Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a longtime advocate for universal healthcare, has connected the recent shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson to widespread dissatisfaction with the American health insurance system.
During an appearance on Meet the Press Sunday morning, Sanders, an Independent who aligns with the Democrats, shared his perspective on the issue.
“What I think has happened in the last few months is that what you have seen rising up is people’s anger at a health insurance industry, which denies people the health care that they desperately need while they make billions and billions of dollars in profit,” Sanders said to host Kristen Welker. The comments came in response to a question about whether it was appropriate to discuss healthcare reform in the wake of the tragedy.
The suspect in the case, Luigi Mangione, allegedly shot Thompson on December 4 in New York City. Days later, he was apprehended at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Authorities revealed that Mangione had a handwritten manifesto with him at the time of his arrest, which purportedly outlined his motives.
“Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming. A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy,” Mangione allegedly wrote in the manifesto. He is facing second-degree murder charges in New York, along with gun-related charges in Pennsylvania.
Although Sanders condemned the murder, he echoed some of the broader criticisms of the healthcare system reflected in Mangione’s alleged writings.
“We need to ask ourselves when we talk about health care is why we are the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people, why we have a life expectancy which is significantly lower than in other countries, why working-class people die five to ten years shorter than the people on top,” Sanders remarked.
“I think the time is long overdue for us to guarantee health care to every man, woman, and child, especially at a time when we’re spending twice as much per capita on health care as the people of every other nation.”
Other Democratic politicians have also spoken out about issues within the healthcare system following the shooting. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren weighed in during a recent television interview, warning that people can only endure so much before they begin to take drastic action.
“You can only push people so far and then they start to take matters into their own hands,” Warren said earlier this week.
After facing backlash for her remarks, Warren clarified her position, stating, “I should have been much clearer that there is never a justification for murder.”
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York also addressed the incident, describing it as a symptom of a broader national crisis.
“Of course, we don’t want to see the chaos that vigilantism presents,” Ocasio-Cortez told Business Insider. “We also don’t want to see the extreme suffering that millions of Americans confront when your life changes overnight from a horrific diagnosis.”
A report from Forbes highlighted that UnitedHealthcare denies more claims than any other insurer, a statistic that has fueled criticism of the company. Following Mangione’s arrest, supporters raised over $100,000 for his legal defense fund, with donations pouring in from across the country. Mangione remains in custody at a detention center in Pennsylvania as he fights extradition to New York.
{Matzav.com}