as violence. Brian Thompson ran a business. He didn't go out killing people. You can disagree with our medical system, I certainly do, but these are not equivalent things. He was murdered in cold blood. That is not acceptable as recourse for any political disagreement. You shouldn't believe that because you feel the reasons behind it were worthy enough, he should be allowed to be sacrificed.
If you can't agree that manufacturing conditions that cause people to die is violence, then I don't think we have anything further to talk about. I hope the ruling class gives you the pat on the head you're looking for while you stick up for their "right" to cause suffering. I respect myself and the people I care about more than just accepting such an philosophically lazy and morally bankrupt position. But if you're happy to let the people in your life suffer, well... I guess that means you have exactly the world you deserve.
When the nation was formed, I firmly believe the founders felt that to the core. They also felt they had the capacity to affect change... How do we affect change today? Maybe its rhetorical, but how *do* we reform a politically created system? I agree, not through violence... but tell me what's working? Dialogue and compromise only are effective when there are grown-ups committed to that type of thing.
Education is the key to any country's ability to EFFECT change. But our society has been dumbed down to a childish level of comprehension. When the USA was formed, it wasn't the third most populated country in the world; now we're a bloated land mass of spoiled, complacent, borderline cretins! We need campaigns for mandatory civics classes in all levels of public education with true, relevant history thrown in. Above all, though, keep religion out of schools, except as it may apply to historical events based in reality.
take IPHONES out of school buildings versus books -- support teacher vs. threatening them -- bring back cursive and writing vs. typing -- reject standardized testing which is a for-profit business that hobbles teachers and is a disservice to so many students -- reject any product that is in fact simply a data vacuum collecting directly from the platform whether used in school or at home information on our children without our permission to be sold to the top bidder -- that's just a start -- but supporting internships starting in high school at the latest would broaden a student's experience and teach work ethic -- teach honesty and integrity by example and as part of the curriculum -- feed the kids they are hungry -- and parents put them to bed without distractions starting early on -- and parents try hard to break your addiction to technology -- you are losing time with your child never to be regained -- but you are also raising addicts -- selling their souls without their permission when you give them your IPHONE to "play with" it isn't cute -- or buy them one -- slow down and grab that time now on the blue screen in front of the child and with them wholly -- it is so sad to watch
Since when would any of what you report be acceptable justification for cold blooded murder? Obviously, your statement "But the shooter didn't just randomly pick someone off. They specifically targeted a healthcare CEO who was *at a meeting* to congratulate himself and his company on what a great job they've done denying people healthcare to inflate their profit." can only be interpreted as you think the victim a human being with every right you enjoy and expectation not to be shot in the back in a cold-blooded targeted or random murder is justified. Will you come out behind your mask and speak as an individual or to you prefer to be part of the "crowd" unseen and as dangerous as is this now arrested soon to be convicted and punished assassin? At least he had the courage to step out. Where are you hiding? Under the skirts of a murderous crowd for all intents and purposes. You are as have been crowds cheering for death going back to the time of Jesus. Crowds who stand by and watch someone raped and murdered never lifting a finger to stop the crime. Crowds who target their victims for murder, not justice cold-blooded murder. Crowds who in the dark hang their victims. No matter the situation murder is murder and blood thirsty crowds celebrating murder are murderers in their own right.
Do you protest this much every time law enforcement murder another unarmed civilian? Do you protest this much all the people sleeping in the street after being driven into medical bankruptcy? Do you protest this much for all the people dying for lack of healthcare? Do you protest this much as billions of dollars of our tax money are stolen and used to murder hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Palestine? It seems to me like you’re actually extremely selective about the violence you decide to care about, and it seems to be limited only to the acts of private individuals. You’re happy to give people with power and authority a free pass to murder anyone they like, but as soon as the target is a wealthy executive who kills people every single day with his business decisions, here you are, spending your energy trying to shame poor people for finally standing up and saying enough is enough.
I'm sure you're more than happy to turn a blind eye to the violence of this empire every day. It's evident from your argument. Maybe you should try to muster the same nonchalance for people who are suffering and trying to find some path to justice in a system that offers them no recourse. Maybe you should care more about humanity than you do about "civility" for wealthy people.
So, it is obvious that you are well acquainted with the CEO, and the operations of the company he was running, and all of his greedy misdeeds, as well as the details of all the people wrongly affected by his decisions.
Or is it that you just accept the story that Lucas provided?
Yes, it is difficult to prosecute anyone with more disposable money than you have. But before opening the floodgates of murder by rumor, you really should be finding ways to seek justice without shooting suspects in the back.
If we live in a society, where everyone is trying to get whatever they can from everyone else, we may as will go live in the jungle in a small tribe. At least in a small tribe, everyone sticks together for the common good.
When justice prevails, everyone is calmed, and violence doesn't break out. When justice is denied, then violence is prone to break out, and in ignorance more injustice is done.
What was his "proper" recourse? What is the proper recourse to having been killed by being denied healthcare? How does someone go back after the fact and receive justice for that? If we live in a society where a very small portion of people (~2700 billionaires on the entire planet and a larger but still relatively very small number of wealthy executives) deliberately harm public health for the sake of increasing their own profit, and it is legal for them to do so in our country, what are you expecting people to do to get justice? Are you expecting people who are struggling to afford healthcare to somehow also come up with the money for a huge legal battle? If they're struggling with healthcare, they may also be struggling with housing or food security. More than half a million people in are driven into medical bankruptcy every year in this country. Meanwhile, we've criminalized being unhoused in all but three states, while large corporations are padding their profit margins by using prison slave labor instead of paying people to work for them. All is these things are connected. I'm not saying violence is the ideal solution to our problems. I'm saying that when you take away people's dignity and ability to survive, when you give them no recourse to seek justice, you shouldn't be surprised when you are targeted with violence in return. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long for someone to do something like this.
I mean, we obviously aren't agreed, as I just detailed in this entire argument that the working class shouldn't be forced to silently accept the deprivations caused by wealthy people with no recourse. If you want there to not be physical violence (as you clearly aren't nearly as concerned with the non-physical violence that causes exponentially more harm), then get to work building the infrastructure to get people the care they need and timely recourse when they are being killed by a system for profit. That infrastructure does not exist now, so people are going to take recourse wherever they can get it. Stop trying to shame people into quietly dying for the sake of capitalism. That value is not aligned with humanity.
It sounds like he was doing a lot of reading to try to manage his pain outside of pharmaceutical intervention (Back Mechanic, books like that), but it wouldn't surprise me if he has struggled with substances at various times since his injury. At the end of the day, I think living with chronic, debilitating pain is a lot like living with ongoing trauma. It makes it really difficult to function and even think clearly. There's a breadcrumb trail of his book reviews showing how his thought process evolved. It looks like the path was pretty straightforward after he started having back problems in 2022. Before that, he was another wealthy white son in a family that made their money in long-term care facilities that seem to have good reputations, but that background probably gave him some insight into the problems he faced after his injury.
Agree entirely; thank you! Work to reform the system politically, but don't excuse violence! Lucas' comments about Democrats under Obama are very misleading. Yes, the health insurance industry needs far more regulation to guarantee fairness and equity, but if it hadn't been for Democrats in Congress plus Obama, we wouldn't have the Affordable Care Act and probably, we wouldn't have any government-regulated healthcare at all? I supported Lucas financially inasmuch as I live in California, but some of his rhetoric about Obama and the Democratic Congress which saved Obamacare is very concerning.
And a crowd celebrating murder as has been proven down the ages is equally as evil. Everyone who is against letting our streets become a place where any one of us or our loved ones or our neighbors can be "taken out" needs to speak out against this cry to justify this murder. Stand up and speak out. Now is the time.
He had a detailed plan. He shot a defenseless man. In the back. Then shot him again. I don’t believe there is either a sympathetic or apologetic narrative that can overcome those facts to either a grand jury or trial jury. But I may be proven wrong.
The truth will be twisted to profit someone who is looking to increase their base and/or followers. The "crowd" crowing all sort of misinformation is uninformed and will just serve someone else's need for a platform to get attention to their lousy pod cast, social media, radio show, news outlet or political ambitions.
Agree. I live in Australia where every citizen has access to good quality healthcare and subsidized pharmaceuticals for most major chronic healthcare conditions. Inequality, and in particular healthcare inequality, is one of the reasons there is such distrust in public institutions. 50% of GDP has shifted out of the bottom 90% into the top 1% over the last thirty years in the U.S.
Either the Democrats decide to get radical, or the country will turn pretty quickly into Russia.
