The legitimate outrage at America’s for-profit health care industry and what we must do about it

When police finally apprehended 26-year-old Luigi Mangione at a McDonald's in Alatuna, Pennsylvania this week and charged him with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the public fascination with this story only increased. The murder and the man who allegedly committed it continue to spark a national conversation. For the first time in a very long time, the deep-seated anger in America's for-profit healthcare system is front and center. Americans are taking to social media to share their healthcare horror stories, stories about being denied care or having their claims rejected or going into debt due to illness or injury. And media outlets are not only telling their stories, but actually highlighting some of the predatory practices of this powerful industry. UnitedHealthcare is the country's largest health insurer with 50 million customers, and multiple reports suggest they also lead the industry in denying claims, with a rate at nearly double the industry average. ProPublica has a powerful new piece out about how UnitedHealthcare is strategically limiting access to critical treatment for kids with autism. UnitedHealth initially declined to respond to ProPublica for this story, then said they couldn't respond because they are in mourning and didn't have time to deal with a non-urgent matter. And it's not just United. There are new reports about how health insurers gave $120 billion to shareholders while denying your claim. Or how since the Affordable Care Act's passage, the top five health insurers' annual profits have jumped 230%. Millions of Americans have had their lives and their livelihoods ruined by an industry that treats patients not as humans in need of care, but as consumers who generate profit. Their voices are now being heard. It's also leading to another phenomenon. That's because just as a big part of this conversation, either the total indifference to the fact that a man was murdered, or in some cases, outright glee and celebration of the man alleged to have committed it—like this scene from a Boston concert this weekend where a DJ put Mangione's face on the screen to the sound of huge cheers—it's important to put this all in perspective here. The legitimate rage that people are sharing about the health insurance industry should not come as a surprise. The cold and inhumane reactions to the death of the CEO is a reflection of the cold and inhumane economic system that this CEO represents. At the same time, vigilantism and murder won't fix it. As a matter of fact, it may just lead us to more acceptance of the disposability of human life. That's supposed to be what we are all fighting against. The same time, an individual taking matters into his own hands is also a reflection of the helplessness that people feel to enact any meaningful change. We just had a multibillion-dollar presidential campaign where neither candidate addressed that we have a sick healthcare system where profits increase as more coverage gets denied. Donald Trump spent years trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, and now that he's in office, or soon to be, is surrounded by billionaires and multimillionaires who may finally achieve the Republican goal of privatizing Medicare. And on the Democratic side, Kamala Harris spent her campaign running away from her past support for a Medicare-for-all system, the type of system that would take profit out of the equation and center it around patient care. So if someone is angry at the legalized corruption of the healthcare industry, where can they channel their anger? Who is fighting on their behalf? What movement can they actually join? If any positive can come from this murder, it is that, one, this horrendous and sick system must be fixed, and two, we must have legitimate outlets or movements or places to channel our anger at these cruel systems and actually have them respond to us. We must have the ability to do something about it in a legal, nonviolent and democratic manner. We can be sure that the insurance industry will do everything in its power to fight this.