Brief recap of the facts
For those who haven't been following, here is a little recap of the events. December 4 CEO of UnitedHealthCare is shot dead in the center of Manhattan by an individual who fires 3 bullets and flees. On the balls are written the words “depose”, “defend”, “deny”, the classic formulations of insurers to refuse a request for reimbursement for health care.
There followed a wave of reactions favorable to the shooter, first on social networks. “My thoughts and prayers are not included in my coverage” for example…
Quickly, it was an opportunity for thousands of people to criticize the health system. United HealthCare is the nation's largest health insurance USA. It covers around 50 million people in the United States and made $16.4 billion in profits in 2023. In 2019 the New York Times announced a rate of refusal of care of around 27 %. Things have gotten even worse since Brian Thompson's appointment in 2021. Researcher Jay Feinman writes in his book Delay Deny Defend : Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It (2010) that the refusals of coverage by insurers is “ the result of a systematic and increasing objective of maximizing profits” and again that “all insurance companies [ont] interest in fooling their customers to increase their profits ».
On December 9, Luigi Mangione was arrested by the cops and accused of killing Brian Thompson. He has a statement with him that many media outlets obviously refuse to publish. Here is a translation found on the article “such brutal honesty: chronicle of the death of a CEO” :
“To the attention of FBI : I will be brief because I respect what you do for our country. To spare you a long investigation, I affirm that I have no accomplices. It was a mundane thing: a bit of basic social engineering, computer-aided design, and a lot of patience. The spiral notebook, if you can find it, contains some notes and a to-do list that informs the project. I'm an engineer so all my devices are locked down, you'll probably find little information there. I apologize for any trauma I may have caused but someone had to do it. Frankly, these parasites were looking for it. Quick reminder: the United States has the most expensive healthcare system in the world, but there are 42 of use in terms of life expectancy. United is there [illisible] largest company in the United States by capitalization, after only Apple, Google and Walmart. It's only gotten bigger, but has our life expectancy kept up? ? No, the reality is that these [illisible] have just become too powerful and continue to mistreat our country by making huge profits because the Americans let them do it. Obviously, the problem is more complex but I do not have the space, nor am I the most qualified, to deploy the entire argument. But many have illuminated this corruption and rapacity (Rosenthal, Moore) for decades, yet the problem remains. It is no longer a question of awareness, but of the balance of power. Obviously, I am the first to confront it with such brutal honesty”
What to do with all this ?
What seems particularly interesting to us with this act, or rather what it creates, is first of all that everyone starts talking about the situation to USA. Mainstream newspapers are relaying testimonies from people who have been refused health care costs, and testimonies are pouring out on social networks. And this momentum directly allows the question of the act itself to be shifted to what is being denounced. The massive solidarity with Luigi Mangione also shows the anger present among many Americans against the health insurance system. Social anger against the injustice of the situation ; thousands of people unable to afford care, being refused essential treatments.
We can see posters displayed in the streets of New York with the bosses of large insurance companies or calls to continue the work started by Luigi Mangione.
In any case, it is certain that this assassination and the reactions which followed made the powerful tremble. In the wake of Thompson's execution, competitor Blue Cross abandoned a controversial plan to limit reimbursement of patients' anesthesia costs (which, in practice, could have forced surgeons to operate in fourth gear in order to avoid any additional costs to their patients).
So for us, two questions arise.
First of all, there is no doubt that we can only understand Luigi Mangione's act. Arguments abound on the justification of the death of a man in the face of thousands of Americans deprived of care, which also indirectly leads to death.
But the American context is very different from ours: much more massive presence of firearms, even more rotten health insurance system than here, different relationship to violence and death, etc.
So the question arises: how can we bring a critique of health insurance to life here too? ? Obligatory in Switzerland unlike USA and undoubtedly with much clearer reimbursement criteria, the fact remains that insurance premiums increase every year and that many Swiss men are reluctant to go to the doctors due to lack of means.
Secondly, some articles by French leftists ask the question: is this the return of direct action ? With this question comes its share of thoughts and doubts. But perhaps this is an opportunity to reflect on the more brutal strategies mainly used by different groups in the 70s. We seem to be a long way from that in Europe but what if it happens again, how to react ? And when we see the reactions following Luigi Mangione's action, can we sweep this possibility from our horizons ? Is it our ethics that sweeps away this possibility ?
Not many answers but above all a lot of questions…
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