Liberaldom is trying to use the murder to ‘dramatize” insurance denials; Republicans shouldn’t fall for it.
Due to the high-profile murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare Co. (UHC), one of the largest of U.S. health insurers, the issue of health care “delaying, deposing and denying “ reimbursement to beneficiaries is high on the media agenda – and most definitely, in the minds of millions of Americans.
T-shirts are on sale with suspect Luigi Mangione’s image, and some are wearing hoodies and masks to emulate him. Today’s social media creates martyrs and heroes in sick ways, much like the newspaper tabloids did to sensationalize murders in the 1920s and 30s.
I guess given Kamala Harris’ loss and other things going bad for Democrats, Mangione is a new symbol (idol) to worship (like George Floyd or other blacks killed by police).
And in part because of this, President Trump and the GOP Congress should NOT address health care reimbursement just because an Ivy League-educated, white privileged social justice warrior, who ranted and raved about insurance company denials for his back pain problems, shot and killed this executive in order to boost the national conversation about the issue and make himself into an internet sensation.
First and foremost, health care was a MINOR issue in the most-recent presidential campaign – and is such a complex issue for national politicians to address since there are so many special interest stakeholders involved in delivery. Some 14% of GDP is healthcare spending.
I have covered Big Healthcare and Big Pharma for more than 35 years and watched a number of efforts in Congress come and go – the catastrophic Medicare expansion in 1989; Hillary care in 1994; Clinton’s failed effort to get Rx coverage; Bush’s successful Rx coverage efforts, and of course, Obamacare (2009 to present).
One of Donald Trump’s biggest mistakes in his first term was acceding to demands by congressional Republicans who wanted to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), “Obamacare.”
Not only did the effort fail – due to the late Sen. John McCain’s “thumbs down” on the Senate floor in the dead of night in August 2017 – but it cost Republicans a lot of good will with voters. Fact is Obamacare is here to stay as an entitlement because Republicans have failed to offer an alternative that can pass with bipartisan support.
Second, Trump’s 2024 campaign was focused on inflation, border security, trade and tariffs, crime control, Israel and Ukraine and getting rid of DEI and combatting the “Marxist lunatics” on campuses, as he calls them. Diverting from that, like he did with Obamacare, could really hurt his agenda.
I recall Bill Clinton being forced by media pressure after his 1992 election to address gays in the military at the outset of his 1993 term, only for him to get into a tussle with Senate Armed Services Committee Sam Nunn, a fellow Democrat, who opposed it. And, most members of Congress, Democrat and Republican, were aghast.
Third, and most important – addressing this issue because the suspect, Ivy League white privileged Luigi Mangione, “stood up” for health insurance reform by murdering Thompson, sets a very bad precedent.
If Trump and Congress cave to this, the next thing, vigilantes upset about drug prices will be shooting at pharmaceutical executives; nutrition and anti-obesity advocates , spurred by HHS Secretary nominee Robert F . Kennedy Jr. railing against ultra processed foods, will be attacking executives of big grocery companies. We already have seen “Ecoterrorists” who burn down suburban housing developments to protest “sprawl” and who spray paint artwork to protest “climate change.” Do we allow their escapades to drive the agenda? No!
Social media and broadcast media can focus so much on a “problem” that it puts intense pressure on politicians to act – which means they can act in haste and create more policy problems in the long term.
If Congress and Trump wish to focus on the underlying causes of this murder, that could be good – notably, the breakdown of morals in society, and the radicalization suspect Luigi Mangione got at the University of Pennsylvania that clearly drove him to commit this heinous murder. And, perhaps scrutinizing “ghost guns,” which he apparently used for the murder.
At some point in his term, Trump and Congress could tackle the health insurance/healthcare issue – perhaps after gaining some support among Democrats (wishful thinking, perhaps) and health industry stakeholders.
But Republicans under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should divert from the MAGA agenda, merely because the Left wants to change the subject to health care and justify this horrible murder of Thompson, who also was the father of two young kids.
To me, this would be a real threat to democracy.
