INSURANCE SHOOTING (CARTOON AND COLUMN)
Was an insurance CEO assassinated over denied claims?
Good afternoon from Reykjavik. Today’s blog is late because I wanted to see some of Iceland while the sun was still out. There are only five hours of sunlight at this time of year in Reykjavik.
I don’t cheer over someone’s death, though there are times when I don’t mourn. This isn’t one of them.
I feel bad for Brian Thompson, who was the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest private insurer in the nation, who was shot IN THE BACK outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown New York City this Wednesday. I know that neighborhood. I have stayed in a hotel just a few blocks over. No motive for the shooting has been cited yet though there were cryptic messages on shell casings saying “deny,” “defend,” and “depose,” words used by opponents of the insurance industry. The words are also in the title of a book, Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.
Thompson had a wife and two sons.
Many speculate this was a former employee or policyholder, or close to a policyholder, who shot Thompson.
This was a preplanned killing as surveillance shows that the suspect waited outside for Thompson who was s speaking at an investors conference. The killer targeted Thompson and knew who he was. Thompson’s wife said they have been receiving death threats.
A lot of people on social media are cheering for the assassin, with many describing him as “hot” and offering their homes to hide in as police pursue him. The lack of sympathy and mockery comes from the fact that UnitedHealthcare denies 32 percent of all in-network claims relating to individual health insurance plans, which is twice the industry average.
Others posted headlines reporting that UnitedHealthcare has used an allegedly faulty AI program to deny claims.
University of Virginia historian David Austin Walsh posted on X/Twitter, “It’s actually kind of touching that the one thing that can bring together our fractious and disunited country is celebrating the assassination of a health insurance CEO,” I wouldn’t say it’s touching.
A lawsuit was filed this year against UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, naming Thompson and colleagues with accusations they sold $120 million of their UnitedHealth shares after learning of a U.S. Justice Department antitrust investigation of the company, but before the probe became public. Thompson’s salary was $10 million a year.
Most of the comments have been nonpartisan except for a Fox News host claiming the cops are too busy to find Thompson’s assassin because they’re too busy dealing with “illegal immigrants,” or the guy on Bluesky who called me a “libtard low testosterone soy beta male” and “typical soft coward white dude for Harris.” That’s the second time over the past week I’ve been called “libtard.” I thought they stopped using it, which mocks the handicapped, after learning it’s an immediate loss in any debate. Maybe Trump’s victory (sic) brought it back.
Visit Clay Jones’ website and email him at clayjonz@gmail.com.
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