Clarify as to what would be "radical." The democrats have faced deliberate obstruction form the Republicans for the past 10 years and further back certainly back to the time Obama was pushing up against Republican obstruction and by some miracle + tenacity gifted us with a health care option where those not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid but not earning enough to afford commercial insurance can now be covered and have their health care needs served. How would you suggest the democrats handle the pervasive obstructionism that is even more deeply ingrained within that party today than it has ever been before? I sincerely want to know.
We have a Republican party who starting in 2020 when Trump ran for a second term offered ZERO plan other than to follow Trump. When he ran in 2024 it was the same from Trump's campaign no plan to address immigration, health care, housing, climate change; only a decree to follow Trump. When asked directly about any of the serious issues a POTUS must address the response from Trump was in his own words that he had no specific plan, but he was going to make big changes. When pressed further as to how that would be done the response was, he had a "CONCEPT." Half of the voters in this country had no problems with it and Trump again is our POTUS.
But, if you look to the obstruction and lack of a plan that will benefit us the people of this country you will see there is nothing that qualified Trump to hold the position he is now going to be holding twice. He is unqualified and has made it clear he wants to be President for life. In his words if he were elected the American voters will never need to vote again.
The Republicans have gained support not on their work but on their obstructionism and their lies and lack of backbone in the face of an autocrat who wants to rule the world, Trump and they do his bidding shamelessly.
For example, there was a bipartisan agreement that was signed off by both parties to address immigration. It was touted as the most comprehensive plans and for all intents and purposes what we saw as the voters was much pride taken by both parties to have come to this agreement. What happened then is a crime.
Private Citizen Trump called for the Republicans to stand down and pull out of the agreement. Then he ran on the problem. His biggest campaign issue was touting the Biden administration "ignored" immigration. That is not true, of course. But that is what we have in the Republican party today. They block solutions and run on the problem. They offer nothing other than the horrid Plan 2025 which is simply a playbook for autocracy.
We are in deep trouble here in America. But, again what do you define as radical? Provide examples of a radical act Democrats should do that has not been done and supported previously then shot down and blocked by Republicans?
I'm well aware of how McConnell weaponized the filibuster so as to thwart most progressive policies and shift the role of the legislature to the judicial arm of public governance. What I mean by radical is giving the population what they want during the usual two years that they have control of both chambers of the House. When presented with policies without attaching them to a party, most people said they wanted the things that are core Democrat policies. Obama should have had the cojones to do what Biden/Harris did which was to stand up to big pharma and all the other wealthy lobbyists who pressure both sides of the aisle to moderate their policies. Obamacare was a start, but it was not radical enough. The U.S. has one of the most costly and inefficient healthcare systems in the first world.
Trump won because of a concerted disinformation campaign and conspiracy machine started by the likes of Murdoch and foreign governments. My guess is that until those people in the population who currently don't interrogate their news sources are forced to do so by the obvious inauthenticity of it, then nothing will change. People need to become discerning consumers of information or they will be led by their amygdala and given the scraps from the rich peoples' tables for the entirety of their lives.
The problem with your analysis is that it doesn’t sufficiently emphasize how dangerous anarchy is. Trump and his MAGA thugs gain support for breaking down a broken system. But in the aftermath, the very forces that perpetuate the broken system benefit and the people supporting the political anarchy are left worse off than before. Can anyone reasonably think insurance companies will be kinder and gentler in the aftermath of the killing? Can anyone reasonably think that John and Jane Q. Public will be better when Republican thugs decimate Medicare, Social Security and the right to decent healthcare? The Democrats’ main failing is their inability to make the case that Trump and his cronies are completely corrupt, that Republicans in power means a constant assault on democracy, and that the only ones who benefit are big corporations and the ultra wealthy. Are we going to be better off if we survive the next four years? We will not. Let’s make a convincing case for this and people will return to the Democratic fold.
Sometimes I think the Democrats and Republicans are on the same side, and that they are essentially enacting "good cop - bad cop" behavior to gain their goals. And those goals appear to be 1) make obscene amounts of money, and 2) cull the "herd" so they have healthier slaves and fewer old ones who can no longer work.
They are on the same side. They have been working together for decades to stall progress and strip away our rights. Republicans haul everything to the right, and Democrats work together to stop things from ever moving back to the left. It seems like they're on the same side because they are. They went to school together, worked together, lived in the same neighborhoods--they don't care about us. We are an annoyance to these people, at best.
This was murder cold blooded carried out by a coward who shot his victim in the back and obviously likes McDonalds. The story is murder not health insurance or claims adjusters. I've been aggrieved and hurt but I'm not going to shoot any one of them or those in their profession in the back. Be careful to not normalize this and watch your back because your profession may be the next one where one of your own or even you are shot in the back in cold murder by a coward who loves McDonalds. A nut case plain and simple. A murderer and a coward.
Okay. And what about the murderer who oversaw the deaths of thousands upon thousands of Americans in order to earn millions for himself? What about the murderer who oversaw the implementation of an AI with a NINETY PERCENT ERROR RATE to deny people access to the healthcare WE HAVE ALREADY PAID THEM FOR? The murderer who calmly sat in a board room with all his best buds and made decision after decision after decision to deny people healthcare in this country with the full knowledge that doing so was causing suffering, not just to the 68,000 people who needlessly die every year in this country from lack of healthcare, but to literally millions of us who have to fight this system to receive a service we pay more for than anyone else in the entire world. Your perception of violence is skewed to excuse mass violence perpetrated by the wealthy for the sake of profit while we lock people away in prison for years for ridiculous crimes like stealing baby formula or a backpack.
As if. We did make the case. Weren’t you listening? Now that we lost, Democratic leadership is TEPID. No urgency. Let’s wait and see. Yeah, well, I hope the Claims Adjuster isn’t finished with his work, and I’m a 60-something, law-abiding woman.
The case has been being made, and until now not much attention has been paid to it. If change will come no other way, let the violence continue, only out in the open like this instead of hidden among the private trials and sorrows of families and citizens. Brian Thompson headed a system at UHC that was intended to profit off the sufferings of others.
Execs. may be momentarily "nervous", but the company will just hire security, pass the cost on to those they insure, and life will go on. I can understand the vigilantism attitude, especially for those as in Lucas' example, but in the long run it will make matters worse not better. In all things, anymore, American's only think short-term when we really need long-term (100 year) thinking.
It can never be justified. Cold blooded murder of another human being by a coward who shot him in the back no less. But not until after he dined at McDonalds and soon after returned to McDonalds. This is not a hero or a genius. And here we are discussing his act as a proper launch for a discussion over health care. Amongst the comments are cheering on the possibility others amongst us are now scared; another post referred to the claims adjuster and how they should be frightened now. Good grief! I am repulsed by the murder but nauseated over the lifting this event to the top of the heap and something seriously considered by most of us as a good thing. If this is a good thing in the view of non-MAGAS, then why would you not concede and allow that the J6 Insurrection was a good thing as well? If it is okay for someone to murder a person who works in corporate health care, and you are aggrieved by the sins of corporate run health care; then how can you not agree with the J6 insurrections causing the murder and death and suicides and lost eyes and fingers to those defending the Capitol? Don't you get it? Heck it is old as sin the saying, "one wrong does not EVER justify another." Once it is out loud and show cased as justified by even a small majority it will be normalized and your new tomorrow. Watch your back. Watch what you do for a living. Watch out!!
"If it is okay for someone to murder a person who works in corporate health care."
It is disingenuous to compare the CEO of UHC to "a person who works in corporate healthcare". He is a prime mover of a business that enriches itself and its ghoulish shareholders by causing suffering and death to people who payed UHC to insure them against the cost of falling ill.
Perhaps if you, like me, had had UHC cause your mom's death by refusing appropriate care, you would be more sanguine about the matter.
Consider that citizens allow the government to maintain a monopoly on violence, but that this compact requires the government the reciprocal responsibility to dispense justice and constrain wrong-doing. If the government fails to uphold its part of the compact, citizens can, and will, reclaim their right to violence. The government has manifestly failed to constrain wrong-doing, as committed by the wealthy, so...
Democracy is slow and complicated. One problem is the big three monopolies in most industries. Democrats went after monopolies, Republicans give them tax breaks.
Democrats tried to get to universal heal care with the ACA and helped millions of Americans to get health insurance and gave peace of mind to people in their 50's and 60's who did or may have been laid off. They would not have been able to buy healthcare when laid off except for the ACA. Republicans want to repeal the ACA.
