Quick summary:
• UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed by a man blaming the U.S. health care system for suffering and inequities.
• Bernie Sanders condemned the killing but said the public’s anger reflects frustration with a “broken, dysfunctional, and cruel” system.
• Tens of thousands of Americans die yearly due to denied or delayed care under for-profit insurance companies.
• Sanders criticized the Affordable Care Act for funneling subsidies to private insurers instead of guaranteeing universal health care.
• Public outrage highlights growing discontent with Democrats’ failure to challenge health insurance companies.
• Progressives argue that Medicare for All would save lives, reduce costs, and prioritize people over profits.
• Sanders says systemic change requires a grassroots political movement to overcome corporate influence in health care policy.
The killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has ignited a heated national conversation about the failures of the for-profit U.S. health care system. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) condemned the killing but pointed to the public reaction as a symptom of the widespread frustration and suffering caused by the country’s privatized approach to health care. The incident has prompted renewed calls for systemic reform, including the implementation of Medicare for All.
In an interview with Jacobin, Sanders emphasized his unequivocal condemnation of the murder. “You don’t kill people. It’s abhorrent. I condemn it wholeheartedly. It was a terrible act,” he stated. However, Sanders argued that the public anger in response to the killing reflects decades of frustration with health insurance companies and their profit-driven policies. “Many, many people are furious at the health insurance companies who make huge profits denying them and their families the health care that they desperately need,” he said.
Thompson’s alleged killer, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, reportedly left a manifesto blaming the U.S. health care system for its high costs, low life expectancy, and inequities. This sentiment has resonated with many Americans, who have taken to social media to share their own stories of denied claims, delayed care, and devastating financial burdens under the current system.
“What you’re seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current health care system. It is broken. It is cruel,” Sanders told Jacobin. He highlighted the countless Americans who have lost loved ones due to denied care. “The stories unfold all the time: ‘My mother was on cancer treatment and I couldn’t get care for her. The insurance company rejected it. Some bureaucrat rejected it. She died.’”
According to Sanders, the way forward is clear: “The way we’re going to reform our health care system is having people come together and understanding that it is the right of every American to be able to walk into a doctor’s office when they need to and not have to take out their wallet.”
The U.S. health care system, characterized by its privatized insurance model, has long been criticized as inefficient, inequitable, and excessively costly. Sanders, a leading advocate for Medicare for All, described the system as “broken, dysfunctional, cruel, and wildly inefficient—far too expensive.”
Medicare for All, Sanders argued, is a comprehensive solution that would save lives while reducing administrative costs and prioritizing people over profits. “The reason we have not joined virtually every other major country on Earth in guaranteeing health care to all people as a human right is the political power and financial power of the insurance industry and drug companies,” he said. He added that transitioning to a universal health care system would not only improve public health but also address growing inequalities, such as the stark disparity in life expectancy between the wealthiest Americans and the rest of the population.
Sanders also took aim at the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which he argued falls short of addressing the core issues. “If you go around saying, ‘The only thing I can say about health care is I will oppose cuts to the Affordable Care Act’—man! That doesn’t address the crisis,” he said, noting that the ACA relies on funneling government subsidies to private insurers rather than providing universal coverage.
Sanders linked the public dissatisfaction with the U.S. health care system to the Democratic Party’s struggles with working-class voters. Following significant losses in recent elections, Sanders criticized the party’s failure to take on powerful insurance and pharmaceutical companies. “You talk about why working-class people have abandoned the Democratic Party? That is one of the answers,” he stated.
Sanders called for bold leadership to confront these issues, saying, “Health care is a human right. We’re going to take on the insurance companies. We’re going to have a tax system that is fair. We’re going to demand a wealth tax and a tax on the very wealthiest people in this country. We’re going to have campaign finance reforms so billionaires don’t buy elections.”
Other progressive lawmakers have weighed in on the public’s reaction to Thompson’s death. Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a co-sponsor of the Medicare for All Act, acknowledged the frustration many feel toward the health care system. “You condemn the murder of an insurance executive who was a father of two kids. At the same time, you say there’s obviously an outpouring behavior of people whose claims are being denied, and we need to reform the system,” Khanna told Business Insider.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also reflected on the deep suffering caused by the current system. “We don’t want to see the chaos that vigilantism presents,” she said. “We also don’t want to see the extreme suffering that millions of Americans confront when your life changes overnight from a horrific diagnosis, and people are led to just some of the worst, not just health events, but the worst financial events of their and their family’s lives.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pointed to the broader systemic issues underlying the public’s visceral reaction. “The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the health care system,” she told HuffPost. While emphasizing that “violence is never the answer,” Warren added that the public’s anger highlights a loss of faith in government and health care providers to enact meaningful change.
Sanders reiterated that systemic change requires a political revolution to challenge the entrenched power of health insurance and pharmaceutical companies. “The way we’re going to bring about the kind of fundamental changes we need in health care is, in fact, by a political movement which understands the government has got to represent all of us, not just the 1 percent” he said.
Sanders’ vision for Medicare for All offers a pathway to address the anger and suffering caused by the current system. As Sanders put it: “What you’re seeing, the outpouring of anger at the insurance companies, is a reflection of how people feel about the current health care system. It is broken. It is cruel.”
To join Action Network and tell Senate to pass Bernie’s Medicare for All bill to ensure that every person is guaranteed quality health care regardless of their ability to pay, click here.
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