My entire adult life has been dedicated to my only job: the practice of medicine. From my illustrious career as a 16 year old Candy Striper to my recent retirement, I have had the odious task of needing to deal with insurance companies in some form. The differences in how these companies operate administratively from the 1980's all paper snail mail trail to today's warp speed digital accessibility beggars belief. I could not have dreamed it up. Even more staggering is comparing what is considered acceptable standards of care through the decades... because I have witnessed first-hand what the insurance companies parameters have brought to clinical care.
I've said it for years: you cannot legislate morality. We get into the 'business of medicine' to heal people and alleviate suffering...we start off as altruistic idealists. And then we begin to practice. Clinicians don't become better Doctors by perfecting their ability to fill out paperwork but we now live or die by numbers. The insurance industry has done more to damage humanity than any plague, and every passing year an insurance company stays in business successfully means somewhere, somebody got screwed out of getting better. And thanks to that World Wide Web thingy all these folks are on, the general public now understands exactly how they're paying to stay sick in real time...and they don't dig it.
My point, (and I do have one!) is that I am neither surprised nor shocked that out here in the real world, people are hurting so badly that their best thinking leads them to hurt others. I'm only surprised more insurance company employees don't get targeted more often.
When all you have is pain, you give it off endlessly. It leaks out of you and contaminates EVERYTHING. Untreated pain left festering turns to rage, and if the source of your pain has a name, that name can easily become a target.
It's pretty linear from my perch, anyway.
Apologies for the lengthy ramble. I didn't intend to hijack the comments, but I leak too. So sorry!
From the moment this happened, most speculated that this had to do with a personal or loved one horror story due to shitty insurance people, and United Health Care is one of the shittiest. I would say to MAGAs and trump tramps…make note. Your actions have consequences.
There is a point as JFK once said that “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” How very very true. And we are tired of winning the popular votes and not getting our candidates, we are tired of violent threatening attacks.
Should school children live in mortal terror? These CEO’s make a decision every day to do or not do the right thing by people impacted by those decisions. Some of those people are in terror. I don’t think it’s okay to shoot anyone. I’m just reflecting on the title to this post.
🎯To live in a country that refuses to do the correct thing to save school children from being slaughtered on a regular basis, is something to address in the same manner MAGAs do against groups they target!
Every CEO should be scared, and deservedly so as you so eloquently put it. I felt no pity seeing the headline and video clip, I immediately thought 'project mayhem is finally becoming a thing' but we don't talk about such things...if they existed lol. Not just this but American's need to start acting out more, like the French who have perfected rioting to a true art form. Honestly, all those farmers in Texas and we have yet to see Greg Abbott's residence, or the state capitol, being doused in manure and the collected waste of port a johns?! Marjorie Taylor Green should be routinely handed microphones which resemble Hunter Biden's obnoxiously large trouser snake, with which she is obsessed.
I just finished edits on my newest health care management textbook. Have a chapter on violence in health care and a case study on insurance denials. Did not put the two together. Honestly did not see that coming.
In fact denial of care was the subject of at least one movie and abuse of elderly in the guardianship “industry” was the subject of another. The wealthy woman at the end of “I Care A Lot” (2020) meets a similar fate.
Corporations are sociopaths whose only goal is to make money. If you agree with that statement, and you should, we run into a problem very quickly. Insurance companies are businesses whose very existence and operation actively kills people who need medical treatment. The CEO of an insurance company is knowingly working for a sociopathic organization and helping it to succeed. This means he knowingly has blood on his hands. Personally, I'm out of fucks to give, especially for a known sociopath or associate of a known sociopath.
This hysteria reminds of the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee in San Francisco in 2023. The press went on and on about it until it got sickening. I stopped watching it.
Great point: right wing violence really does not threaten the status quo that clarifies the reason creeps like the Bundys get away with everything.
One thing that has been hard to understand for me is how we on the left have been so restrained in the face of all the vile and constant threats, violence, and theft of our resources from the fascists. I have been an advocate of non-violent change for the past 55 years, but these trumpers are so violent, so well armed, and so crazy that I will be surprised if we don't see the rage being expressed in many different ways. And I will be surprised if a very angry cohort of people seeing their world being destroyed by a bunch of defective men will not respond in kind.
NEW YORK — The gunman who assassinated UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown wrote the words “Delay,” “Deny,” and “Defend” — a supposed insurance industry mantra for delaying claims and maximizing profits — on the ammunition he fired at the insurance company head, police sources said Thursday.
“As a scholar, I understand the problem of conspiracy theories. I don’t want to be seen as promoting a conspiracy theory. Not least because this is not a conspiracy, by definition. A conspiracy involves illegality, and the people who are funding, and supporting and promoting this operation have extremely good lawyers and I think they actually do believe in the rule of law, and they are being, with the possible exemption of nonprofit tax law, scrupulously legal in what they are doing.
