Brutal murder of insurance CEO sparks dark humor, fictionalized denial of coverage letter
Eloise Goldsmith,
Eloise Goldsmith,
Common Dreams
December 6, 2024
A poster is attached to a lamp post outside the Hilton hotel near the scene where the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson was shot dead in Midtown Manhattan, in New York City, U.S., December 5, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Segar
The killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside of a Manhattan hotel Wednesday has sparked a wave of dark humor and fresh fury at the for-profit U.S. healthcare system
The barbs at UnitedHealthcare—the country's largest private insurer—included a mock denial of coverage letter posted to the subreddit r/nursing in a thread on Thompson’s murder.
"We regret to inform you that your request for coverage has been denied," the letter reads. "Our records indicate that you failed to obtain prior authorization before seeking care for the gunshot wound to your chest." The Daily Beast reported a spoof rejection letter was also posted to a since closed thread on r/medicine.
Police are in their third day searching for Thompson's killer, who shot the healthcare executive multiple times in front of a Hilton hotel in Midtown before fleeing the scene. The New York Police Department has released an image that shows a man authorities deem "a person of interest wanted for questioning" in connection to the Wednesday killing, perCNN. The image was captured at a hostel in Manhattan, according to CNN, citing law enforcement.
The words "deny," "defend," and "depose" were found written on the ammunition used by the gunman, three words that partially echo the title of the book "Delay, Deny, Defend," which details how the insurance industry avoids paying claims.
In addition to dark humor, reactions to Thompson's assassination have brought to the fore the public's downright rage at the health insurance industry.
In the comment section of Common Dreams' coverage of the murder, one commenter wrote: "I guess if you steal people's labor and deny them healthcare in order to line your own pockets, you might occasionally expect retaliation." Another wrote: "For profit health care is unethical and immoral."
"Thoughts and deductibles to the family," read one comment below a video of the shooting posted by CNN, according to The New York Times. "Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network."
One woman whose mother with stage four breast cancer was forced to battle insurance to get new treatments approved toldNew York magazine that she experienced "a little surge of Schadenfreude," when she heard of Thompson's death.
"UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson was just 50 years old at the time of his murder, which is a lot more tragic when you know that his life expectancy as a member of the Top 1% was 88, or 15 years longer than the life expectancy of the average American male," wrote journalist and editor Moe Tkacik on X. Later, in a piece for The American Prospect, Tkacik framed the situation like this: "Only about 50 million customers of America’s reigning medical monopoly might have a motive to exact revenge upon the UnitedHealthcare CEO."
Others said that the reaction to the murder was an indication that the Democratic party ought to embrace economic populism and end their close association with corporate power.
"The mass reaction to the healthcare CEO’s murder is a reminder that there is a constant deadly class war being waged against working class Americans. If Dems ditched their billionaires and fully joined the side of the working class in that struggle they would easily win FDR style majorities," said the political commentator Krystal Ball.
Charles Idelson, former communications strategist for National Nurses United, said that "you don’t have to sanction murder to see why so many Americans detest health insurance corporations who prioritize profit goals by routinely creating arbitrary reasons to deny patient needs."
"It's not unique to UnitedHealth," he added.
December 6, 2024
A poster is attached to a lamp post outside the Hilton hotel near the scene where the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson was shot dead in Midtown Manhattan, in New York City, U.S., December 5, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Segar
The killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside of a Manhattan hotel Wednesday has sparked a wave of dark humor and fresh fury at the for-profit U.S. healthcare system
The barbs at UnitedHealthcare—the country's largest private insurer—included a mock denial of coverage letter posted to the subreddit r/nursing in a thread on Thompson’s murder.
"We regret to inform you that your request for coverage has been denied," the letter reads. "Our records indicate that you failed to obtain prior authorization before seeking care for the gunshot wound to your chest." The Daily Beast reported a spoof rejection letter was also posted to a since closed thread on r/medicine.
Police are in their third day searching for Thompson's killer, who shot the healthcare executive multiple times in front of a Hilton hotel in Midtown before fleeing the scene. The New York Police Department has released an image that shows a man authorities deem "a person of interest wanted for questioning" in connection to the Wednesday killing, perCNN. The image was captured at a hostel in Manhattan, according to CNN, citing law enforcement.
The words "deny," "defend," and "depose" were found written on the ammunition used by the gunman, three words that partially echo the title of the book "Delay, Deny, Defend," which details how the insurance industry avoids paying claims.
