People aren't celebrating.

[onecaliberal]

People aren't "celebrating" an assassination. People are "denying a claim" for sympathy that's out of their emotional network.
@thebadmouth.bsky.social

[ZDU]

2. Boom

[unblock]

3. Good one

[Irish_Dem]

4. Sympathy is only covered with the premium plan.

[Karasu]

27. +1000!

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

33. Hahaha yessss... good one!!

[Paladin]

41. Bullseye. My compliments. (nt)

[Swede]

47. Your case has been kicked up to Dispute Resolution

Can you give us a reason why sympathy is required in your particular case?

[Irish_Dem]

56. I can provide no data/documentation to justify the use of sympathy in this particular case.

[Swede]

79. We'll get back to you.

Eventually...

[Irish_Dem]

80. ha ha. Exactly. Don't call us, we'll call you. Never.

[tosh]

90. And even then...

there are limits.

[Irish_Dem]

91. Only one tear from left eye is authorized.

[Hellbound Hellhound]

5. The bullets in him were a preexisting condition to my giving a fuck about his continued existence. He's not covered. nt

[Aristus]

6. I suppose I should get on the phone and make a plea for resumption of lost life,

for a patient suffering from revocation of continued existence, but the phone menu is impossible to navigate, and anyway, I have other patients who require my attention.

[patphil]

8. Well said. A whole lot of people have quietly died as a result of inhumane healthcare insurance decisions.

[onecaliberal]

9. Or had their lives destroyed.

[patphil]

10. Yeah.

[OverBurn]

11. That's a pretty awesome line.

[Demobrat]

12. He made enemies. One of his enemies had a gun.

His enemy had a gun because anybody who wants a gun in this country can get a gun. So he got shot. That’s the country we live in. Happens every day.

And yet this man’s murder is all over the news, because he’s rich and white and made his living by denying care to suffering people.

Like his life matters more than the mother of two shot dead by her drunken angry husband when she tried to leave.

It doesn’t.

[ShazzieB]

93. Didn't just make his living.

Got obscenely rich doing it. That's the worst part.

[Xolodno]

13. That's pretty much the whole point.

Lack of sympathy does not mean you condone cold blooded murder. He was, albeit indirectly, responsible for a lot of pain, suffering and death. Even if he died by slipping on some ice and cracking his head open, no one is going to sympathize. Doesn't mean we condone horrible accidents.

What annoys me is all the attention this is getting in the media and police resources being used just because he was wealthy. If it was any average person.....

[Conjuay]

14. If he was a bodega owner in that same city,

It have not been given a second thought.

[Farmer-Rick]

16. It was amazing how quickly the police moved into action

If it had been just another woman murdered by her spouse, it would have taken years for police to even identify the murderer...

[LearnedHand]

20. Or by the OB-GYN who wouldn't give her miscarriage care?

[ShazzieB]

94. Women who die due to being unable to get needed micarriage care are not being murdered by thrir doctors.

They're being murdered by the GOP politicians in their states who have passed abortion bans with vague exceptions and steep penalties for doctors who interpret those laws as anything other than a prohibition on providing any kind of care to help empty a miscarrying woman's womb.

Please don't blame the doctors for trying to avoid going to prison for LIFE. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The real villains are the lawmakers who pass this terrible legislation.

[3Hotdogs]

29. The only people who give a shit about his demise are his family. And I bet that half of them are only worried about

what's in his will.

[JT45242]

30. Stockholders...because this is bad publicity

They may not care about the dude. However, this is bringing to light how evil the company is and how they illegally deny claims.

So, they care about the bad press.

It means they'll have to increase their bribe, I mean donations, to some key republican lawmakers. They definitely care about that.

[3Hotdogs]

32. Nah. The big guys shorted the stock or bought "puts."

I bought puts on Enron, 20 days before it went completely down the shitter.

I ain't passing myself off as a financial genius but that one was too good to pass up.

I am sure $$$$$Millions were made today before the market opened.