“So conspiracy is not a good word. But on the other hand, this is a vast and interconnected and not honest operation. They say these anodyne things about liberty—like the title of one book is Don’t Hurt People And Don’t Take Their Stuff! And that’s not what this is about. The reality is that they are gerrymandering with a vengeance, to a degree we’ve never seen before in our history; they’re practicing voter suppression in a way we’ve not seen since Reconstruction; they are smashing up labor unions under fake pretenses, not telling people that they actually do want to destroy workers’ ability to organize collectively… “
—
A conspiracy is a plan or agreement between people for an unlawful or harmful purpose, especially with a political motivation, while keeping their plan — often by masking it with alternative explanations — from the public or from other people affected by it. In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of people united in the goal of subverting established political, economic or governmental power. This can take the form of attempting to usurp, or alter an existing order, or illegitimately profiting from particular activities supported by the system in ways that weaken or delegitimize it, either with or without help from various authorities.
As such, staying just inside the law, a collective enterprise by a movement need not be acting illegally to fall well within the definition of conspiracy. Conspiracy is as much about the goal as it is about the method.
Further, legality being characteristically determined by the power structure, and the interests holding power, anything or anyone acting to change how power is used or shared, either for good (i.e. in the interest of justice) or ill (i.e. favoring oppression or exploitation) can readily be declared unlawful. (Setting aside inevitable legal loopholes, often open to conspirators owning the means to exploit them, the line between “legal” and “illegal” is slippery and can be easily moved.)
So, no. The reluctance of the scholar above to “be seen as promoting a conspiracy theory,” is misplaced. What’s at work in the socio-economic far right _is_ a conspiracy.
My entire adult life has been dedicated to my only job: the practice of medicine. From my illustrious career as a 16 year old Candy Striper to my recent retirement, I have had the odious task of needing to deal with insurance companies in some form. The differences in how these companies operate administratively from the 1980's all paper snail mail trail to today's warp speed digital accessibility beggars belief. I could not have dreamed it up. Even more staggering is comparing what is considered acceptable standards of care through the decades... because I have witnessed first-hand what the insurance companies parameters have brought to clinical care.
I've said it for years: you cannot legislate morality. We get into the 'business of medicine' to heal people and alleviate suffering...we start off as altruistic idealists. And then we begin to practice. Clinicians don't become better Doctors by perfecting their ability to fill out paperwork but we now live or die by numbers. The insurance industry has done more to damage humanity than any plague, and every passing year an insurance company stays in business successfully means somewhere, somebody got screwed out of getting better. And thanks to that World Wide Web thingy all these folks are on, the general public now understands exactly how they're paying to stay sick in real time...and they don't dig it.
My point, (and I do have one!) is that I am neither surprised nor shocked that out here in the real world, people are hurting so badly that their best thinking leads them to hurt others. I'm only surprised more insurance company employees don't get targeted more often.
When all you have is pain, you give it off endlessly. It leaks out of you and contaminates EVERYTHING. Untreated pain left festering turns to rage, and if the source of your pain has a name, that name can easily become a target.
It's pretty linear from my perch, anyway.
Apologies for the lengthy ramble. I didn't intend to hijack the comments, but I leak too. So sorry!
From the moment this happened, most speculated that this had to do with a personal or loved one horror story due to shitty insurance people, and United Health Care is one of the shittiest. I would say to MAGAs and trump tramps…make note. Your actions have consequences.
There is a point as JFK once said that “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” How very very true. And we are tired of winning the popular votes and not getting our candidates, we are tired of violent threatening attacks.
Time for THEM to live in fear!
Should school children live in mortal terror? These CEO’s make a decision every day to do or not do the right thing by people impacted by those decisions. Some of those people are in terror. I don’t think it’s okay to shoot anyone. I’m just reflecting on the title to this post.
🎯To live in a country that refuses to do the correct thing to save school children from being slaughtered on a regular basis, is something to address in the same manner MAGAs do against groups they target!
It's giving 1780 vibes.
The only effect this will have though is to increase their security. But if they are a little more nervous- we’ll welcome to the world of the 99%
They’re gonna need them with the reaping from all the sowing they’ve done that might be on the way.
Every CEO should be scared, and deservedly so as you so eloquently put it. I felt no pity seeing the headline and video clip, I immediately thought 'project mayhem is finally becoming a thing' but we don't talk about such things...if they existed lol. Not just this but American's need to start acting out more, like the French who have perfected rioting to a true art form. Honestly, all those farmers in Texas and we have yet to see Greg Abbott's residence, or the state capitol, being doused in manure and the collected waste of port a johns?! Marjorie Taylor Green should be routinely handed microphones which resemble Hunter Biden's obnoxiously large trouser snake, with which she is obsessed.