While I would love to see the criminals in Wall Street and the healthcare industry in jail, the rule of law is more important. Without it, there is chaos and everything is worse. And the fix will take decades. And it won't affect billionaires one iota. Their life styles won't change. Mine will.
Constant improvement. Democrats improve. Sometimes not fast enough, but most of the time as fast as can be. Crashing and burning is worse for everyone.
Except few Americans can think beyond the current Tik-Tok video they’re watching, much less next month, or next year. Too many people live only in-the-moment, day to day, because that’s all they have, or can afford.
Apres Moi, les deluge - The real question... is this a one-off killing, or the bow-wave of something bigger. This killing will remain embedded in the American psyche for quite some time, and how it resurfaces could be... exciting.
Now that the billionaire class has installed their puppet, they hope to foment a revolution that will further enrich and empower them, at the expense of the people and their regulatory state; but revolutions eat their young and once the passions of the mob are unleashed, just staying atop the beast will be a challenge many of these self-imagined masters of the universe are manifestly ill-prepared to manage.
If you imagine that baskets full of heads and bodies stacked on tumbrels are relegated to 1793, I suggest you think again. Republicans have systematically stepped over or erased the red lines and dismantled the guardrails of civil governance without understanding that without these constraints, the system can respond stocastically, and too quickly for the wealth to deploy their mechanisms of social and informational control. Widespread economic hardship affecting ordinary citizen could feedback into this in ways that are completely unforeseeable. Imagine, if you will, the societal equivalent of a bomb cyclone; rapid and unpredictable intensification.
I think "dismantle the regulatory state" is much less catchy than "eat the rich".
When a person's son or daughter, etc. has long, drawn-out suffering not just due to disease but compounded by a so-called insurer's unwillingness to enable treatment, thinking about negatives "in the long run" just isn't present. The murder of a CEO or two at least provides a sense of agency in the situation.
OKAY TONGUE IN CHEEK but equivalent to the tone of all the comments found here and the hell that is pouring out of the pandora's box your comments have opened:
"Finally! Thank goodness or whatever for this young hero amongst us to show how we can make our voices heard. Murder!!!! Shoot them. Shoot them in the back."
"Let's see never ever have I been served by a lawyer -- they take all our money and just walk away. All of them much too rich for my liking. Then there are the damn doctors. Mine won't even see me. Too busy. The wait list is one year and I'm a current patient. Shoot them! Shoot them in the back!"
"And you know there are lots more who aggrieved me. So, tis the season, right? Let's all start making a list checking it twice going to find out who has never been nice Santa Backstabbing Shooter Insane Murdering Coward is coming to town."
CAUTION BECAUSE IF YOU TAKE PART IN THIS INSANITY and not stand up and speak against glorifying a coward who shot a man in the back; then you invite and normalize it. WHO ARE YOU to be so Avante Garde in doing that to our society?
Let's make the case that neither party is interested in changing the system. The Dems
are in the best position to change this and win back a solid majority by simply implementing progressive policies that enjoy majority support: Universal healthcare, complete funding of the SSA (including removing the cap on wages subject to FICA tax), increased taxes on the uber-wealthy and a meaningful increase in the minimum wage, mandated nationally and tied to the cost of living. Simple and no shots need be fired. But the Dems won't do it b/c they are complicit in the pay for play system. Ergo, not simple and jury still out on shots needing to be fired.
Dems tried for universal healthcare and could not get the votes. They did get the ACA and it is a good thing.
If you increase the FICA cap you will anger many who now vote Democratic. Healthcare costs twice as much in this country as other countries. Democrats (Biden) focused on reducing healthcare costs successfully.
It is slower than we want, but democracy is slow and often messy.
Who amongst the readers here would shoot someone in the back? This murderer is a coward not a hero. And cowards are out there with hate and faux purpose justifying their plans to kill any one of us. What do you do for a living? Have you ever or anyone in that line of work pissed someone off? Well watch your back literally.
Elliot, unfortunately I must agree with you. One of the first articles I read in the aftermath of the shooting was about companies that provide private security services and were besieged with phone calls from corporate executives wanting their services right now.
I wonder if any of these upper level employees have since stopped to wonder why Thompson was targeted? Or to question why our politicians and other “bigwigs” are mouthing appropriate words while the rest of us, while decrying murder, are wallowing in mixed feelings.
I think Kamala’s campaign and Biden’s administration got pretty direct and loud making a case against Trump based on his sins and crimes and reputation as well as his failure as a businessman. Why did it not work? Well is no longer 1999. Since then and more rapidly now over the past 10 years our society has proved to be one that accepts crime and criminals and thugs and violence. We all saw it with our own eyes coming from the MAGAs on J6. We also saw the majority Democrats/Independents/Republicans and Liberals repulsed by J6; but the fire smoldered never put out. And Justice has not been served for any of the crimes we have seen with our own eyes. Now with this murder we see it in LIberals! Crime works!
Thompson's annual salary was $10.2M...Taking all the salaries of healthcare insurers leaders together, there might just be enough to pay for a national health insurance program...
What is crazy is that as a surgeon, I consider myself rather well compensated… and I make <5% of what Thompson did, working 60-70 hours a week, with only 4 weeks off per year.
And the RepubliKKKan response to a sensible healthcare system that:
Works
Works for everyone
At lower cost (elimination of multiple administration systems, no need for advertising, no profit?
SOCIALISM!
And the rubes have been conditioned to believe Socialism = Bad. Even though roads, bridges, police, military, judiciary, disaster relief, etc etc are examples of socialism that people like/love/expect.
Yes, and the socialism fear mongering by Republicans (and lately their wingnut MAGA cult) has gone on for TOO DAMN LONG. Democrats need to wake the fuck up, progressively radicalize, and quit kowtowing to corporate puppeteers. Starting with FINALLY catching up to rest of world with a universal healthcare system. YES it has its problems, longer waits, etc, but are the providers getting shot by bankrupt patients for denying claims and hoarding profits?
My daughter worked for a clinic that was purchased and destroyed by a United Health Care sub-group. After the clinic was raided for all valuable assets, my daughter left it because she was no longer able to "do no harm" to her patients. Most people have no idea how brutal the "health" industry became after United Healthcare began purchasing clinics.
Yes. I believe allowing insurance companies to purchase the medical provider businesses should be outlawed. Maybe use "antitrust" to fight to stop/rollback this activity.
Sadly there will be little was can do about this as trump and the GOP totally support the for profit model for everything. Seems there is not even one GOP member of congress who does not support trump on this
Good for you Lucas. In the 1970s and 1980s I served in Western Europe where there were small groups of lethal radical fringe groups like the Red Army Faction/Bader-Meinhof Gang attacking industrialists and government figures (they even took a shot at NATO CG Alexander Haig.) We had our own Weather Underground and others, and there were similar anti-capitalist fringes and anarchists before WW I. Such group sprang up when Robber Barons got to greedy, and Union-busting became too effective and workers felt helpless.
We seem to be back in a similar Gilded Age, and there are lots of plutocrats in the Health, Airline, and other industries who are screwing people for all they're worth. When the Big Boys get too greedy, Robin Hoods appear---and this guy seems pretty sophisticated.
Maybe we should ask the Big Boys if "burdensome regulations" and human decency/fairness wouldn't be preferable to living their lives in fear of modern Robin Hoods.
Good to hear from you again. We are having a mainly good time now in Massachusetts and found a very anti-Christian nationalist UCC church here. Our granddaughters have gone to two musical events (including a hootenany) with us and I took them to see "Moana 2" last week. Working with some local groups to put on some concerts up here (I will not be singing) and working with some environmental groups as well.
In my adopted state of Missouri, I did get involved in politics. Started out as a Pennsylvania conservative in pretty tough times during the depression. I started school in Butler and was forced to pray in the public schools. We weren’t religious, and the prayer led me to atheism, where I have been ever since. In Missouri, I became more liberal and involved in politics. I have been planning to write it up in detail one of these days. Doing what I can.
When I was first old enough for Medicare, I was married to a very tight fisted man who convinced me I should not get AB MEDICARE, and instead get the United Healthcare option, because, (he claimed) " I would receive many more benefits, "like dental".
2 years after, I was sent to the ER, then in patient at the hospital, with an occluded jugular vein. The doctors weren't sure why or what to do. By the grace of God, my good friend was a social worker at that very good hospital. She found out I was upstairs. She came in, looking over her shoulder saying she shouldn't be telling me BUT I needed to go directly to a different provider and get on regular AB Medicare ASAP! She explained I was now in the territory of needing very expensive testing and possibly surgery, that my existing UH insurance was going to fight, or not pay for.