In addition to dark humor, reactions to Thompson's assassination have brought to the fore the public's downright rage at the health insurance industry.
In the comment section of Common Dreams' coverage of the murder, one commenter wrote: "I guess if you steal people's labor and deny them healthcare in order to line your own pockets, you might occasionally expect retaliation." Another wrote: "For profit health care is unethical and immoral."
"Thoughts and deductibles to the family," read one comment below a video of the shooting posted by CNN, according to The New York Times. "Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network."
One woman whose mother with stage four breast cancer was forced to battle insurance to get new treatments approved toldNew York magazine that she experienced "a little surge of Schadenfreude," when she heard of Thompson's death.
"UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson was just 50 years old at the time of his murder, which is a lot more tragic when you know that his life expectancy as a member of the Top 1% was 88, or 15 years longer than the life expectancy of the average American male," wrote journalist and editor Moe Tkacik on X. Later, in a piece for The American Prospect, Tkacik framed the situation like this: "Only about 50 million customers of America’s reigning medical monopoly might have a motive to exact revenge upon the UnitedHealthcare CEO."
Others said that the reaction to the murder was an indication that the Democratic party ought to embrace economic populism and end their close association with corporate power.
"The mass reaction to the healthcare CEO’s murder is a reminder that there is a constant deadly class war being waged against working class Americans. If Dems ditched their billionaires and fully joined the side of the working class in that struggle they would easily win FDR style majorities," said the political commentator Krystal Ball.
Charles Idelson, former communications strategist for National Nurses United, said that "you don’t have to sanction murder to see why so many Americans detest health insurance corporations who prioritize profit goals by routinely creating arbitrary reasons to deny patient needs."
"It's not unique to UnitedHealth," he added.
'Rage and glee' after health insurance CEO's killing a stark warning for US: columnist
Matthew Chapman
December 6, 2024
Matthew Chapman
December 6, 2024
RAW STORY
A poster is attached to a lamp post outside the Hilton hotel near the scene where the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson was shot dead in Midtown Manhattan, in New York City, U.S., December 5, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Segar
The shocking killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a hotel in New York City triggered an avalanche of "rage and glee" on the internet as people frustrated with their health insurers dance on his grave — and it says something dark about the state of American society, wrote Zeynep Tufekci for The New York Times.
The gunman behind the crime, who is still being hunted by the NYPD, "was compared to John Q, the desperate fictional father who takes an entire emergency room hostage after a health insurance company refuses to cover his son’s lifesaving transplant in a 2002 film of the same name," wrote Tufekci. "Some posted 'prior authorization needed before thoughts and prayers.' Others wryly pointed out that the reward for information connected to the murder, $10,000, was less than their annual deductibles. One observer recommended that Thompson be scheduled to see a specialist in a few months, maybe."
Even more disturbingly, she wrote, some people urged anyone with information not to help police find the killer or attacked those who were trying to help.
This level of anger spilling over in society has not been seen before, she wrote.
"The rage that people felt at the health insurance industry, and the elation that they expressed at seeing it injured, was widespread and organic. It was shocking to many, but it crossed communities all along the political spectrum and took hold in countless divergent cultural clusters."
People reacted with laughing emojis to UnitedHealthcare's mourning Facebook posts, while politicians who offered condolences "were eviscerated," often by people posting their stories of being denied health care.
The United States has been down this road before, Tufekci wrote, during the "Gilded Age," the era of the late 19th century that saw the rise of modern American industry, and with it a group of business tycoons who became unfathomably wealthy and powerful, creating a massive gulf between the rich and poor.
"Less well remembered is the intensity of political violence that erupted," she wrote. "The vast inequities of the era fueled political movements that targeted corporate titans, politicians, judges and others for violence. In 1892, an anarchist tried to assassinate the industrialist Henry Clay Frick after a drawn-out conflict between Pinkerton security guards and workers. In 1901, an anarchist sympathizer assassinated President William McKinley. And so on."
Ultimately, a series of new social safety nets and rights for workers calmed down the unrest. But it's a stark warning of the kind of violence we may be on the brink of with mass outpourings of glee over murder of a health insurance CEO, she concluded.
"We still don’t know who killed Brian Thompson or what his motive was," she wrote — but "whatever facts eventually emerge, the anger it has laid bare will still be real, and what we glimpsed should ring all the alarm bells."