[MaryMagdaline]

77. Possibly our DOJ cared. They might have lost their key witness

[rajuncajdim]

35. 100%

this.

[LeftInTX]

67. A midtown hit during Christmas is also bad business

[Patton French]

15. LOL

NT

[theplayer]

17. Furthermore

Just like Spartacus it's time for everybody to get that guy's outfit. Let the NYPD stop 10,000 people all dressed the same. Yes, the CEOs appeal was denied 😎

[johnp3907]

23. This whackjob aint no Spartacus.

[theplayer]

18. Furthermore

Just like Spartacus it's time for everybody to get that guy's outfit. Let the NYPD stop 10,000 people all dressed the same. Yes, the CEOs appeal was denied 😎

[GP6971]

22. Why do you keep repeating yourself???

[Crunchy Frog]

39. Sometimes double posts happen because of a glitch.

For as long as you've been here I'm surprised that you've never encountered the phenomenon.

[jfz9580m]

62. MIRT took care of that creep

Probably here to troll people into making ill-considered statements so the Kash Patel FBI has extra ammo for labelling DU a “kooky far left, extremist site”.

I expect that to be a feature of “visitors” to the site in years to come…

[LearnedHand]

19. We have enough emotional depth to be horrified by the gun violence

AND to take a moment to appreciate the dark irony. This has ripped a bandaid off the entire country, and something deeply significant has suddenly changed. I think Americans just got a stark glimpse of what neoliberalism's unregulated capitalism has done to us. You can keep telling us we're not doing it right, but you can't change the fundamental shift that's happening.

[Andy Canuck]

21. Universal healthcare

Universal healthcare would’ve saved his life.

[onecaliberal]

24. Yes. It would be a win win. But when humanity is not on the table. It's about the $

[Happy Hoosier]

44. Yeah, but he couldn't have extracted $43 million of net worth.... NT

[NameAlreadyTaken]

25. The CEO's life was not Medically Necessary

[krkaufman]

26. Link to BlueSky drop...

https://bsky.app/profile/thebadmouth.bsky.social/post/3lclydqhi7c2k

[Mr.Bee]

28. People aren't celebrating.

They're fed up with 50 years of this abuse!

[Kaleva]

31. One post I saw said the shooter should get a medal

[Cirsium]

70. One post!

That should warrant another week or so of hand wringing and scolding.

[Kaleva]

74. Saw another this morning stating he deserved it

Personally I don't care what happens to those those who are happy about this. Im not wringing my hands or scolding. Just stating the fact that I'm not going to feel any compassion or lift a finger to help those who themselves feel no compassion for someone who was murdered if something bad happens to them.

[Cirsium]

78. So what?

This is lovely:

"Just stating the fact that I'm not going to feel any compassion or lift a finger to help those who themselves feel no compassion for someone who was murdered if something bad happens to them."

Um, that makes you guilty of the same thing, as guilty as you claim they are. More so, actually.

[Autumn]

81. That might have been my post. Here's a link

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219792527#post31

I stand by my post.

[Cirsium]

85. An observation

You made an observation. That is not the same as advocacy.

What is interesting about this is that conservatives often disguise their advocacy as mere observation. "Medicare for all? That is not practical."

[Amanita Pantherina]

83. The drama darling!

This is some high level pearl clutching. 8/10

[aka-chmeee]

92. Well...

It sure as hell won't be for marksmanship.


'scuse me, I assumed the OP was regarding the Assassination investigation.

[summer_in_TX]

34. We are horrified at the glee the Right exhibits when one of our Democratic lions dies.

This feels much like that, in reverse.

I feel for his family. I didn't know him or what he was like and I don't automatically assume he was deserving of what he got.

That said, UnitedHealth has long been a callously cruel, money-grubbing abomination. Clear back in the 1980s they caused huge numbers of medical bankruptcies by their denials of claims and then just dropping patients over technicalities. I'd dance on the grave of UnitedHealth if it ever went belly up.

[jfz9580m]

61. Many people on the right are not mourning him either

I don’t want to get into all this again (the ethics of grace dancing etc).