I went to a different supplemental provider and was able to answer the questions honestly, and change to the AB Medicare and subscribe to a supplemental policy. SO this info has been known (by health providers) for a long time!!! United Health is a money tree for the owners of the company and has been for a long time.
"Converting patient health into profit " is exactly what insurers (and providers generally) don't do! If there were no fires, fire insurance companies would be out of business. Fee-for-service medicine converts ill-health into profit: docs make more money the sicker you are--unlike docs in comprehensive providers like Kaiser Permanente, where the healthier they keep you, the more they earn. Incentives matter!
Thats one thing Obama got right on ACA. I remember clearly during the fight his quote, "the incentive structure is all wrong."
I turned 65 a little over a year ago, and so far, navigating health care, and experiencing reasonable costs , has been working pretty damn well for me. I think Medicare for all is the way forward. Private insurance should be reduced to supplemental insurance, and that would save literally trillions of dollars to consumers in the coming decade.
However, Mike, Kaiser can be penny-pinching too at times. A Canadian friend has to wait 3 months for an MRI and she is in constant abdominal pain. Canada is bleeding doctors and can't afford good equipment (like MRIs.) A lot of work needs to be done at the drawing board to design a U.S. health care system that helps people (sounds simple) and is financially stable, with fair salaries for docs, nurses, techs, janitors, and admins. But Lucas is right, we have to start somewhere, and SOON!
As much as I want to hide and be depressed about the incoming felon and his minions, I agree with you that Democrats have an opportunity to actually stand up and represent the people who will be further harmed by the actions of the felon's
self-serving 'administration'. Opportunity is knocking. . . let's open the door
A man was murdered in cold blood in an American city, on an American street! I don't give a rat's ass about his occupation -- he was a human being, he had a family, but more than all that, murder is NEVER to be cheered by decent human beings and I for one will not celebrate the ugliness, the cruelty of the act. Others may rejoice all they like but I find nothing celebratory about this horror.
As a person who supports kindness and compassion and decency in our society, I disagree on this "execution." It is a signal. It is a message. This CEO was making MILLIONS by denying critical care to people who then DIED because of that denial. In other words, his decisions KILLED INNOCENT PEOPLE. Therefore, he was executed for his evil actions. Perhaps that is why so many people support this execution of a person who killed many.
I'm afraid you are correct, Laurella. What happened shows raw feelings, and raw feelings come out when you or those you love are hurt. That's why Lucas picked up on the reaction that was vengeful instead of sympathetic to the victim. Signal and message, it sure was! Let's heed it.
I haven't noted a lot of celebration, but, have to say "sometimes justice is a process that requires someone to "pay" for bad, or untruthful, decisions that hurt others. "Vigilante payment" is not right, but neither are the bad, or planned decisions that hurt lots of innocent others .
Excellent post, Lucas! Not only have you identified the symptoms, you have also correctly diagnosed the disease that afflicts our party. Now is the time when we must come together to cure this disease.
Excellent writing. Thanks. The cancer medication that I take costs $2,000 a month with insurance. Without insurance it’s $3,000 a month. When looking up prices on the internet veterinary supply places popped up and I found that I could get the exact same medication and dosage for a dog at a cost of $240 for a 3 month supply. My guess? They still made $. Fortunately, since I’m a veteran (Army 66 – 70) I got my ID and now get the medication through the VA for $8 a month. I’ve been taking the medication for 4 years and have 1 more year to go. What do less fortunate people do? They die. I’m sorry the guy got assassinated but fuck insurance companies. They’re killing people and no one is getting charged.
Agreed. When insurance company decisions deny doctor recommended care and the patient dies...isn't that murder???? Not directly, but just the same, murder.
Insurance companies don’t want to cover the cost of spoilage when the power company has a shortage; sounds like the power companies are liable for not providing the power.
power company will declare "Act of God" and never compensate people without a trial. The only thing that could save her is the refrigerator clause on homeowners' insurance. She should up her coverage for valuable items in her home. Sorry, it is so hard to just live a normal life, with logical help from those who are supposed to protect you. It sucks and WE need to rise up to defeat abuse of humanity by the powerful.
Lucas, thanks for a well-written and thought-out article.
May the Democratic Party rally around to change these many points of injustice that have kept workers real wages stagnant for over 40 years and created a billionaire oligarch class in the US. It’s little wonder people are very very angry.
Here are some places to start, in no particular order:
* Outrageous medical costs
* Union busting
* Zero real wage growth since the 1970’s
* Outrageously high credit card interest rates (anyone old enough to remember our usury laws?)
* Unnaturally low taxes on the uber wealthy.
* Loss of consumer protections
* Loss of environmental protections
* My goodness, the Roberts Supreme Court (Citizens United, really!?)
You said it about usury. I just got a credit card offer from Wyndham hotels supplied by Barclay's Bank. My credit score is in the upper 700, but the interest rate on the card was 35%! Seriously? WTF?
That list of problems needing to be addressed hould provide a great platform for an ORGANIZED effort on the part of the Democratic party. That list should galvanize public support as so many of us regular citizens have had to experience the negatives on that list! This list describes REALITY in the USA for the average person!
Lawyer here, and I spent my entire career working in the regulated utility sector. The reason we regulate utilities is because the free market does not work well to deliver service at reasonable cost. I believe this is true for health care as well. I can hear all the jokes even as I type. But it sure seems to me that we have allowed ourselves as a country to believe that the market forces can deliver health services at lower cost, when it is abundantly clear that health care is not amenable to the kind of shopping and cost comparisons that will discipline most areas of the economy. And, we have allowed insurance companies to do the ‘work’ for us. We don’t really need a health insurance industry. But we have it because the money in that industry swamps most democratic efforts at reform.
In regulated industries, it is usually possible to discern 1. The actual cost to produce a unit of the product or service (e.g., a kilowatt of power) 2. The actual price being charged to the consumer of that product (e.g. my electric rates), and 3. The profit made by the provider. Although you can also get that information about many less regulated companies, I challenge anyone to find that information for any health care provider, insurance company, or other health-system-affiliated company. You can’t even have an intelligent conversation about reform without those numbers.
In my brief excursion into Traditional Medicare, I saw Medicare being ripped off 'biggly' by two different hospitals. Medicare discovered these two ripoffs about 6 months later, but in neither case did they get enough money back. Can you believe being charged $10,000 for a 5 minute 6 lead EKG? In the other case, the hospital charged 2 days for rooms, when the time was spend just sitting for about 6 hours, with a bunch of Ambulance people. The room charge was about $10,000 per day.
Was that a private, for profit hospital?
It’s a fair point, Jim. It might be more difficult, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
Agreed; and we all know they won’t offer that information.
I do not see this murder as anything other than murder in cold blood. Think about it. What if that young man was upset with lawyers, then started murdering lawyers in cold blood. Lots of people are pissed at lawyers. I think this is a story of someone boldly at 7 a.m. in the morning picking off a fellow citizen walking to a meeting in NYC. That is the primary story here. What if it was a priest murdered in cold blood walking toward a building in NYC murdered by another citizen bound and determined to make a statement about the prevalence of child abuse in the church? What if it was a teacher, nurse or anyone whose very profession caused another citizen harm shot in the back on a morning walking in NYC or anywhere. Be careful of the profession you choose and think of yourself as never to be a target before you cheer on and even think this act of murder can be justified because of the problem we have in this country in health care. If you want our "system" to change then vote and write and march and be careful who you put in elected positions in our government; don't take them out thinking that is justified or heroic. What has become of this country where the news of a person killed in cold blood is celebrated? I've been aggrieved we all have our grievances but I'm not in the basement constructing a weapon and shooting people in the back. The next target could be any one of us. Don't you realize it?
I agree 100% with the points you are making. My initial comment though was really limited to the question of why we allow health insurance companies to set the terms of health care services.
Thank you. Please know that I understood what you communicated but it is also important to know your audience. The audience here is not interested in living and acting toward a solution, they are regrettably comfortable living and reacting in the problem. They feel this murder is justified. I speak to the “crowd” and state no one deserves to be murdered. Murder is never justified. But murder is less dangerous than a crowd thirsting for blood. That person’s murder coupled with the exponential growth of a “crowd” in favor of their murder opens the door for any one of us being murdered. I don’t understand why there is not more push back on what we are witnessing here. Those in the crowd in my view are also guilty because this is not a discussion about health care — the story is the murder and with each “bravo” the poster murders that human being over and over and over and over again.
