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.

I'm hanging fire on how much sympathy I have for the shooter, though.

If he is someone who is terminally ill or who has had a close relative or friend die because of ruthless health insurance policies, then that is one thing. If this is purely ideological or something kind of antifa thing, then what if next time they think it is ok to go after Salman Rushdie or J.K. Rowling or some other person whose actions and opinions they don't like? What about the CEOs of aviation companies or mining companies? Who decides where moral lines are drawn? What if a lot of lone wolves take it upon themselves to hand out death penalties where they get to be judge, jury and executioner?

I think this will make a good movie. I'm not hopeful he'll be able to hide forever though as proven by the FBI tracking that bloke to Wales after 20 years, just recently.

The shooter shouldn't have left his rubbish behind as they may get dna from it. He seems to have been careless given he lowered his mask as well. Perhaps he's ill and has nothing to lose.

Of course he shouldn’t have been killed, but I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner too. And it’ll probably happen more often as the gap between the super rich and poor gets wider and wider.

I'm not surprised this has happened.

I had an American colleague whose brother in the US was diagnosed with cancer. My colleague told me the family was worrying how they were going to pay for it.
He was astounded when I said this doesn't happen in the UK, as treatment is covered by the NHS. The main thing people worry about with cancer is, well, having cancer.

If the shooter is caught they'll no doubt be a massive trial. The defence will blow open all the company's bad practices , and i wonder if a jury will let him off out of sympathy.

It's a tricky one. On the one hand the vast majority the population don't agree with people being assassinated thankfully, and it's very rare that someone takes such drastic action for ideological reasons (meaning their actions are measured and no MH conditions in the mix). On the other there are people so objectively evil that no amount of jail time (if they ever were even arrested or tried) could ever amend for their crimes. If the head of a cartel was assassinated would anyone (other than their family) really care? Because morally that's exactly what these insurance companies are, a cartel. They are as morally bankrupt and have harmed probably more individuals than any criminal organisation. Yet they will never be served justice. This admittedly has a satisfying outcome on that count.

I'm not surprised about this murder. I'm surprised it has taken so long considering the economic reality of the US. Their neo-liberal economic system is collapsing. They owe trillions of dollars and keep printing money without the economic policies behind them. Their "economic policy" is their arsenal of nuclear/ nasty weapons, and an army unable to maintain to control global resources. Their health policy is companies making billions by the policies they won't pay when serious health problems arise.

Global economies are shifting from West to East as a first in 2000 years. The price of gold is breaking records, serious investors know the US currency will collapse. When? That's the million dollar question no one yet can answer.

That the US is in serious problems is not even a question. The problem is how European and the UK economy can survive what's coming.

Did you ever see Marianne Bachmeier kill her daughter’s murderer. It was done with such calmness. The way he stood and pulled that trigger reminded me of her. This man has lost a loved one because of united healthcare. I hope he can now go and live his life in peace.

I don’t use the NHS, choosing private healthcare. The level of care I get privately here is out of this world compared to the level of care I got when I was living in the US paying outrageous premiums and wondering if I’m actually covered.

People are aware but what can you do?

I hate the fact Supermarkets are ripping us all off, along with energy companies and the energy regulator... but there is zero choice.

Whoever you vote for, they keep the status quo - "no more tax rises" Starmer said yesterday, so no more for the super rich to pay on money or assets but energy will increase, dental charges will go up, Council tax too, parking, food etc etc.... none of this affects the people in Government, they can afford to pay, often claiming it back as an expense.

The end result is people will take matters into their own hands, as it appears with his man.

People are aware but what can you do?
@jasjas3008 other than keep raising awareness I don't know ☹️🤷🏻‍♀️
There is still large section of society whose default setting is to genuflect and defer to the wealthy and powerful, so some of the people are still fooled. When no one is fooled perhaps things will change?

Well one little thing that I'm going to do, is openly celebrate the death of this evil man. Let that be his legacy. The world is facing such enormous problems. This isn't one of them. It isn't in the public interest for his killer to be found. If people were hypothetically given a free rein to assassinate billionaires broadly speaking that would improve affairs for everyone else.

Nobody should be mourning the death of this POS. How many deaths is he responsible for?

His wife is interesting. She said: There had been some threats. Basically, I don’t know, a lack of coverage? I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.

She’s either really dumb or playing dumb. She is well educated and works in the healthcare industry so I doubt it’s the first option. How can you not know that people are screaming from the rooftops about claim denial when you have the job you do lady. Nobody is falling for your act. You knew exactly what your husband was doing at work.