But going by the internet (well Reddit conservatives/Reddit liberals and comments on news articles anyway), it does seem to be a comment on the state of US healthcare that there is almost no sympathy for this guy.

This seems to be the one story uniting the left and the right in terms of reactions.

The shrugs are actually the most sympathetic of all the reactions out there. I gotta say I have never seen anything quite like that before..

[Conjuay]

97. Perhaps people have realized who the true enemy is,

reality is dawning on them.


(Who am I fooling?)

[Cne99999]

36. He deserved it.

Sorry to be crass but he did.

I'm a casualty of his work.

[Kaleva]

43. Maga will say you deserve what happened to you

[Happy Hoosier]

45. That's dripping with Sanctimony.

Abusers often use a "both sides" argument when a victim dares to strike back.

[Kaleva]

48. Are you saying the person I replied to is using the both sides argument?

As Maga will have claimed he deserved it and now he says the CEO deserved what happened to him

[Happy Hoosier]

49. Nope. And you know it.

I don;t know the motives of the shooter for sure. I am saying that I understand someone pushed to such desperation and anger that they might decide violence is their only option.

Thompson had a net worth of $43 million. He was a long time executive of UHC. That means virtually ALL his wealth came from working for, and eventually leading, a company that makes their profit by charging people as much as they can, and denying as many claims as they can within the law. He was NOT a good man.

[Crunchy Frog]

82. The CEO actually hurt people.

As far as I know, the poster didn't.

[Grokenstein]

37. People, people, people! Can't we all just

learn to love the boot? And the taste of the boot? Mmm, yummy yummy boot, stomping on our faces forever!

(slash sarcasm tag in case someone needs it)

[Crowman2009]

38. I for one am not surprised.

It was a perfect storm of our corrupt private medical establishment, not much in the way of mental health infrastructure, and allowing everyone to have a gun. The chickens have come home to roost.

[Aussie105]

40. Gosh, I hope this doesn't become a trend in the USA!

Someone gets really upset and decides to become judge, jury and executioner and carries that out with a gun!

Who am I kidding? Happens a lot, it is just you don't hear about most of those cases.

Media: Shock! Horror! Innocent and important man gets killed by gun violence! Please feel horrified, thoughts and prayers, etc.
Average citizen: Yeah, maybe. Let me think. Nope, care factor zero, I'm over it.

We all get a choice of how we take the violent death of another person.
Don't let the media tell you how you should feel.

Personally, I'm not feeling anything.

[Woodwizard]

42. I feel the same as when I heard.

That Fred Phelps died. OH well....

[Magoo48]

50. .

[Emile]

46. Sympathy is only offered in the Gold plan after paying

the 10 million dollar deductible.

[PennRalphie]

51. What I don't understand

United Health Care is the country’s largest health insurance company. All of these claims being denied. People suffering and as we’re seeing now, dying as a result of denied coverage.

This would have, and should have been, a huge topic for the Democrats. People of all political beliefs could relate.

Maybe instead of having singers on stage, VP Harris could have had a health insurance town hall with the people who have been denied coverage. Democrats, Republicans, Independents. I know it’s hindsight, but with the satisfaction being expressed by so many after the CEO’s death, it seems something like this would have moved the needle. Perhaps enough to move PA, MI, WI, NV.

[Happy Hoosier]

53. I doubt it would have mattered.

There was lots of substantive materail coming from the Harris campaign, but it got almost no media coverage.

[PennRalphie]

55. Maybe this would have made a small difference

That’s all she needed. A few ads about the booming economy here in PA, coupled with ads about health insurance denials, may have convinced his voters that she was right.

We didn’t see either here in western PA

Personally I think just ads about the great economy may have been enough here. Health insurance companies denials, maybe using republicans to talk about this in her ads?

All I know is the singers and actors she paid didn’t help.

But who knows.