OK. I stand corrected for not appreciating my audience.
But the shooter didn't just randomly pick someone off. They specifically targeted a healthcare CEO who was at a meeting to congratulate himself and his company on what a great job they've done denying people healthcare to inflate their profits. He specifically targeted someone whose decisions contribute to 68,000 needless deaths per year from Americans. Brian Thompson was particularly heinous because he oversaw the implementation of an AI with a NINTEY PERCENT ERROR RATE that denies people's claims automatically. He is a terrible person, and the world is a better place now that he is not in it. As long as we keep allowing these people to "calmly" implement systems that kill people to increase their profits, they will keep doing it. Stop limiting your perception of violence to only physical violence. The violence of these systems kills more people than any shooter every could.
We DO NOT ACT VIOLENTLY to reform health care or any other politically created system!!!!
If imagine the only reason you're willing to accept violence from the wealthy without repercussion is that it hasn't personally affected you yet. I've noticed that people are way more about "no violence" in this case when they're higher in the schema of privilege in our society.
Well at least you are consistent in your thinking which is ruled by assumptions.
Look at your with your well thought out argument that offers no actual information. Good job.
Sorry, but I have enough self respect not to just accept violence that causes suffering every single day without repercussion. And if you think about it, I'm sure you don't want to live in a world like that either. Brian Thompson's entire career was violence. If someone wanted to shoot him, I wish that person nothing but the best.
Sorry, we cannot just start equating actions we disagree with as violence. Brian Thompson ran a business. He didn't go out killing people. You can disagree with our medical system, I certainly do, but these are not equivalent things. He was murdered in cold blood. That is not acceptable as recourse for any political disagreement. You shouldn't believe that because you feel the reasons behind it were worthy enough, he should be allowed to be sacrificed.
If you can't agree that manufacturing conditions that cause people to die is violence, then I don't think we have anything further to talk about. I hope the ruling class gives you the pat on the head you're looking for while you stick up for their "right" to cause suffering. I respect myself and the people I care about more than just accepting such an philosophically lazy and morally bankrupt position. But if you're happy to let the people in your life suffer, well... I guess that means you have exactly the world you deserve.
Bravo! Everyone should nurture self-respect and not accept violence. On that we can agree.
When the nation was formed, I firmly believe the founders felt that to the core. They also felt they had the capacity to affect change... How do we affect change today? Maybe its rhetorical, but how *do* we reform a politically created system? I agree, not through violence... but tell me what's working? Dialogue and compromise only are effective when there are grown-ups committed to that type of thing.
Education is the key to any country's ability to EFFECT change. But our society has been dumbed down to a childish level of comprehension. When the USA was formed, it wasn't the third most populated country in the world; now we're a bloated land mass of spoiled, complacent, borderline cretins! We need campaigns for mandatory civics classes in all levels of public education with true, relevant history thrown in. Above all, though, keep religion out of schools, except as it may apply to historical events based in reality.
take IPHONES out of school buildings versus books -- support teacher vs. threatening them -- bring back cursive and writing vs. typing -- reject standardized testing which is a for-profit business that hobbles teachers and is a disservice to so many students -- reject any product that is in fact simply a data vacuum collecting directly from the platform whether used in school or at home information on our children without our permission to be sold to the top bidder -- that's just a start -- but supporting internships starting in high school at the latest would broaden a student's experience and teach work ethic -- teach honesty and integrity by example and as part of the curriculum -- feed the kids they are hungry -- and parents put them to bed without distractions starting early on -- and parents try hard to break your addiction to technology -- you are losing time with your child never to be regained -- but you are also raising addicts -- selling their souls without their permission when you give them your IPHONE to "play with" it isn't cute -- or buy them one -- slow down and grab that time now on the blue screen in front of the child and with them wholly -- it is so sad to watch
It was already founded by the Native Peoples'!!!!
Agree.
Since when would any of what you report be acceptable justification for cold blooded murder? Obviously, your statement "But the shooter didn't just randomly pick someone off. They specifically targeted a healthcare CEO who was *at a meeting* to congratulate himself and his company on what a great job they've done denying people healthcare to inflate their profit." can only be interpreted as you think the victim a human being with every right you enjoy and expectation not to be shot in the back in a cold-blooded targeted or random murder is justified. Will you come out behind your mask and speak as an individual or to you prefer to be part of the "crowd" unseen and as dangerous as is this now arrested soon to be convicted and punished assassin? At least he had the courage to step out. Where are you hiding? Under the skirts of a murderous crowd for all intents and purposes. You are as have been crowds cheering for death going back to the time of Jesus. Crowds who stand by and watch someone raped and murdered never lifting a finger to stop the crime. Crowds who target their victims for murder, not justice cold-blooded murder. Crowds who in the dark hang their victims. No matter the situation murder is murder and blood thirsty crowds celebrating murder are murderers in their own right.
Do you protest this much every time law enforcement murder another unarmed civilian? Do you protest this much all the people sleeping in the street after being driven into medical bankruptcy? Do you protest this much for all the people dying for lack of healthcare? Do you protest this much as billions of dollars of our tax money are stolen and used to murder hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Palestine? It seems to me like you’re actually extremely selective about the violence you decide to care about, and it seems to be limited only to the acts of private individuals. You’re happy to give people with power and authority a free pass to murder anyone they like, but as soon as the target is a wealthy executive who kills people every single day with his business decisions, here you are, spending your energy trying to shame poor people for finally standing up and saying enough is enough.
I'm sure you're more than happy to turn a blind eye to the violence of this empire every day. It's evident from your argument. Maybe you should try to muster the same nonchalance for people who are suffering and trying to find some path to justice in a system that offers them no recourse. Maybe you should care more about humanity than you do about "civility" for wealthy people.
So, it is obvious that you are well acquainted with the CEO, and the operations of the company he was running, and all of his greedy misdeeds, as well as the details of all the people wrongly affected by his decisions.
Or is it that you just accept the story that Lucas provided?
Yes, it is difficult to prosecute anyone with more disposable money than you have. But before opening the floodgates of murder by rumor, you really should be finding ways to seek justice without shooting suspects in the back.
If we live in a society, where everyone is trying to get whatever they can from everyone else, we may as will go live in the jungle in a small tribe. At least in a small tribe, everyone sticks together for the common good.
When justice prevails, everyone is calmed, and violence doesn't break out. When justice is denied, then violence is prone to break out, and in ignorance more injustice is done.
What was his "proper" recourse? What is the proper recourse to having been killed by being denied healthcare? How does someone go back after the fact and receive justice for that? If we live in a society where a very small portion of people (~2700 billionaires on the entire planet and a larger but still relatively very small number of wealthy executives) deliberately harm public health for the sake of increasing their own profit, and it is legal for them to do so in our country, what are you expecting people to do to get justice? Are you expecting people who are struggling to afford healthcare to somehow also come up with the money for a huge legal battle? If they're struggling with healthcare, they may also be struggling with housing or food security. More than half a million people in are driven into medical bankruptcy every year in this country. Meanwhile, we've criminalized being unhoused in all but three states, while large corporations are padding their profit margins by using prison slave labor instead of paying people to work for them. All is these things are connected. I'm not saying violence is the ideal solution to our problems. I'm saying that when you take away people's dignity and ability to survive, when you give them no recourse to seek justice, you shouldn't be surprised when you are targeted with violence in return. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long for someone to do something like this.
Not by murder. Let's start from there. Agreed?
I mean, we obviously aren't agreed, as I just detailed in this entire argument that the working class shouldn't be forced to silently accept the deprivations caused by wealthy people with no recourse. If you want there to not be physical violence (as you clearly aren't nearly as concerned with the non-physical violence that causes exponentially more harm), then get to work building the infrastructure to get people the care they need and timely recourse when they are being killed by a system for profit. That infrastructure does not exist now, so people are going to take recourse wherever they can get it. Stop trying to shame people into quietly dying for the sake of capitalism. That value is not aligned with humanity.
I'm also wondering if Mangione was addicted to opioids since his back surgery. I'm trying to put the pieces of the behavior puzzle together.
It sounds like he was doing a lot of reading to try to manage his pain outside of pharmaceutical intervention (Back Mechanic, books like that), but it wouldn't surprise me if he has struggled with substances at various times since his injury. At the end of the day, I think living with chronic, debilitating pain is a lot like living with ongoing trauma. It makes it really difficult to function and even think clearly. There's a breadcrumb trail of his book reviews showing how his thought process evolved. It looks like the path was pretty straightforward after he started having back problems in 2022. Before that, he was another wealthy white son in a family that made their money in long-term care facilities that seem to have good reputations, but that background probably gave him some insight into the problems he faced after his injury.