Are the rest of them dead?

It would be interesting to see how much of the money held in people's estates goes to settling medical bills.

I've done a quick google and as far as I can see the bankruptcies related to 'medical issues' in Canada seem to be primarily down to loss of income and work, rather than spending on medical care. In the USA debt related to 'medical issues' is primarily about healthcare costs. In most countries with socialised healthcare only 2.8% of people say they're struggling with medical costs, compared to 16% of Americans. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_debt#:~:text=Research%20based%20on%20available%20data,(1.1%25)%2C%20and%20non%2D

There's no comparison at all between this CEO and the doctors caring for Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans.

You're failing to acknowledge that this CEO's success and wealth comes from promoting a business model which pits meeting the healthcare needs of its clients against increasing the profits made for shareholders. The less the company pays out in meeting people's healthcare costs, the bigger the profits for investors and for CEO's. There's a direct relationship between this CEO's earnings and the avoidable suffering of the company's clients.

The doctors in the cases you mention were driven by what they believed was in the best interests of their severely ill patients.

I think.... that celebrating his death will just cause division, i won't be mourning his death, just as i didn't the billionaires who died in a mini submarine.

No one needs to be a billionaire or a multi millionaire, if i had that sort of money or began to amass that sort of money, i'd start doing some good with it... e.g open up a series of free/cheap dental clinics for people who are in agony/fund some schools properly/open up a factory for the severely disabled who would like to work and pay them a decent wage.

The weird thing is that all of those things i mentioned, the state used to do....

Billionaires in the past, did use to do some good with their money, even slave traders did e.g all those teaching hospitals we've got, universities.

Now they (try to) spend it all on themselves.

The fact that the shareholders meeting he was on his way too took place even after news of his murder broke. I bet they took a minute to say 'jeez, what a pity about poor old Brian. And now to business...'

😂

Not really. The argument is that it’s their current system that brings about the benefit of new treatments. That if the US restructured their system then these new treatments simply wouldn’t get developed (or, at least, not nearly as quickly) and that would be bad for the American people.

While there is whining about other countries not helping develop treatments, even though they get to use them, because they won’t pay as much for health care, the commenting about the rest of the world freeloading off the back of the US is somewhat peripheral. It’s much more about trying to bolster a sense of superiority so that voters won’t be as keen on changing the US system to a more European (increasingly global) approach.

(Note: I was just responding to the people who were saying that they know of no one in the US claiming to be subsidising UK health care. Some do claim that. It is a theme in some conservative political circles. But isn’t my position on US health care.)

I've done a quick google and as far as I can see the bankruptcies related to 'medical issues' in Canada seem to be primarily down to loss of income and work, rather than spending on medical care

@izimbra I'm in Florida for the winter and have many Canadian neighbors who do the same (spend under 6 mos in the US each year). I never realized that prescription drug prices were a huge issue in Canada; that surprised me. But the biggest complaint is lack of access to care. They'll save up and pay cash to see doctors and dentists in the States because they have no access to primary care in Canada. It seems to be another "postal code lottery" situation.

I'm interested in what countries have healthcare systems that function properly for the vast majority of the population. A balance of access, quality and cost. Unfortunately policy makers seem terrified to approach the issue head on, preferring to wait until the whole thing collapses before acknowledging that radical change is needed.

There is no jury in America that would convict. I'm American, I have never seen such an uniting force. He will most likely get away, if any person did snitch on him that person would be in huge trouble.

I've read so much about this incident and think I've read a total of two or three 'this is an awful thing that's happened' style comments. 99% of people are jubilant!

I wonder if the public reaction has given any other healthcare CEOs pause.

Agree with pp in this post. Plus that grin emoji

Sorry what? He had it coming? How vile and disgusting.

Did you mean that profiting off causing death and disability is vile and disgusting?

@gannett it's a quote from pp read back

If they wanted to say what you posted I'm sure they would have

There is no jury in America that would convict. I'm American, I have never seen such an uniting force. He will most likely get away, if any person did snitch on him that person would be in huge trouble

Jeez, I think people watch way too many movies!

He'll be captured unless this was a suicide mission for him.

People are so quick to create some Hollywood storyline about this guy. "Ooh, his poor mother was denied coverage and he's avenging her". What if he's a disgruntled employee? Or was paid by someone who felt like the victim was worth more dead than alive?

While I may not have much sympathy for the victim, neither am I going to call someone who stalks someone and shoots them in the back some kind of folk hero.

I said the same thing. It really is surprising its never happened. Years ago there was a movie with Denzel Washington where he kidnapped one.