AIBU to say I'm surprised a healthcare CEO hasn't been assassinated sooner?

[Chowtime]

Obviously what's happened in America with regard to Brian Thompson is awful but surely it was only a matter of time before someone revolted against their billionaire dollar profits and lack of payouts for individuals who've paid in for years.

To be fair, I just read a post on another thread where the same thing happened to someone in the UK: NHS refused an MRI resulting in delayed diagnosis etc.

But there is a culture of gun violence in the US that doesn't exist in the UK and I'm doubtful that there'd be a lot of cheering if an NHS administrator was murdered as a protest.

I'm still not convinced that this shooting wasn't related to something in the personal life of the victim v/s outrage over insurance practices. But we'll see in due time!

Quick, execution style killing with a silencer. Apparently arrived by bus and stayed in a cheap hostel under a fake name.
It's Jack Reacher!

@ElaborateCushion I think you're solved it! But he definitely looks like the Tom Cruise version of Reacher as opposed to that hulking hunk in the Amazon Prime show.

I thought the same too. I should think there is a backstory to this no doubt.

one of those lightbulb moments where you find out why & say why on earth hasn’t this happened before.

Wonder how many people the CEO finished off. We’ll never know- funny, that.

Was he billionaire?

I’m surprised too, it would seem to be a bad idea to be CEO of a company that denies people life saving treatment in a country with a large amount of firearms.

is it awful?

Yanbu........and thus will be just the tip of the iceberg. I think there'll be A LOT of copycats. 😬

Yanbu. I find it astonishing people want to switch to a US style system.
I know even wealthy people in the US who have been left utterly broken by the cost of co-pays or the exhaustion of battling insurers for approval of things I was given immediately on the NHS

YANBU the same thought crossed my mind. Not condoning it obviously.

the NYPD offering 'up to $10K' reward for anyone who helps identify the killer seems very 'meh, we're really not that fussed'.

For the avoidance of doubt I will reiterate that I am NOT in any way shape or form in favor of vigilantism.

...and neither am I.

I don't think you can compare the new Labour Govt or any of its ministers to that of a CEO and company, that as a matter of policy and design chose to not treat people.
Maybe we could say it of Dentists though who refuse to treat people in agony because they don't have enough money.

Austerity has according to the LSE, cost 190,000 lives, using measures of excess mortality.

Even if it was a 1/10th of that, its still pretty horrific.

But i don't think anyone in the Tory Government "has it coming"

You were....

Exactly. As vile as the Tory government were and how much misery, harm and deaths they indirectly caused through austerity, sanctioning vulnerable people on benefits etc I still wouldn’t support any vigilante action against them (or anyone else)

Its sad really, this man probably thought he had it all. Super rich, head of massive company, had a wife and kids to share his money with - but now look at his legacy?

There are so many people either outright glad he is dead or sharing testimonies of United Healthcare screwed them over etc. This was his mark on the world.

There are more important things in life than how much money you hoard.

I'd be interested in reading this. What is the name of this short story? I couldn't find it on a quick google. Thanks for sharing.

I read that half of all parents in the USA whose children are diagnosed with cancer end up declaring bankruptcy.

I wonder if this is true. As someone whose teenage son was diagnosed with leukaemia 2 years ago, I can't even begin to imagine the fear of facing losing your home on top of facing losing your child to a horrible disease. :-(

Any business model which relies for profits on people being denied healthcare is morally untenable in my view.

I think what's becoming obvious is they've lost the shooter.

A very plain, unmemorable face, and realistically from the second picture it could be a woman.

This man has mercilessly implemented policy leading directly to the deaths, ruin and suffering of thousands of Americans. For them there can be no justice, no realistic way to hold him to account nor to diminish his power. This killer who was not a "murderer" because his indifference to human life was sanctioned by the system. Because of shareholders.

I do sanction this killing. It's self defence. I'm glad it happened, I hope he killer gets away with it and I hope it happens again. I'm not ashamed to say that at all.

Preferably, the system would be dramatically restructured so that vigilante assassination wasn't the best option available. No it probably won't change anything but I actually think it's better than nothing.

When are people going to wake up and realise that the project of the super rich is to enslave everyone that isn't them?

As they actively dismantle our democratic structures to consolidate their power and wealth whilst destroying the literal ecosystem of our planet that we rely on to survive. We are just by-products to them, human waste. The policies implemented by this man make it abundantly clear that he shared this view of the "common" man.

Why defend them or have any sympathy for them. Should the gazelle weep for the crocodile? Every time someone like this is brought down (ideally by legal means but that is increasingly impossible) it is an emancipation for the rest of human kind. I wish it could keep going until there were none left, humanity might stand a f*cking chance.

Yeah, I'd rather not be remembered than be remembered for something bad and for leaving a legacy of death, grief and disability.

@Ghouella , you're not wrong.