Agree entirely; thank you! Work to reform the system politically, but don't excuse violence! Lucas' comments about Democrats under Obama are very misleading. Yes, the health insurance industry needs far more regulation to guarantee fairness and equity, but if it hadn't been for Democrats in Congress plus Obama, we wouldn't have the Affordable Care Act and probably, we wouldn't have any government-regulated healthcare at all? I supported Lucas financially inasmuch as I live in California, but some of his rhetoric about Obama and the Democratic Congress which saved Obamacare is very concerning.
Murder is evil Designing and running a for-profit health care system is evil.
And a crowd celebrating murder as has been proven down the ages is equally as evil. Everyone who is against letting our streets become a place where any one of us or our loved ones or our neighbors can be "taken out" needs to speak out against this cry to justify this murder. Stand up and speak out. Now is the time.
He had a detailed plan. He shot a defenseless man. In the back. Then shot him again. I don’t believe there is either a sympathetic or apologetic narrative that can overcome those facts to either a grand jury or trial jury. But I may be proven wrong.
The truth will be twisted to profit someone who is looking to increase their base and/or followers. The "crowd" crowing all sort of misinformation is uninformed and will just serve someone else's need for a platform to get attention to their lousy pod cast, social media, radio show, news outlet or political ambitions.
Agree. I live in Australia where every citizen has access to good quality healthcare and subsidized pharmaceuticals for most major chronic healthcare conditions. Inequality, and in particular healthcare inequality, is one of the reasons there is such distrust in public institutions. 50% of GDP has shifted out of the bottom 90% into the top 1% over the last thirty years in the U.S.
Either the Democrats decide to get radical, or the country will turn pretty quickly into Russia.
Clarify as to what would be "radical." The democrats have faced deliberate obstruction form the Republicans for the past 10 years and further back certainly back to the time Obama was pushing up against Republican obstruction and by some miracle + tenacity gifted us with a health care option where those not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid but not earning enough to afford commercial insurance can now be covered and have their health care needs served. How would you suggest the democrats handle the pervasive obstructionism that is even more deeply ingrained within that party today than it has ever been before? I sincerely want to know.
We have a Republican party who starting in 2020 when Trump ran for a second term offered ZERO plan other than to follow Trump. When he ran in 2024 it was the same from Trump's campaign no plan to address immigration, health care, housing, climate change; only a decree to follow Trump. When asked directly about any of the serious issues a POTUS must address the response from Trump was in his own words that he had no specific plan, but he was going to make big changes. When pressed further as to how that would be done the response was, he had a "CONCEPT." Half of the voters in this country had no problems with it and Trump again is our POTUS.
But, if you look to the obstruction and lack of a plan that will benefit us the people of this country you will see there is nothing that qualified Trump to hold the position he is now going to be holding twice. He is unqualified and has made it clear he wants to be President for life. In his words if he were elected the American voters will never need to vote again.
The Republicans have gained support not on their work but on their obstructionism and their lies and lack of backbone in the face of an autocrat who wants to rule the world, Trump and they do his bidding shamelessly.
For example, there was a bipartisan agreement that was signed off by both parties to address immigration. It was touted as the most comprehensive plans and for all intents and purposes what we saw as the voters was much pride taken by both parties to have come to this agreement. What happened then is a crime.
Private Citizen Trump called for the Republicans to stand down and pull out of the agreement. Then he ran on the problem. His biggest campaign issue was touting the Biden administration "ignored" immigration. That is not true, of course. But that is what we have in the Republican party today. They block solutions and run on the problem. They offer nothing other than the horrid Plan 2025 which is simply a playbook for autocracy.
We are in deep trouble here in America. But, again what do you define as radical? Provide examples of a radical act Democrats should do that has not been done and supported previously then shot down and blocked by Republicans?
Not murder certainly.
I'm well aware of how McConnell weaponized the filibuster so as to thwart most progressive policies and shift the role of the legislature to the judicial arm of public governance. What I mean by radical is giving the population what they want during the usual two years that they have control of both chambers of the House. When presented with policies without attaching them to a party, most people said they wanted the things that are core Democrat policies. Obama should have had the cojones to do what Biden/Harris did which was to stand up to big pharma and all the other wealthy lobbyists who pressure both sides of the aisle to moderate their policies. Obamacare was a start, but it was not radical enough. The U.S. has one of the most costly and inefficient healthcare systems in the first world.
Trump won because of a concerted disinformation campaign and conspiracy machine started by the likes of Murdoch and foreign governments. My guess is that until those people in the population who currently don't interrogate their news sources are forced to do so by the obvious inauthenticity of it, then nothing will change. People need to become discerning consumers of information or they will be led by their amygdala and given the scraps from the rich peoples' tables for the entirety of their lives.
Nothing else will do it.
The problem with your analysis is that it doesn’t sufficiently emphasize how dangerous anarchy is. Trump and his MAGA thugs gain support for breaking down a broken system. But in the aftermath, the very forces that perpetuate the broken system benefit and the people supporting the political anarchy are left worse off than before. Can anyone reasonably think insurance companies will be kinder and gentler in the aftermath of the killing? Can anyone reasonably think that John and Jane Q. Public will be better when Republican thugs decimate Medicare, Social Security and the right to decent healthcare? The Democrats’ main failing is their inability to make the case that Trump and his cronies are completely corrupt, that Republicans in power means a constant assault on democracy, and that the only ones who benefit are big corporations and the ultra wealthy. Are we going to be better off if we survive the next four years? We will not. Let’s make a convincing case for this and people will return to the Democratic fold.
Sometimes I think the Democrats and Republicans are on the same side, and that they are essentially enacting "good cop - bad cop" behavior to gain their goals. And those goals appear to be 1) make obscene amounts of money, and 2) cull the "herd" so they have healthier slaves and fewer old ones who can no longer work.
They are on the same side. They have been working together for decades to stall progress and strip away our rights. Republicans haul everything to the right, and Democrats work together to stop things from ever moving back to the left. It seems like they're on the same side because they are. They went to school together, worked together, lived in the same neighborhoods--they don't care about us. We are an annoyance to these people, at best.
This was murder cold blooded carried out by a coward who shot his victim in the back and obviously likes McDonalds. The story is murder not health insurance or claims adjusters. I've been aggrieved and hurt but I'm not going to shoot any one of them or those in their profession in the back. Be careful to not normalize this and watch your back because your profession may be the next one where one of your own or even you are shot in the back in cold murder by a coward who loves McDonalds. A nut case plain and simple. A murderer and a coward.
Okay. And what about the murderer who oversaw the deaths of thousands upon thousands of Americans in order to earn millions for himself? What about the murderer who oversaw the implementation of an AI with a NINETY PERCENT ERROR RATE to deny people access to the healthcare WE HAVE ALREADY PAID THEM FOR? The murderer who calmly sat in a board room with all his best buds and made decision after decision after decision to deny people healthcare in this country with the full knowledge that doing so was causing suffering, not just to the 68,000 people who needlessly die every year in this country from lack of healthcare, but to literally millions of us who have to fight this system to receive a service we pay more for than anyone else in the entire world. Your perception of violence is skewed to excuse mass violence perpetrated by the wealthy for the sake of profit while we lock people away in prison for years for ridiculous crimes like stealing baby formula or a backpack.
You nailed this one!
I appreciate the validation! ❤️
As if. We did make the case. Weren’t you listening? Now that we lost, Democratic leadership is TEPID. No urgency. Let’s wait and see. Yeah, well, I hope the Claims Adjuster isn’t finished with his work, and I’m a 60-something, law-abiding woman.
The case has been being made, and until now not much attention has been paid to it. If change will come no other way, let the violence continue, only out in the open like this instead of hidden among the private trials and sorrows of families and citizens. Brian Thompson headed a system at UHC that was intended to profit off the sufferings of others.
Are you threatening the claims adjuster?
You write: "Can anyone reasonably think insurance companies will be kinder and gentler in the aftermath of the killing?"
Not kinder but scared into less evil behavior when enough board members and senior execs. are executed.
Execs. may be momentarily "nervous", but the company will just hire security, pass the cost on to those they insure, and life will go on. I can understand the vigilantism attitude, especially for those as in Lucas' example, but in the long run it will make matters worse not better. In all things, anymore, American's only think short-term when we really need long-term (100 year) thinking.
