Brian Thompson’s killing sparks outrage online over state of US healthcare | Brian Thompson shooting

As a result of the assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompsonwhile Thompson’s colleagues mourned and politicians condemned his murder, some online discussions showed little sympathy for Thompson or the industry he represented.

Instead, social media was consumed by expressions of anger at the terrible experiences of many Americans at the hands of health insurance companies and outrage at the large profits they generate.

This belies the shock also caused by the brutality of Thompson’s death. The killing appeared premeditated and planned.

A gunman dressed in black waited for Thompson outside the midtown Manhattan Hilton, where he was scheduled to speak at an investor meeting, approached him from behind with a gun fitted with a silencer and shot and killed the executive, according to police.

He escaped on an electric bike in Central Park. The search continues. The motive is unknown.

Andrew Whitty, chief executive of parent company UnitedHealth Group, called the attack a “terrible tragedy” in a message sent to company officials and shared with the Guardian.

“Our hearts go out to his family, especially his mother, his wife Polly, his brother and his two boys who lost a father today,” Whitty said.

Amy Klobuchar, a Democratic U.S. senator from Minnesota, described the killing as a “horrifying and shocking act of violence.”

But unlike one commenter CNN Instagram post of Thompson’s death wrote: “I can’t find a place to take care of my daughter’s $60,000 cancer treatment. Thoughts and prayers.”

Another said: “An innocent victim was shot in cold blood. Have a heart regardless of your health insurance.”

Oscillating between condemnation of violence and dark humor, holiday memes and outright violent rhetoric, the social media commentary underscores the deep and often uncomfortable relationship Americans have with their own health care system.

An expert on political violence told the Guardian he sees this as part of the US’s growing acceptance of violence as a way to settle civil disputes.

“Now the norms of violence are spreading throughout the commercial sector,” said Robert Pape, director of the University of Chicago’s Security and Threat Project. “That’s what I saw when I saw that.”

While the motive for the killing is unknown, that hasn’t stopped rampant speculation that there was an obvious candidate — Thompson’s job at corporate health insurance. This speculation was only reinforced by shell detection scrawled with the words ‘deny’, ‘reject’ and ‘defend’ in permanent marker.

“What I think we’re really experiencing as a country is the erosion against norms,” ​​Pape said, with the little sympathy among the “body politic” expressed on social media as another example. “It basically means looking at violence as a more normal tool or an acceptable tool for resolving what should be an ordinary civil dispute resolved non-violently.”

Thompson’s killing also exposed the threat facing healthcare executives season of american violence – from the insurers to pharmacy to hospitals.

“It doesn’t seem paranoid to worry that someone who’s been denied services that they might consider important might be emotionally unstable and take some action,” Michael Sherman, former chief medical officer at Point32Health, told Stathealth industry publication. “The most likely targets would be the chief medical officer … or the CEO.”

Comments online did not single out Thompson, a 50-year-old certified public accountant who reportedly had low profile. Instead, they targeted an industry often seen as a despicable fact of life in America. Comments filled with “jokes” with the sting of rejection, delay, debt and impenetrable bureaucracy, all omnipresent and reprehensible experiences for the multitudes of Americans who are now or have been insured through a private company.

Another comment: “Any history of shootings? Denied coverage.’

Ranked by size, UnitedHealth Group is one of the largest companies in the world. Measured by its market capitalization of 539 billion dollars it heads famous names like Mastercard and ExxonMobil. The company is one of the nation’s largest private insurers, providing health coverage to more than 50 million Americans, spanning employer insurance all the way to seniors through Medicare Advantage.

Thompson ran the company’s insurance division as a reportedly underperforming longtime employee. With a huge footprint, it is also subject to almost constant surveillance.

Thompson himself was part of an investigation into insider trading at the company. Earlier this year, after the Justice Department launched an investigation into antitrust practices, United executives sold $101 million worth of stock, including Thompson, who sold $15 million before the public became aware of the investigation, according to Crain’s Business in New York. Whitty was drawn for congressional testimony over a cyberattack in February which caused major disruptions in the healthcare industry. UnitedHealthcare has been criticized for denying care to vulnerable patients.

As security executives from top Fortune 500 companies gathered Wednesday, others wondered publicly that Thompson had not been accompanied on the trip to the annual investor conference.

Michael Julian, CEO of MPS Security & Protection, said Axios that he “was shocked that the man did not have a protective detail,” meaning the head of a US healthcare giant would be an obvious target for those potentially injured.

“Whether or not this would technically fit into the scope of political violence is obviously going to be an important question,” said Pape, whose recent study showed a dramatic increase in violent threats against Democrats and Republicans since around 2017, the beginning of Trump’s first term.

“But it also misses the bigger picture of what’s going on in our country.”