A poster is attached to a lamp post outside the Hilton hotel near the scene where the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson was shot dead in Midtown Manhattan, in New York City, U.S., December 5, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Segar
The shocking killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a hotel in New York City triggered an avalanche of "rage and glee" on the internet as people frustrated with their health insurers dance on his grave — and it says something dark about the state of American society, wrote Zeynep Tufekci for The New York Times.
The gunman behind the crime, who is still being hunted by the NYPD, "was compared to John Q, the desperate fictional father who takes an entire emergency room hostage after a health insurance company refuses to cover his son’s lifesaving transplant in a 2002 film of the same name," wrote Tufekci. "Some posted 'prior authorization needed before thoughts and prayers.' Others wryly pointed out that the reward for information connected to the murder, $10,000, was less than their annual deductibles. One observer recommended that Thompson be scheduled to see a specialist in a few months, maybe."
Even more disturbingly, she wrote, some people urged anyone with information not to help police find the killer or attacked those who were trying to help.
This level of anger spilling over in society has not been seen before, she wrote.
"The rage that people felt at the health insurance industry, and the elation that they expressed at seeing it injured, was widespread and organic. It was shocking to many, but it crossed communities all along the political spectrum and took hold in countless divergent cultural clusters."
People reacted with laughing emojis to UnitedHealthcare's mourning Facebook posts, while politicians who offered condolences "were eviscerated," often by people posting their stories of being denied health care.
The United States has been down this road before, Tufekci wrote, during the "Gilded Age," the era of the late 19th century that saw the rise of modern American industry, and with it a group of business tycoons who became unfathomably wealthy and powerful, creating a massive gulf between the rich and poor.
"Less well remembered is the intensity of political violence that erupted," she wrote. "The vast inequities of the era fueled political movements that targeted corporate titans, politicians, judges and others for violence. In 1892, an anarchist tried to assassinate the industrialist Henry Clay Frick after a drawn-out conflict between Pinkerton security guards and workers. In 1901, an anarchist sympathizer assassinated President William McKinley. And so on."
Ultimately, a series of new social safety nets and rights for workers calmed down the unrest. But it's a stark warning of the kind of violence we may be on the brink of with mass outpourings of glee over murder of a health insurance CEO, she concluded.
"We still don’t know who killed Brian Thompson or what his motive was," she wrote — but "whatever facts eventually emerge, the anger it has laid bare will still be real, and what we glimpsed should ring all the alarm bells."
Veterinary pistol with ‘weird cultural’ significance may have killed insurance CEO: expert
Erik De La Garza
Erik De La Garza
December 6, 2024
An image of the individual sought in connection to the investigation of the shooting death of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth's insurance unit, is seen in a still image from surveillance video taken outside a hotel in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S. December 4, 2024. NYPD News/Handout via REUTERS.
Investigators are exploring the possibility that a pistol used by veterinarians to put down sick or wounded animals was also the assassin’s weapon used to gun down UnitedHealthcare’s CEO early Wednesday.
Aside from being “practically silent,” the B&T VP9 also carries with it cultural significance, according to John Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst.
“It’s a 9 mm round and it's meant for close-up killing,” Miller said on Friday. “It's meant for vets to kill an animal by shooting it in the head or somewhere, you know, that's going to be fatal. But it would work the exact same way on humans very effectively and extraordinarily quietly.”
Miller revealed that New York police sought out a firearms expert who examined the video evidence of the crime and raised the prospect of what the weapon, which also has a unique way of firing, could be.
“Now, as you see it has this large extended silencer that is screwed onto a threaded rather short barrel,” Miller told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “But the way the gun works is you fire it with that trigger and then it doesn't automatically load the next round, you have to pull back on the rear of that slide and then let it go to eject one round and feed the next in.”
The analyst said the surveillance video being pored over by investigators – and the country, stunned by the brazen killing of insurance executive Brian Thompson – shows the gunman doing just that. But he added that only so much could be gleaned from the “blurry shot” of the video.
“It may be another weapon, even a ghost gun with a large suppressor or silencer,” he said. Miller then noted the “weird cultural thing” involving the weapon.
“You wouldn't be committing a professional murder with a veterinary gun, but this gun is based on the design of something called the “Welrod,” Miller said. “And even going back to the British and the allied forces in World War II in the 1940s, the “Welrod” was the assassin's weapon. When you fire it with that suppressor, you get a sound like a book hitting a table in a library.”