It can never be justified. Cold blooded murder of another human being by a coward who shot him in the back no less. But not until after he dined at McDonalds and soon after returned to McDonalds. This is not a hero or a genius. And here we are discussing his act as a proper launch for a discussion over health care. Amongst the comments are cheering on the possibility others amongst us are now scared; another post referred to the claims adjuster and how they should be frightened now. Good grief! I am repulsed by the murder but nauseated over the lifting this event to the top of the heap and something seriously considered by most of us as a good thing. If this is a good thing in the view of non-MAGAS, then why would you not concede and allow that the J6 Insurrection was a good thing as well? If it is okay for someone to murder a person who works in corporate health care, and you are aggrieved by the sins of corporate run health care; then how can you not agree with the J6 insurrections causing the murder and death and suicides and lost eyes and fingers to those defending the Capitol? Don't you get it? Heck it is old as sin the saying, "one wrong does not EVER justify another." Once it is out loud and show cased as justified by even a small majority it will be normalized and your new tomorrow. Watch your back. Watch what you do for a living. Watch out!!
"If it is okay for someone to murder a person who works in corporate health care."
It is disingenuous to compare the CEO of UHC to "a person who works in corporate healthcare". He is a prime mover of a business that enriches itself and its ghoulish shareholders by causing suffering and death to people who payed UHC to insure them against the cost of falling ill.
Perhaps if you, like me, had had UHC cause your mom's death by refusing appropriate care, you would be more sanguine about the matter.
Consider that citizens allow the government to maintain a monopoly on violence, but that this compact requires the government the reciprocal responsibility to dispense justice and constrain wrong-doing. If the government fails to uphold its part of the compact, citizens can, and will, reclaim their right to violence. The government has manifestly failed to constrain wrong-doing, as committed by the wealthy, so...
Democracy is slow and complicated. One problem is the big three monopolies in most industries. Democrats went after monopolies, Republicans give them tax breaks.
Democrats tried to get to universal heal care with the ACA and helped millions of Americans to get health insurance and gave peace of mind to people in their 50's and 60's who did or may have been laid off. They would not have been able to buy healthcare when laid off except for the ACA. Republicans want to repeal the ACA.
While I would love to see the criminals in Wall Street and the healthcare industry in jail, the rule of law is more important. Without it, there is chaos and everything is worse. And the fix will take decades. And it won't affect billionaires one iota. Their life styles won't change. Mine will.
Constant improvement. Democrats improve. Sometimes not fast enough, but most of the time as fast as can be. Crashing and burning is worse for everyone.
Except few Americans can think beyond the current Tik-Tok video they’re watching, much less next month, or next year. Too many people live only in-the-moment, day to day, because that’s all they have, or can afford.
Apres Moi, les deluge - The real question... is this a one-off killing, or the bow-wave of something bigger. This killing will remain embedded in the American psyche for quite some time, and how it resurfaces could be... exciting.
Now that the billionaire class has installed their puppet, they hope to foment a revolution that will further enrich and empower them, at the expense of the people and their regulatory state; but revolutions eat their young and once the passions of the mob are unleashed, just staying atop the beast will be a challenge many of these self-imagined masters of the universe are manifestly ill-prepared to manage.
If you imagine that baskets full of heads and bodies stacked on tumbrels are relegated to 1793, I suggest you think again. Republicans have systematically stepped over or erased the red lines and dismantled the guardrails of civil governance without understanding that without these constraints, the system can respond stocastically, and too quickly for the wealth to deploy their mechanisms of social and informational control. Widespread economic hardship affecting ordinary citizen could feedback into this in ways that are completely unforeseeable. Imagine, if you will, the societal equivalent of a bomb cyclone; rapid and unpredictable intensification.
I think "dismantle the regulatory state" is much less catchy than "eat the rich".
When a person's son or daughter, etc. has long, drawn-out suffering not just due to disease but compounded by a so-called insurer's unwillingness to enable treatment, thinking about negatives "in the long run" just isn't present. The murder of a CEO or two at least provides a sense of agency in the situation.
OKAY TONGUE IN CHEEK but equivalent to the tone of all the comments found here and the hell that is pouring out of the pandora's box your comments have opened:
"Finally! Thank goodness or whatever for this young hero amongst us to show how we can make our voices heard. Murder!!!! Shoot them. Shoot them in the back."
"Let's see never ever have I been served by a lawyer -- they take all our money and just walk away. All of them much too rich for my liking. Then there are the damn doctors. Mine won't even see me. Too busy. The wait list is one year and I'm a current patient. Shoot them! Shoot them in the back!"
"And you know there are lots more who aggrieved me. So, tis the season, right? Let's all start making a list checking it twice going to find out who has never been nice Santa Backstabbing Shooter Insane Murdering Coward is coming to town."
CAUTION BECAUSE IF YOU TAKE PART IN THIS INSANITY and not stand up and speak against glorifying a coward who shot a man in the back; then you invite and normalize it. WHO ARE YOU to be so Avante Garde in doing that to our society?
Nice apologia, but you entirely missed my point, assuming it was me that you were responding to.
Let's make the case that neither party is interested in changing the system. The Dems
are in the best position to change this and win back a solid majority by simply implementing progressive policies that enjoy majority support: Universal healthcare, complete funding of the SSA (including removing the cap on wages subject to FICA tax), increased taxes on the uber-wealthy and a meaningful increase in the minimum wage, mandated nationally and tied to the cost of living. Simple and no shots need be fired. But the Dems won't do it b/c they are complicit in the pay for play system. Ergo, not simple and jury still out on shots needing to be fired.
Dems tried for universal healthcare and could not get the votes. They did get the ACA and it is a good thing.
If you increase the FICA cap you will anger many who now vote Democratic. Healthcare costs twice as much in this country as other countries. Democrats (Biden) focused on reducing healthcare costs successfully.
It is slower than we want, but democracy is slow and often messy.
Who amongst the readers here would shoot someone in the back? This murderer is a coward not a hero. And cowards are out there with hate and faux purpose justifying their plans to kill any one of us. What do you do for a living? Have you ever or anyone in that line of work pissed someone off? Well watch your back literally.
Elliot, unfortunately I must agree with you. One of the first articles I read in the aftermath of the shooting was about companies that provide private security services and were besieged with phone calls from corporate executives wanting their services right now.
I wonder if any of these upper level employees have since stopped to wonder why Thompson was targeted? Or to question why our politicians and other “bigwigs” are mouthing appropriate words while the rest of us, while decrying murder, are wallowing in mixed feelings.
I think Kamala’s campaign and Biden’s administration got pretty direct and loud making a case against Trump based on his sins and crimes and reputation as well as his failure as a businessman. Why did it not work? Well is no longer 1999. Since then and more rapidly now over the past 10 years our society has proved to be one that accepts crime and criminals and thugs and violence. We all saw it with our own eyes coming from the MAGAs on J6. We also saw the majority Democrats/Independents/Republicans and Liberals repulsed by J6; but the fire smoldered never put out. And Justice has not been served for any of the crimes we have seen with our own eyes. Now with this murder we see it in LIberals! Crime works!
AMEN!
Who is going to make this case?
Thompson's annual salary was $10.2M...Taking all the salaries of healthcare insurers leaders together, there might just be enough to pay for a national health insurance program...
What is crazy is that as a surgeon, I consider myself rather well compensated… and I make <5% of what Thompson did, working 60-70 hours a week, with only 4 weeks off per year.
Ditto, before I retired...
I totally agree! Dems should support people, not huge corporations.
And the RepubliKKKan response to a sensible healthcare system that:
Works
Works for everyone
At lower cost (elimination of multiple administration systems, no need for advertising, no profit?
SOCIALISM!
And the rubes have been conditioned to believe Socialism = Bad. Even though roads, bridges, police, military, judiciary, disaster relief, etc etc are examples of socialism that people like/love/expect.
Yes, and the socialism fear mongering by Republicans (and lately their wingnut MAGA cult) has gone on for TOO DAMN LONG. Democrats need to wake the fuck up, progressively radicalize, and quit kowtowing to corporate puppeteers. Starting with FINALLY catching up to rest of world with a universal healthcare system. YES it has its problems, longer waits, etc, but are the providers getting shot by bankrupt patients for denying claims and hoarding profits?
My daughter worked for a clinic that was purchased and destroyed by a United Health Care sub-group. After the clinic was raided for all valuable assets, my daughter left it because she was no longer able to "do no harm" to her patients. Most people have no idea how brutal the "health" industry became after United Healthcare began purchasing clinics.
