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The Death of America's Commodified Healthcare System
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The Death of America's Commodified Healthcare System

The shocking murder of Health Insurance CEO Brian Thompson is an opportunity for the US to finally kill off its deeply unfair healthcare system, says Matt Bernardini

Matt Bernardini
Dec 16, 2024
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The Death of America's Commodified Healthcare System
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The McDonald's restaurant where police arrested Luigi Mangione in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Photo:Ted Shaffrey/Associated Press/Alamy

Normally a shooting in America wouldn’t cause so much as a blip in the news cycle. However, when the CEO of United Healthcare was assassinated earlier this month in Manhattan, it sparked nonstop news coverage. Much of the focus has been on Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer who appears to have had a spinal injury that caused him much anger with the healthcare industry. Yet, underneath the sensationalism, lies an opportunity for Democrats to create a conversation about the badly needed reforms to America’s healthcare system.

From social media postings it appears that Mangione had center-right political leanings and an admiration for the tech industry. Still even someone like him was dissatisfied with the healthcare industry to the point where he acted as he did. Yes, much of his anger appears to have stemmed from the inability of doctors to fix a debilitating back injury that he had, but his manifesto, which hasn’t been widely reported on by the media, did have real grievances in it.

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Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein has so far been the only one to publish Mangione’s manifesto in full.

“A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy,” Mangione wrote.

He went on to note that United ranks as one of the largest companies in the US by market cap, yet our life expectancy has not increased with it. America is now 48th in life expectancy, with even lower levels for our poorest citizens.

Now obviously Mangione’s actions are not going to fix America’s commodified health care system. But the shooting does create a much needed opportunity to have a nationwide discussion about healthcare in the US and whether insurance companies are really necessary.

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