Murder in New York reveals Americans’ anger toward their health insurance companies

The anger of the Americans did not wait for the conclusions of the investigation to explode. The day after the assassination of Brian Thompson, CEO of the insurer UnitedHealthcare, on a Manhattan sidewalk at dawn Wednesday, hateful comments against health insurance companies surged on social networks. Brian Thompson, 50, was shot and killed by a man wearing a hoodie. On site, the police found, according to the New York Times, cartridge cases marked with the words “deny” and “delay”.

Resentment towards insurance companies

These two verbs are familiar to many Americans: this is what insurance companies generally say when they ask them to reimburse medical procedures other than the usual consultations. The motive for the crime remains unknown, the suspect is still running after fleeing on a bicycle in Central Park; but this bloody news item opened the floodgates: “I have seen patients on the verge of death being refused coverage by insurance and it makes me sick. I don’t feel any compassion.” for the victim, published an emergency nurse, quoted by the New York daily. Most of the messages, sometimes ironic and inappropriate, some celebrating or glorifying the event, report negative experiences with insurance companies in the worst circumstances of their existence.

The leader’s wife confided that her husband would have been the subject of “threats from people”. UnitedHealthcare, one of the world’s largest insurers, insures 51 million people and works with government programs such as Medicare, the health insurance system for older people.

Manhunt

Police posted posters around town promising a $10,000 (€9,500) reward for information about the murder, illustrated with surveillance video footage. The manhunt extended to X, Elon Musk’s social network, where Internet users, including Donald Trump Junior, are calling to track him. However, a slight doubt gripped these virtual vigilantes when they realized that the photos they were broadcasting seemed to show two different men…

Coincidence of the calendar? The day after the murder, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance, present in the states of New York, Connecticut and Missouri, reversed an announced measure: limiting reimbursement for anesthesia to a maximum time, during an operation.