Luigi Mangione and the UnitedHealthcare Assassination
On December 4, 2024, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. The person charged with the murder was 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, a UPenn graduate with a wealthy background and no prior connections to Thompson. Upon his arrest, Mangione was allegedly found in possession of a 3D-printed firearm (otherwise known as a “ghost gun”), ammunition, numerous fake identification documents, cash, and a notebook containing a handwritten manifesto assuming his responsibility for the crime and critiquing the U.S. healthcare system.
Mangione currently faces 11 state charges, including first-degree murder and an act of terrorism, second-degree murder as a crime of terrorism, and numerous charges accounting for the possession of ghost guns and weapons. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all and his attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, has continuously expressed concern about the spread of misinformation and extensive, biased media coverage. In addition to state charges, Mangione is facing federal charges of stalking and murder through the use of a firearm, which could potentially lead to the death penalty. The indictment deadline for these charges has been extended to February 17, 2025. As of right now (January 2025), Mangione remains detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, an administrative facility housing pretrial/holdover for inmates going through the judicial process.
But who is Luigi Mangione? As of now, what does the public know? Luigi Nicholas Mangione, born in Maryland, comes from an affluent family. His grandfather was a successful real estate developer who had many businesses, including the Hayfields Country Club, Trf Valley Resort, Lorien Health Services, Mangione Family Foundation, and many others. Therefore, Mangione grew up in a very privileged environment and household, even attending an elite all-boys private institution in Baltimore, where he graduated as valedictorian in 2016.
He then pursued higher education at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a Bachelor’s degree in both computer engineering and computer and information sciences by 2020. However, despite his clean track record, Mangione’s life would take a dramatic turn. By June 2024, Mangione had ceased communication with his family and stopped updating on all social media platforms. He then used numerous fake identification documents throughout the next few months, until he was arrested in December 2024 for the alleged murder of Brian Thompson.
Compared to those that one would expect to oppose UnitedHealthcare, Mangione’s background stands in stark contrast, causing many raised eyebrows as to the truth behind the murder. Many have found themselves asking: why would he murder Brian Thompson? We can only speculate, but learning more about the man Mangione allegedly killed might give us the answer.
So who is Brian Thompson? Thompson served as the Chief Executive Officer of UnitedHealthcare, a huge insurance division of UnitedHealth Group from 2021 until his death. Under his leadership, UnitedHealthcare insured 49 million Americans and reported $281 billion in revenue for the 2023 fiscal year, increasing company profits massively.
However, achieving such feats came at the expense of the patients. UnitedHealthcare faced significant criticism for its handling of insurance claims. People who may have needed scanning or a check-up were denied coverage, causing people to take on debt, or even lose their lives. The U.S. Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations even highlighted the surge of denials, bringing criticism and the necessity for scrutinization. But one may ask: “Can’t people choose a different insurance company?” Well, insurance is often not a choice, as companies will provide insurance companies to their workers and employees, for which the workers will pay fees in case of any health issues or emergencies. That means that insurance is heavily based on employer companies and corporations, which companies may want to choose the cheapest money-saving option. This caused much public backlash against the CEO and UnitedHealthcare as a whole.
As of now, court proceedings will continue in February 2025, and the legal and public community continue to keep watch as new updates and information are being found and analyzed.
A Shocking Response!
Luigi Mangione’s edits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NzZjLNAUjk
Luigi shouting out to the press: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dah1vfuNmE
A song made to preach Luigi’s innocence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Fw7qxIhhQ
Luigi Mangione’s edit, shown on Fox News: Luigi Mangione Edit on Fox News [10-12-24] #luigimangione #foxnews #foxnetwork #freeluigi – YouTube
Rationalizing Mangione’s Support
Mangione’s (alleged) actions have prompted two very different responses— one of condemnation and another of support. The condemnation has come from many major figures in American politics, with Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro calling Mangione a “coward, not a hero” and asserting that “in America, we do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint.” From the other side of the aisle, conservative Fox News host Laura Ingraham denounced Mangione and his supporters as “nutbag people.”
But despite the condemnation of Luigi Mangione being one of the few things that major Democrats and Republicans have agreed on, hundreds of thousands of American people— regardless of their political leanings— have a drastically different view of the situation. Indeed, there has been a groundswell of support, mainly from younger citizens. A poll by the Center for Strategic Politics found that young Americans view Mangione “far more favorably” than Brian Thompson or his company UnitedHealthcare. A separate poll by CloudResearch found that one in four Americans were sympathetic to Mangione, and a poll by YouGov and The Economist found that Mangione’s net approval among Americans was a whopping 15 points higher than that of Congress. Further, all across social media, Mangione has enjoyed overwhelmingly positive coverage from the heavily shared hashtag #FreeLuigi, memes depicting him as a Roman Catholic saint, various merchandise sold online supporting him, the over 460,000 new followers his Twitter account gained, and even look-alike contests around the country.
So where is this support stemming from? The main driver behind it is the widespread discontent surrounding the U.S. healthcare industry— a system whose negative effects play a role in the lives of almost every American. From the constantly rising costs of care to the insurance premiums that increase at a similar rate, to deductibles, copays, and claim denials, American healthcare is seen as responsible for the deaths of millions, and progress is nowhere to be seen. From 1999 to 2016, insurance premiums have rocketed from under $6,000 to over $18,000. This trend has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and overall, researchers Richard Young and Jennifer DeVoe have projected that without any major reform, “the employee contribution to a family premium plus out-of-pocket costs will comprise one-half the household income by 2031 and total income by 2042.”