Watch the clip below or at this link.
An image of the individual sought in connection to the investigation of the shooting death of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth's insurance unit, is seen in a still image from surveillance video taken outside a hotel in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S. December 4, 2024. NYPD News/Handout via REUTERS.
Investigators are exploring the possibility that a pistol used by veterinarians to put down sick or wounded animals was also the assassin’s weapon used to gun down UnitedHealthcare’s CEO early Wednesday.
Aside from being “practically silent,” the B&T VP9 also carries with it cultural significance, according to John Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst.
“It’s a 9 mm round and it's meant for close-up killing,” Miller said on Friday. “It's meant for vets to kill an animal by shooting it in the head or somewhere, you know, that's going to be fatal. But it would work the exact same way on humans very effectively and extraordinarily quietly.”
Miller revealed that New York police sought out a firearms expert who examined the video evidence of the crime and raised the prospect of what the weapon, which also has a unique way of firing, could be.
“Now, as you see it has this large extended silencer that is screwed onto a threaded rather short barrel,” Miller told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “But the way the gun works is you fire it with that trigger and then it doesn't automatically load the next round, you have to pull back on the rear of that slide and then let it go to eject one round and feed the next in.”
The analyst said the surveillance video being pored over by investigators – and the country, stunned by the brazen killing of insurance executive Brian Thompson – shows the gunman doing just that. But he added that only so much could be gleaned from the “blurry shot” of the video.
“It may be another weapon, even a ghost gun with a large suppressor or silencer,” he said. Miller then noted the “weird cultural thing” involving the weapon.
“You wouldn't be committing a professional murder with a veterinary gun, but this gun is based on the design of something called the “Welrod,” Miller said. “And even going back to the British and the allied forces in World War II in the 1940s, the “Welrod” was the assassin's weapon. When you fire it with that suppressor, you get a sound like a book hitting a table in a library.”
Watch the clip below or at this link.
'Claim denied': Internet sleuths deny NYPD request to hunt down insurance CEO' killer
AlterNet
December 6, 2024
A member of the NYPD Crime Scene Unit takes a picture of a shell casing found at the scene where the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson was reportedly shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan, in New York City, U.S., December 4, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
The New York Police Department is crowd-sourcing their investigation into the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson to the general public after two days with no positive ID on the shooter. But they may not get much help from the internet, according to multiple popular TikTok sleuths.
NBC News reported that law enforcement is banking on the American public helping them identify the man seen in new photos released this week, which show the alleged assassin lowering his mask while flirting with a hostel concierge. Those are currently the only photos of the alleged killer in which his mask isn't concealing his face, and law enforcement veterans have called them a "turning point" in the investigation.
But Savannah Sparks — who has 1.3 million TikTok followers and is known for helping track down perpetrators of racist and hateful attacks — was unequivocal in her refusal to help find Thompson's murderer. Thompson told NBC she was "pretty apathetic" about the ongoing manhunt, and that her impression of the online sleuthing community's current mood was: "[C]oncepts of thoughts and prayers."
"It’s, you know, claim denied on my prayers there," Sparks said, with a tongue-in-cheek reference to health insurance industry lingo.
According to NBC, Sparks (who holds a doctorate of pharmacy and works in the healthcare industry as a lactation consultant) has been called on by law enforcement in the past to assist with training officers on how to track down suspects online. But she said that in this particular case, she has zero interest in helping the NYPD.
"Absolutely the f— not," she said.
Michael McWhorter, who is "TizzyEnt" on TikTok and has more than 6.7 million followers, observed that he hadn't seen the same drumbeat from the public to find Thompson's killer that he's seen in past cases involving "blatant violence." He opined that investigators may be underestimating "how much people don’t care." And Swarthmore College assistant professor of computer science Sukrit Venkatagiri said it's possible that some internet sleuths "don’t really empathize with who the victim is in this scenario."
"People are less motivated, from an altruistic perspective, to help this victim in this specific case," he said, noting that the victim in question was the multimillion-dollar CEO of a Fortune 500 health insurance company.
One person who helped police was software engineer Riley Walz, who obtained data from the Citibike station used by the alleged shooter after the murder. Some social media users called him a "snitch," according to NBC. McWhorter said those who help police being ganged up on could discourage others from helping to identify the shooter. But he said it's possible that apathy could play a larger role.
"There’s this weird thing, this vibe of like, I don’t see a bunch of people just feeling an urgency," he said.