Yes. I believe allowing insurance companies to purchase the medical provider businesses should be outlawed. Maybe use "antitrust" to fight to stop/rollback this activity.
Sadly there will be little was can do about this as trump and the GOP totally support the for profit model for everything. Seems there is not even one GOP member of congress who does not support trump on this
That's venture capitalism for you. Buy out a company, bleed out all the cash then leave the company bankrupt.
Good for you Lucas. In the 1970s and 1980s I served in Western Europe where there were small groups of lethal radical fringe groups like the Red Army Faction/Bader-Meinhof Gang attacking industrialists and government figures (they even took a shot at NATO CG Alexander Haig.) We had our own Weather Underground and others, and there were similar anti-capitalist fringes and anarchists before WW I. Such group sprang up when Robber Barons got to greedy, and Union-busting became too effective and workers felt helpless.
We seem to be back in a similar Gilded Age, and there are lots of plutocrats in the Health, Airline, and other industries who are screwing people for all they're worth. When the Big Boys get too greedy, Robin Hoods appear---and this guy seems pretty sophisticated.
Maybe we should ask the Big Boys if "burdensome regulations" and human decency/fairness wouldn't be preferable to living their lives in fear of modern Robin Hoods.
One of the many reasons I gave you funds in your campaign and helped raise other funds for your effort. Thanks for this.
Barry, Barbara Stocker here. Amazing how separation of church and state issues support economic issues. Stay involved and stay in touch.
Good to hear from you again. We are having a mainly good time now in Massachusetts and found a very anti-Christian nationalist UCC church here. Our granddaughters have gone to two musical events (including a hootenany) with us and I took them to see "Moana 2" last week. Working with some local groups to put on some concerts up here (I will not be singing) and working with some environmental groups as well.
In my adopted state of Missouri, I did get involved in politics. Started out as a Pennsylvania conservative in pretty tough times during the depression. I started school in Butler and was forced to pray in the public schools. We weren’t religious, and the prayer led me to atheism, where I have been ever since. In Missouri, I became more liberal and involved in politics. I have been planning to write it up in detail one of these days. Doing what I can.
Barbara
When I was first old enough for Medicare, I was married to a very tight fisted man who convinced me I should not get AB MEDICARE, and instead get the United Healthcare option, because, (he claimed) " I would receive many more benefits, "like dental".
2 years after, I was sent to the ER, then in patient at the hospital, with an occluded jugular vein. The doctors weren't sure why or what to do. By the grace of God, my good friend was a social worker at that very good hospital. She found out I was upstairs. She came in, looking over her shoulder saying she shouldn't be telling me BUT I needed to go directly to a different provider and get on regular AB Medicare ASAP! She explained I was now in the territory of needing very expensive testing and possibly surgery, that my existing UH insurance was going to fight, or not pay for.
I went to a different supplemental provider and was able to answer the questions honestly, and change to the AB Medicare and subscribe to a supplemental policy. SO this info has been known (by health providers) for a long time!!! United Health is a money tree for the owners of the company and has been for a long time.
It's SHAMEFUL.
"Converting patient health into profit " is exactly what insurers (and providers generally) don't do! If there were no fires, fire insurance companies would be out of business. Fee-for-service medicine converts ill-health into profit: docs make more money the sicker you are--unlike docs in comprehensive providers like Kaiser Permanente, where the healthier they keep you, the more they earn. Incentives matter!
Thats one thing Obama got right on ACA. I remember clearly during the fight his quote, "the incentive structure is all wrong."
I turned 65 a little over a year ago, and so far, navigating health care, and experiencing reasonable costs , has been working pretty damn well for me. I think Medicare for all is the way forward. Private insurance should be reduced to supplemental insurance, and that would save literally trillions of dollars to consumers in the coming decade.
However, Mike, Kaiser can be penny-pinching too at times. A Canadian friend has to wait 3 months for an MRI and she is in constant abdominal pain. Canada is bleeding doctors and can't afford good equipment (like MRIs.) A lot of work needs to be done at the drawing board to design a U.S. health care system that helps people (sounds simple) and is financially stable, with fair salaries for docs, nurses, techs, janitors, and admins. But Lucas is right, we have to start somewhere, and SOON!
As much as I want to hide and be depressed about the incoming felon and his minions, I agree with you that Democrats have an opportunity to actually stand up and represent the people who will be further harmed by the actions of the felon's
self-serving 'administration'. Opportunity is knocking. . . let's open the door
A man was murdered in cold blood in an American city, on an American street! I don't give a rat's ass about his occupation -- he was a human being, he had a family, but more than all that, murder is NEVER to be cheered by decent human beings and I for one will not celebrate the ugliness, the cruelty of the act. Others may rejoice all they like but I find nothing celebratory about this horror.
As a person who supports kindness and compassion and decency in our society, I disagree on this "execution." It is a signal. It is a message. This CEO was making MILLIONS by denying critical care to people who then DIED because of that denial. In other words, his decisions KILLED INNOCENT PEOPLE. Therefore, he was executed for his evil actions. Perhaps that is why so many people support this execution of a person who killed many.
I'm afraid you are correct, Laurella. What happened shows raw feelings, and raw feelings come out when you or those you love are hurt. That's why Lucas picked up on the reaction that was vengeful instead of sympathetic to the victim. Signal and message, it sure was! Let's heed it.
This harkens back to “The needs of the many…”
Two eyes for an eye.
I haven't noted a lot of celebration, but, have to say "sometimes justice is a process that requires someone to "pay" for bad, or untruthful, decisions that hurt others. "Vigilante payment" is not right, but neither are the bad, or planned decisions that hurt lots of innocent others .
Don't think most of us are celebrating, however, what's that old saying? "Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas",, some people get what they deserve.
There's no rejoice --- just a sense of empathy.
Excellent post, Lucas! Not only have you identified the symptoms, you have also correctly diagnosed the disease that afflicts our party. Now is the time when we must come together to cure this disease.
This is a remarkable commentary, and it does help explain what Democrats need to do. Keep writing!
Excellent writing. Thanks. The cancer medication that I take costs $2,000 a month with insurance. Without insurance it’s $3,000 a month. When looking up prices on the internet veterinary supply places popped up and I found that I could get the exact same medication and dosage for a dog at a cost of $240 for a 3 month supply. My guess? They still made $. Fortunately, since I’m a veteran (Army 66 – 70) I got my ID and now get the medication through the VA for $8 a month. I’ve been taking the medication for 4 years and have 1 more year to go. What do less fortunate people do? They die. I’m sorry the guy got assassinated but fuck insurance companies. They’re killing people and no one is getting charged.
Agreed. When insurance company decisions deny doctor recommended care and the patient dies...isn't that murder???? Not directly, but just the same, murder.
Insurance companies don’t want to cover the cost of spoilage when the power company has a shortage; sounds like the power companies are liable for not providing the power.
power company will declare "Act of God" and never compensate people without a trial. The only thing that could save her is the refrigerator clause on homeowners' insurance. She should up her coverage for valuable items in her home. Sorry, it is so hard to just live a normal life, with logical help from those who are supposed to protect you. It sucks and WE need to rise up to defeat abuse of humanity by the powerful.
But, while the insurance company and the power company are fighting it out, a young man was forced to use possibly spoiled insulin............
I would think Homeowner’s or renters insurance would cover it
Mine does. But maybe the poor woman couldn't afford to have it.
The system is definitely broken.
Lucas, thanks for a well-written and thought-out article.
May the Democratic Party rally around to change these many points of injustice that have kept workers real wages stagnant for over 40 years and created a billionaire oligarch class in the US. It’s little wonder people are very very angry.
Here are some places to start, in no particular order:
* Outrageous medical costs
* Union busting
* Zero real wage growth since the 1970’s
* Outrageously high credit card interest rates (anyone old enough to remember our usury laws?)
* Unnaturally low taxes on the uber wealthy.
* Loss of consumer protections
* Loss of environmental protections
* My goodness, the Roberts Supreme Court (Citizens United, really!?)
You said it about usury. I just got a credit card offer from Wyndham hotels supplied by Barclay's Bank. My credit score is in the upper 700, but the interest rate on the card was 35%! Seriously? WTF?
That list of problems needing to be addressed hould provide a great platform for an ORGANIZED effort on the part of the Democratic party. That list should galvanize public support as so many of us regular citizens have had to experience the negatives on that list! This list describes REALITY in the USA for the average person!