I just finished edits on my newest health care management textbook. Have a chapter on violence in health care and a case study on insurance denials. Did not put the two together. Honestly did not see that coming.
I saw this coming.
In fact denial of care was the subject of at least one movie and abuse of elderly in the guardianship “industry” was the subject of another. The wealthy woman at the end of “I Care A Lot” (2020) meets a similar fate.
Lots of guns out there and lots of angry people.
I have to get that movie now! Thanks!
The way I see it, Mr United Healthcare was a murderer who received an extrajudicial execution.
Sending positive thoughts and prayer vibes for all the CEOs. 🙏
I'm sending concepts of a thoughtful prayer. That covers it, right?
Those are the best prayers! “Believe me.” 😂
Unbelievable that there are 14 billionaires currently involved in trumps takeover
Biden should shut down Fox News for good
Hopefully this will inspire them to move toward humane on their continuum rather than be screaming along at maximum profit
Unlikely.
Corporations are sociopaths whose only goal is to make money. If you agree with that statement, and you should, we run into a problem very quickly. Insurance companies are businesses whose very existence and operation actively kills people who need medical treatment. The CEO of an insurance company is knowingly working for a sociopathic organization and helping it to succeed. This means he knowingly has blood on his hands. Personally, I'm out of fucks to give, especially for a known sociopath or associate of a known sociopath.
This hysteria reminds of the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee in San Francisco in 2023. The press went on and on about it until it got sickening. I stopped watching it.
Great point: right wing violence really does not threaten the status quo that clarifies the reason creeps like the Bundys get away with everything.
One thing that has been hard to understand for me is how we on the left have been so restrained in the face of all the vile and constant threats, violence, and theft of our resources from the fascists. I have been an advocate of non-violent change for the past 55 years, but these trumpers are so violent, so well armed, and so crazy that I will be surprised if we don't see the rage being expressed in many different ways. And I will be surprised if a very angry cohort of people seeing their world being destroyed by a bunch of defective men will not respond in kind.
Maybe the right finally has to deal with the gun problem. That said, I hope they never find the shooter. He's a hero.
Just read this today about the UHC CEO murder:
NEW YORK — The gunman who assassinated UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown wrote the words “Delay,” “Deny,” and “Defend” — a supposed insurance industry mantra for delaying claims and maximizing profits — on the ammunition he fired at the insurance company head, police sources said Thursday.
https://www.havasunews.com/news/nation/gunman-who-killed-unitedheathcare-ceo-outside-nyc-hotel-left-eerie-message-on-bullets/article_e9077b88-b389-11ef-99ec-8bb62d970d45.html
From an interview here:
https://slate.com/human-interest/2017/06/james-mcgill-buchanans-terrifying-vision-of-society-is-the-intellectual-basis-of-the-far-right.html
“As a scholar, I understand the problem of conspiracy theories. I don’t want to be seen as promoting a conspiracy theory. Not least because this is not a conspiracy, by definition. A conspiracy involves illegality, and the people who are funding, and supporting and promoting this operation have extremely good lawyers and I think they actually do believe in the rule of law, and they are being, with the possible exemption of nonprofit tax law, scrupulously legal in what they are doing.
“So conspiracy is not a good word. But on the other hand, this is a vast and interconnected and not honest operation. They say these anodyne things about liberty—like the title of one book is Don’t Hurt People And Don’t Take Their Stuff! And that’s not what this is about. The reality is that they are gerrymandering with a vengeance, to a degree we’ve never seen before in our history; they’re practicing voter suppression in a way we’ve not seen since Reconstruction; they are smashing up labor unions under fake pretenses, not telling people that they actually do want to destroy workers’ ability to organize collectively… “
—
A conspiracy is a plan or agreement between people for an unlawful or harmful purpose, especially with a political motivation, while keeping their plan — often by masking it with alternative explanations — from the public or from other people affected by it. In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of people united in the goal of subverting established political, economic or governmental power. This can take the form of attempting to usurp, or alter an existing order, or illegitimately profiting from particular activities supported by the system in ways that weaken or delegitimize it, either with or without help from various authorities.
As such, staying just inside the law, a collective enterprise by a movement need not be acting illegally to fall well within the definition of conspiracy. Conspiracy is as much about the goal as it is about the method.
Further, legality being characteristically determined by the power structure, and the interests holding power, anything or anyone acting to change how power is used or shared, either for good (i.e. in the interest of justice) or ill (i.e. favoring oppression or exploitation) can readily be declared unlawful. (Setting aside inevitable legal loopholes, often open to conspirators owning the means to exploit them, the line between “legal” and “illegal” is slippery and can be easily moved.)
So, no. The reluctance of the scholar above to “be seen as promoting a conspiracy theory,” is misplaced. What’s at work in the socio-economic far right _is_ a conspiracy.