Among Other Things: the UCH CEO Assassination, & Why It's Being Celebrated

Not celebrating? Fine. But please remember: we may be witnessing the first shots fired in service of a revolution. After all, history has to start somewhere, sometime, with someone. Why not him?

The internet is alight with chatter about Luigi Mangione (aka: The Adjuster or The Claims Adjuster). If you’ve been living under a rock, in your barn, or in your happy place since last Wednesday (totally understandable), here’s the scoop: Mangione is the young man who has been identified as the person who likely shot UHC CEO Brian Thompson on December 4th. Some are vilifying him; more (many more) are fangirling him.

In light of the 24/7 news coverage on this story, you don’t need my $0.02 - but you’re about to get it anyway, and more like $0.25, and from this distinct angle: if you’re derisive about folks celebrating this assassination, then you’re not one of the people this young man was ideologically representing with his actions.

Now, before you get upset: this is not me telling you that your opinion is invalid. It’s also not me inviting you to check your privilege at the door. It’s just a reminder that you’re very lucky to not have been deeply burned and burdened by the American health insurance establishment like so many of us have. It’s also a reminder that we are not separate from history - we are a part of it. If you don’t ideologically condemn the French Revolution but you do condemn the actions of this young killer, then you might just not yet realize that the moment we’re living in is, in fact, history. Please don’t let main character syndrome or any other existential numbing agent deaden your ability to feel that connection with the full weight of its truth. Zoom out of your small, personal zone of attention and comfort for a moment. Realize that we may be witnessing the beginning of the end of the "ancien regime" (old order).

After all, history has to start somewhere, sometime, with someone. Why not him?

Luigi Mangione, 26, was valedictorian of his graduating class at the prestigious Gilman School. He has advanced engineering degrees from an Ivy League school. He’s been characterized as a nice, smart guy. He’s from a prominent Maryland family. He wrote a manifesto about the parasitism of health insurance companies…and has become an American folk hero for his well-planned killing of UHC CEO Brian Thompson. (Image courtesy of Newsweek, who certainly doesn’t share my opinions.)

A personal case in point re: why some people are feeling gleeful: I was explaining (via Instagram) to a very kind Scottish woman why a lot of Americans are gleeful about the UHC CEO getting iced. Turns out, many Europeans don’t understand why a lot of us are fangirling The Claims Adjuster.

Here’s what I told this nice Scottish lady: I’m a small biz owner who is barely scraping middle class status. A full 36% of my gross income goes to federal and state taxes. Then another 7% goes to property taxes. Then another 18% goes to health insurance premiums (before any other medical costs are paid, and whether I actually use the insurance or not).

That’s right: I pay BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont half as much as I pay my entire gahtdamned country, and I pay them more than double what I give to support my town and our entire public school system. Every. Single. Year. I give them that much before I meet my deductible, before I meet my out-of-pocket max, and whether or not I’m able to get an appointment with a physician so I can actually use said health insurance. Even during the full 13 months after moving to Vermont in which I was put on year-long waiting lists just to see a primary care physician, I was still forced to fork over this money to a private health insurance company, lest I go bankrupt over a broken arm, a need for stitches, or a particularly bad case of the flu.

The delightful Scottish lady released a typed stream of Scottish curse words the likes of which I had NEVER seen (and most of which I could not pronounce). She then affirmed that she now totally understood why a lot of us have zero fucking pity for the slain UHC CEO. After all, the top income tax rate in Scotland is only 48%, and healthcare is essentially free for Scottish citizens. To her, we’re living in a humanitarian nightmare. And guess what? - we kind of are.

I know it might seem cruel to be jubilant over someone getting k*lled…many of you reading may feel that way. In general, I don’t condone vigilantism; if the power dynamic were reversed, I certainly wouldn’t condone it. But in a way, many of us feel that The Claims Adjuster is all of us who are making middle class wages or less while we give nearly as much income to a private corporation as we do to the federal government just for the privilege of staying alive and marginally healthy. Likewise, we feel that the UHC CEO is a figurehead for all the worry, bankruptcy, sadness, frustration, stolen time, stolen money, stolen health, and stolen lives that millions and millions of us have suffered for the sake of American corporate profit.

Just think what I could do if 18% of my income were returned to me. I’d be happy to pay double the property taxes I’m currently paying to support local schools - and I’d still have enough money left over after that to take a month-long vacation. I could give more to local charities. I would have enough money to keep my house at 67° all winter instead of just 64° during the day and 55° at night. I could afford to start a family without fear. And I could actually save for retirement - what a novel concept!

Some corporate sympathizers are probably reading this now, thinking “That CEO wasn’t a figurehead; it’s unfair to make any human into a figurehead for nefarious purposes - that multimillionaire CEO was a human being just like you and me!”
To which I would reply: “Yeah, sure…and Louis XVI was ‘just a human being’ too, right?”

This anti-humanitarian dystopian hellscape of ill health and greed has to end somewhere, folks. Also, I don’t see anyone who is condemning folks’ glee over this murder also condemning the French Revolution. That might prove to be a bit shortsighted in the coming months…or not. Either way, as for me, my glee will stand.

Une Exécution capitale, place de la Révolution (1793) by Pierre-Antoine Demachy. Courtesy of The Musée Carnavalet, Paris.