Click here to read NBC's report in its entirety
December 6, 2024
A member of the NYPD Crime Scene Unit takes a picture of a shell casing found at the scene where the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson was reportedly shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan, in New York City, U.S., December 4, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
The New York Police Department is crowd-sourcing their investigation into the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson to the general public after two days with no positive ID on the shooter. But they may not get much help from the internet, according to multiple popular TikTok sleuths.
NBC News reported that law enforcement is banking on the American public helping them identify the man seen in new photos released this week, which show the alleged assassin lowering his mask while flirting with a hostel concierge. Those are currently the only photos of the alleged killer in which his mask isn't concealing his face, and law enforcement veterans have called them a "turning point" in the investigation.
But Savannah Sparks — who has 1.3 million TikTok followers and is known for helping track down perpetrators of racist and hateful attacks — was unequivocal in her refusal to help find Thompson's murderer. Thompson told NBC she was "pretty apathetic" about the ongoing manhunt, and that her impression of the online sleuthing community's current mood was: "[C]oncepts of thoughts and prayers."
"It’s, you know, claim denied on my prayers there," Sparks said, with a tongue-in-cheek reference to health insurance industry lingo.
According to NBC, Sparks (who holds a doctorate of pharmacy and works in the healthcare industry as a lactation consultant) has been called on by law enforcement in the past to assist with training officers on how to track down suspects online. But she said that in this particular case, she has zero interest in helping the NYPD.
"Absolutely the f— not," she said.
Michael McWhorter, who is "TizzyEnt" on TikTok and has more than 6.7 million followers, observed that he hadn't seen the same drumbeat from the public to find Thompson's killer that he's seen in past cases involving "blatant violence." He opined that investigators may be underestimating "how much people don’t care." And Swarthmore College assistant professor of computer science Sukrit Venkatagiri said it's possible that some internet sleuths "don’t really empathize with who the victim is in this scenario."
"People are less motivated, from an altruistic perspective, to help this victim in this specific case," he said, noting that the victim in question was the multimillion-dollar CEO of a Fortune 500 health insurance company.
One person who helped police was software engineer Riley Walz, who obtained data from the Citibike station used by the alleged shooter after the murder. Some social media users called him a "snitch," according to NBC. McWhorter said those who help police being ganged up on could discourage others from helping to identify the shooter. But he said it's possible that apathy could play a larger role.
"There’s this weird thing, this vibe of like, I don’t see a bunch of people just feeling an urgency," he said.
Click here to read NBC's report in its entirety
Daniel Hampton
December 6, 2024
A member of the NYPD Crime Scene Unit takes a picture of a shell casing found at the scene where the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson was reportedly shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan, in New York City, U.S., December 4, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Police in New York City have reportedly found a major piece of evidence left behind by the gunman who shot and killed the CEO of a massive health insurer, and one expert called the clue "crucial."
Brian Thompson, 50, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot dead Wednesday morning. Authorities have said he was killed in a targeted attack outside the Hilton Midtown hotel, and bullets at the scene reportedly contained the words "deny," "depose" and "defend," an apparent reference to tactics used by healthcare insurers to deny claims.
The NYPD found the suspect's backpack, which he dumped after biking away from the shooting, CNN reported, citing a source.
Michael Harrison, the former commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department, told anchor Wolf Blitzer the finding was "very crucial."
"Especially that it was found this fast," he said Friday evening. "And equally as important as finding it, I think it's important to note that — it's important that we know his frame of mind that he actually left it somewhere. That he was in the frame of mind to discard all these pieces of evidence."
Harrison said the backpack could prove to be the "most important" piece of evidence in the case.
"It could contain the weapon and other things that remain to be known," he said.
The backpack plus the newfound information on the shooter's frame of mind, he said, "gives me hope that they will find this person in the near future."
John Miller, CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, agreed with Harrison that the backpack is a sign the shooter was "shedding evidence so that it couldn't be tied to him if he was stopped" during his escape.
The bag will be taken to a lab in Queens, he said, where investigators will try to extract any hairs and open the bag to see what else they can obtain.
"Is there touch DNA? Skin cell DNA? Is there a water bottle he may have taken a drink from? Is there a package of mints? Is there a loaded 9mm semi-automatic pistol with a silencer on it? That's a treasure trove of evidence depending on what they find when they open it."
Watch the clip below or at this link.
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