[Pokeline]

64. Not hard to understand at all.

I don't know if you're serious or not. That's hard to tell. That said, the Democratic Party and Kamala Harris received as much dough or more from United Health as the Republicans. I haven't looked at the other insurance companies, but the same is probably the case. I guess some here will get outraged by saying that but it's a fact. Reality and facts overrides emotions.

[FSogol]

68. Bothsides!

[Cirsium]

73. Yes

Both sides do take a lot of corporate cash.

Pointing that out is not bothsidesism (false balance, or false equivalency ).

[Cirsium]

72. The money

Lobbying by UnitedHealth Group:

$5,860,000 in 2024
$10,760,000 in 2023

The Harris campaign was the largest recipient of donations from UnitedHealth Group:

Harris, Kamala $774,019

https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/unitedhealth-group/summary?id=D000000348&ICID=ref_fark

[PennRalphie]

89. I am very serious

I think her campaign did her a disservice by not bringing up the economy at every speech and now that health insurance is in the limelight, why didn’t they have her talk about claims denials??? I know both sides take money from them.
I’m talking about why the campaign didn’t talk about claims bring denied????

It was so frustrating to me to hear ad after ad after ad, all talking about trump. Harris’ campaign people should have had her talking about the good she did and maybe health insurance talk would have moved the needle.

I’m just frustrated.

[Emile]

98. Welcome to du.

[XanaDUer2]

57. Excellent point

Republicans and we could come together.

[PennRalphie]

58. It's one thing that affects everyone

Regardless of politics.

[TBF]

75. This week I've seen a lot of that on social media -

the hate for the insurance industry is widespread. The oligarchs will definitely find a way to break that up soon. As it is the major billionaire-owned newspapers are focused on hunting down the suspect and moving on to other stories. Nothing to see here, move along. They've decided it's not in their interest to talk about this guy who rose from a small town to a health care exec with a net worth of nearly 43 million - all while denying 1/3 of the claims coming in the door.

[misanthrope]

88. Because so many elected officials are scared of the insurance industry

Insurance companies have a ton of money to spend. They can make or break politicos just like the broligarchs can. That's part of the reason the ACA more closely resembled the Heritage Foundation plan from the 1990s than it did a single-payer plan. Since the advent of Citizens United, that power has only grown.

[Omnipresent]

52. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the other CEO's.

Should they encounter more people like this.

[Upthevibe]

54. Kick. N/T

[Martin68]

59. Excellent post.

[Amanita Pantherina]

60. If given the choice

I would rather quickly die healthy and rich at the age of 50 from a gunshot than die slowly,
poor and sick at the age of 50 from a medical condition that would be treated if had the money.

We all have to go sometime.

[orangecrush]

63. Excellent point

[Klondike Kat]

65. It was inevitable

A person (or people) can only take so much before they will do something that they previously wouldn't have considered.

[EllieBC]

66. It's impossible for me to feel sympathy for that CEO.

I’m not saying the healthcare system I live under is perfect. Wait times can be atrocious up here. 8 months for an MRI unless you can pay for private? Fucking horrible. Over a year for a therapist? Fucking horrible.

However… I have never had to stress about bringing my kids to an ER or to the doctor and worried about how I would pay for it. Maybe how would pay for their prescriptions but that’s different.

I can’t feel sympathy for a man who is making $10 million a year while being the CEO for a company that was denying people life-saving treatments. My bucket of fucks is dry.

[Cthulu on call]

69. Is this the proper use for "Hope and Prayers"

Or is that just for when elementary school kids get massacred?

[BradBo]

71. Thank gosh he wasn't wounded, medicine in this country sucks.

[wryter2000]

76. Brilliant!

[LexVegas]

84. I'm confused...nt

[get the red out]

86. Murders like this

Could turn the Republican Party into the gun CONTROL party.

[HereForTheParty]

87. Sympathy requires pre-approval

nm

[Conjuay]

95. People are tired of being a commodity.

N/T

[OAITW r.2.0]

96. I wonder who is next in line?

CEO's of privatized healthcare have a problem,. Stockholder value vs. the impact of denials. Not sure I'd want to be the face of privatized healthcare these days.