Even before this projected date, healthcare costs are already the largest driver of income inequality in the U.S. Researchers from Harvard University and Hunter College found that household payments for healthcare, such as medical premiums, copayments and deductibles, pushed more than 7 million Americans into poverty in 2014, dramatically worsening income inequality. With this income inequality comes disparities in life expectancy between the rich and poor, with the richest Americans living 10 to 15 years longer on average than the poorest.
Following COVID, this situation has become even more dire. 41% of Americans carry medical debt, and one in five of these Americans with medical debt believe that they will never be able to pay it off. High healthcare costs spur a vicious cycle, where our financing system drives millions into poverty, which then leads to ill health, more medical issues, and more bills to pay off. It is therefore no coincidence that poverty is one of the top causes of death in the country, just behind heart disease, smoking, and cancer.
In contrast, UnitedHealthcare’s revenue grew to $371.6 billion in 2023. Only 6% of this (roughly $22 billion) is the company’s profit, but this doesn’t account for the roughly 17% that goes into “administrative costs,” which, compared to the Medicare program, is six times as much. And even if one views these administrative costs as necessary, there is still roughly $22 billion that the company earns that does not go towards anyone’s healthcare. Some of UHC’s specific policies have also come under fire. Although insurers are required to spend about 80-85% of their revenues on healthcare, many exploit the system through loopholes, like buying up hospitals and clinics and paying their own providers inflated prices. In the case of UnitedHealthcare, 40% of the company’s revenue comes from these internal transactions. Another major gripe against UHC is their systematic claim denials, a practice highlighted by a class action lawsuit against them regarding the company’s machine learning algorithm NaviHealth. UHC’s “illegal deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) in place of real medical professionals” allowed them to “wrongfully deny elderly patients care owed to them under Medicare Advantage Plans by overriding their treating physicians’ determinations as to medically necessary care based on an AI model that Defendants know has a 90% error rate.”
The lawsuit continues that UHC continues “to systemically deny claims using their flawed AI model because they know that only a tiny minority of policyholders … will appeal denied claims. Defendants bank on the patients’ impaired conditions, lack of knowledge, and lack of resources to appeal the erroneous AI-powered decisions.” Obviously, rising healthcare costs cannot be blamed solely on one company, nor the individual heading the company, but the state of American healthcare as an industry that puts profits before people provides insight on why there is such a shared feeling of frustration among the American people— a sentiment that transcends party lines.
The American People, United by Class?
The peak of political division in America during the past few years begs for a unifier — one that, interestingly enough, Mangione seems to have provided. With 77% of Americans believing the country was more divided than before the pandemic according to Pew Research Center, uncertainty and instability continue to plague the public. Whether these waves of polarization come from an increase in ideologically radical politicians or parties’ hatred of opposition remains ambiguous; though the sentiment of disunity itself persists, once again pleading some sort of mediator. This is where Luigi Mangione takes his place in the online community. The onslaught of support for Mangione across various social media outlets comes from not one party, but both; and consequently, many have begun to recognize this. In the comment section under Ben Shapiro’s “The EVIL Revolutionary Left Cheers Murder!” video, the overwhelming reaction has been expressing that healthcare injustice is a common concern of the American people.
As these commenters describe, the convergence of opinion between left and right-wing ideologies comes with a shared frustration towards the power accumulated in the American healthcare industry, the abuse of such affecting thousands of people and their loved ones yearly. This outcry against healthcare injustice has left plenty turning their blame towards “the 1%” — America’s wealthy upper class. In control of 43% of all global financial assets, billionaires of today reflect a lifestyle that flaunts unimaginable power, prosperity, and perfection. However, the cost of these luxurious conditions often comes at the expense of the less fortunate; namely, in this case, the victims of UHC’s negligence. The internet’s nearly unanimous verdict of praise following the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson cast, if only for a brief moment, a sweeping sense of amalgamation among those harmed in wealth’s way; a sense that can best be described through the term “class consciousness”.
Class consciousness, as defined by Britannica, is “the self-understanding of members of a social class.” Originally coined by German philosopher Karl Marx, the term refers to the realization that the wealth division between the working and ruling class overshadows divisions among political or social groups. To adhere to this theory is to be aware of worker’s exploitation under a capitalistic means of production and find solidarity within those of the same class. Following this awareness, according to Marxist theory, is the goal of overcoming the oppression inflicted upon the working class by the wealthy elite. It comes as no surprise, then, that Mangione has been painted as somewhat of a “working-class folk hero”, as described by NBC. These reported words of praise become more intriguing when taking into consideration his affluent background. With an Ivy League degree and familial ties to “a prominent Maryland family that owns country clubs, health care facilities and real estate companies” as reported by CBS Baltimore, it is no secret that Mangione himself has assumedly lived a life of privilege and financial comfort. Because of this, one would assume that it exempts him from the grievances of the American healthcare system; though, in hindsight, it does not. While the wealth differences between a lower class and a middle class citizen may prove significant, financial corruption serves only to benefit those at the very top.
Conclusion
Regardless of the discourse and speculation surrounding this case, the punishment Mangione may potentially face remains unclear. Further muddling his future is the fact that despite countless pieces of evidence and a wide-scale investigation, his status as a mere suspect still remains; and, up to the date of his indictment on February 17, he is innocent until proven guilty. As condemnations of Mangione’s violence and condolences towards Thompson’s family circulated online, public opinion continued to rear its head, with this support not expected to cease any time soon. Justifications for the shooting stem from the festering wound of the millions of Americans hurt by their insurance companies day by day, and until this pain is addressed, resentment will only grow. Whether Mangione is found guilty or not, the impact of his actions will endure — dividing many Americans and uniting many more.
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