When UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed in a aimed shot On Wednesday morning in New York, politicians from his home state of Minnesota posted messages of solidarity on social media. But those supportive responses were soon drowned out by a very different tone, as people shared horror stories about being denied coverage by their health insurance company and made morbid jokes comparing the CEO’s death to the way in which they had been mistreated by US health care. system
A facebook post by UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, said he was “deeply saddened and shocked by the death of our dear friend and colleague Brian Thompson”. But this post has garnered more than 11,000 laughing emojis as of this writing, far surpassing the somber emojis used to express condolences. Comments have been disabled for this post, but shares included comments like “I would offer thoughts and prayers, but they are not covered because they are out of network.”
An Instagram post from the company was similarly blocked, preventing average users from commenting directly, but other posts on the platform also had scathing comments. In a publication Since last week, which discussed ways to manage holiday stress, commenters haven’t held back: “My empathy is off the grid for this one.”
“I’m sorry. But my insurance and Medicaid don’t cover thoughts and prayers,” read one comment with hundreds of likes, echoing the sentiment that had become a meme.
“Judging by the public’s reaction, I think the bigger story should be why this doesn’t happen more often,” read another comment.
Other comments got more personal, with people sharing their stories of being denied coverage by UnitedHealthcare and having to pay large sums of money to survive: “My uncle paid you for 22 years without missing a single payment and then when he died you even had the nerve to cash him a check the week he died.you get what you deserve sometimes all suffer as my mother over the past year has had to endure the nightmare of losing her brother and nearly filing for bankruptcy because of your denial of a life insurance claim paid on time and faithfully for 22 years . Then you turn around and spit on his corpse. Your claim for empathy has been denied. I hope you all understand what’s coming.”
Others cracked dark jokes: “Looks like that hole in your chest was a pre-existing condition. You’ll have to deny coverage.”
UnitedHealthcare insures more than 49 million Americans, and the company generated $281 billion in revenue last year, according to the Associated Press. The insurance giant is notorious for denying coverage, deploying an artificial intelligence tool that has an error rate of about 90%according to a lawsuit filed last year.
There were also videos on Instagram taking note of the UnitedHealth conference in Manhattan started on time at 8:00 a.m. ET, although Thompson was killed around 6:45 a.m. backpack.
But the reactions were not all happy. There were many people who objected to celebrating a murder. Thompson reportedly had two children and a wife, who told NBC News she had recently received death threats, possibly related to “a lack of coverage.”
“To those people who laughed at this post, shame on you for the family losing a loved one and yet you must be an idiot, just remember karma is a bitch,” read one comment on Facebook.
The reactions seem like a significant shift in the country’s tone, however imperfect the barometer’s social media comments may be. Normally, trolling and sadistic glee over a person’s death is relegated to the sidelines on extremist sites like 4chan or X since Elon Musk bought the platform. But Wednesday’s wave of anger and frustration at the health care system could be seen openly across the Internet.
It makes sense that Americans might be looser with their sense of decorum these days. Donald Trump’s re-election to the presidency signaled a kind of right-wing populist nihilism, as the Republican leader embraced conspiracy theories, threatened to persecute his political enemies and demonized immigrants in very racist ways. The sometimes celebratory attitude of such a broad swath of Americans Wednesday seemed like an embrace of that same kind of nihilism.
America’s history is one of tremendous violence, but the past two decades have been relatively stable in terms of bloodshed domestically for political purposes. The United States averaged about five bombings a day in the early 1970s, according to the F.B.Ia simple fact that is not often remembered here in the 21st century. And a century ago, it was completely normal for dozens of people to die at once labor actions in the USas workers and employers fought for control. All of which means that this is likely the beginning, not the end, of people embracing political violence, especially as Trump prepares to take power with promises of retribution. Peace and stability are not the norm.
The person who shot Brian Thompson is still at large and the NYPD is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. But even this news was another opportunity for people on social media to point out how UnitedHeath’s policies have hurt them. As one user wrote blue sky“The reward for the person who shot the CEO of United Healthcare is not even enough to cover 1/9 of the bill we received for 28 days of radiation.”
