By ELIJAH BACIUSKA ’26
Updated 11:50 a.m. EDT, 04 April 2025
On December 4, 2024, Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was walking in New York City on his way to an investors’ meeting when he was approached from behind and fatally shot. In the wake of the incident, authorities launched a nationwide manhunt, partnering with the FBI and agencies across the country. When forensic analysts recovered the bullets from the scene, they discovered three words inscribed on them: Deny. Defend. Depose. Five days later, authorities arrested Luigi Mangione as the suspected perpetrator.
Political figures and news outlets quickly praised the investigation, but the public reacted differently. Online, people created videos offering fake alibis for Mangione, while others expressed support through protests and joked about his conventional attractiveness. This divide between official praise and public sympathy reflected deeper frustrations with the system Mangione’s (alleged) actions symbolized. His potential crime, while extreme, was not an isolated act—it was an eruption of resentment toward an American healthcare system that has long operated on three fundamental pillars: Deny, Defend, and Depose.
An American citizen is 2.33 times more likely to die from a lack of healthcare coverage than from homicide.
Deny: The first step private insurance companies take to maximize profits is to deny care to those who need it most. Claims are routinely rejected on the basis of a procedure being “medically unnecessary” or because a patient has a “pre-existing condition,” forcing people into medical debt or premature death. In 2023 alone, insurance companies denied 20% of all network claims under the Affordable Care Act, leaving countless families drowning in bills for life-saving treatments (KFF). The consequence? An American citizen is 2.33 times more likely to die from a lack of healthcare coverage than from homicide (NIH). Meanwhile, insurers post record profits, their CEOs earning tens of millions annually while patients ration medication, delay care, or die.
Defend: When patients and doctors contest these denials, corporations respond with bureaucratic warfare. Appeals can take months or years, requiring extensive documentation, legal battles, and testimonies from medical professionals—all while the patient suffers, goes bankrupt, or dies. Some never live to see their care approved. Others, forced to pay out of pocket, face financial ruin. Nearly 100 million Americans owe an estimated 220 billion dollars in medical expenses, yet lobbyists continue to flood Washington to ensure legislation never threatens their bottom line (The Guardian). In 2022 alone, the healthcare industry spent $700 million on lobbying, outspending the defense and oil industries combined (OpenSecrets). The message is clear: profits come before people, no matter the cost.
To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail; to a private insurer, every life looks like another dollar.
Depose: Eventually, public outrage reaches a boiling point, so the system offers a scapegoat. A CEO resigns with a golden parachute, a politician makes a speech about “reform,” or a lawsuit ends in a quiet settlement. To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail; to a private insurer, every life looks like another dollar. They continue to rake in billions, hospitals charge thousands for an ambulance ride, and working-class Americans are told to set up GoFundMe pages to afford cancer treatment. This isn’t broken—it’s by design. Luigi Mangione was not the first to lash out in alleged anger, and he will not be the last. His suspected actions were an extension of rage in a country where people die rationing insulin, where medical bankruptcy is a uniquely American tragedy, and where patients are treated as revenue streams rather than human beings. Though killings like these should never be celebrated,
the root of this anger speaks to a greater cause—it was a product of a system that devalues life in the name of shareholder value.
So, what’s more violent? Mangione’s alleged bullets, or a system that kills for profit? ★
Elijah Baciuska ‘26 is majoring in Biomedical Sciences. When not studying, he enjoys spending time with friends, playing video games and is interested in politics.
