Summary
Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was fatally shot in a premeditated attack outside the New York Hilton Midtown before speaking at an investor conference.
The gunman, still at large, fired multiple times, leaving shell casings marked with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose.”
Authorities suggest Thompson was targeted but remain unclear on the motive. His wife confirmed prior threats against him.
Analysts speculate a possible vendetta tied to his company. The case raises questions about executive security, as Thompson lacked personal protection despite known risks.
The case raises questions about executive security
Thankfully it doesn’t raise any questions about the place of billionaire CEOs of companies making life and death decisions for the general populace for the sake of their overflowing pocket book. Boy would that be awkward.
Just curious: do you know any life or death decision he personally made that wasn’t the result of hundreds of bean counters crafting policy over many years? I find it hard to believe the ceo rubber stamped any decision like that, or even that he was aware of the details of any individual case.
The CEO is ultimately responsible for the actions of the company. That’s literally their job. They set policy, direction and strategy, and if we’re to listen to what CEOs say they do,they also set the tone, attitude and energy of the company.
So unless the denials that resulted in death were done in opposition to corporate policy, the CEO is responsible for them.
Additionally, there was literally nothing stopping him from pushing a company policy of, as a thought, approving all claims involving minors, changing approval standards to only deny when the treatment was unequivocally unnecessary after a verbal consultation between the patients doctor and the insurance review doctor, and moving the balance of claim review to fraud investigation to recoup money after instead of denying upfront.
He’s only been there since 2021. These policies don’t show up overnight. How do you know he wasn’t working to change these policies?
Being in charge since 2021 means he got to decide at least some policies during the pandemic, which arguably could’ve caused even more harm if he wanted to deny a portion of claims solely to keep shareholders happy
First, because I’m not naive and know that CEOs don’t get large bonuses and stock grants for doing stuff like that, particularly not in the US health insurance industry.
Second, we know that since he started there they began programs like using AI in a fashion that had a preposterously high denial rate, and actively hurt elderly people.
this case, and others like it continued to happen during his tenure.
Finally, a company wouldn’t do a program like that without mentioning it, since it would clearly make them a more appealing insurer.Even if he didn’t put the policies in place, he’s still responsible for the conduct of the company under his supervision, and there’s no indication he did anything other than act like what you would expect from an insurance company CEO. Maximizing profits by denying healthcare.
Decisions that led to his company having the worst denial rate nationwide and the decision to wholly adopt an AI system that is known to have a 90% error rate to achieve it. Overflowing profits and bonuses sank right in to his pockets for his business acumen, and the key thing you do to earn that CEO payday is sign off on everything and be culpable when the shit hits the fan.
that’s the thing about being the chief, the buck stops there.
Yes the machine of human misery and death was already constructed before Mr Thompson got into the drivers seat. What’s you’re point? That he somehow didn’t know it was a death machine?
Strange to me that people are celebrating this guys death without knowing him or anything about how much his actions caused the issues with uhcs policy. He was handed the reign and therfore deserved death is the general tone here. Seems unjust and evil to me. I wouldn’t wish murder on anyone, worrying so many seem to disagree.
No one actually gives a shit about Brian Thomas personally. People see “United Healthcare CEO dead” and they say “good”. Maybe you’re not from the US but its not strange at all.
You can’t put bullets in a “system”.
Preexisting bullets have somehow migrated thru his ass. Had he checked with his doctor before they would have caught the bullets. Unfortunately there’s nothing we can do…except maybe monopoly! Or how about a game of checkers? Or tictactoe?
CEOs of these companies will say things along the lines of find a way to deny an extra X% of claims this year, our profits are down!
Edit: and I wouldn’t be surprised if they said something like or find a reason to deny that will get overturned if looked at further but maybe they won’t fight back hard enough.
I finally understand what certain people mean when they talk about “good guys with guns”.
This was always the dream, the picture everyone tried to paint. Grabbing your powderhorn, Putting on your tricorne hat, and defending liberty against tyranny, and all that. It just never really actually happened.
Lol tricorn hat reminds me of
Tally ho lads.
It used to happen more frequently, the battle of Blair mountain for example.
The French do it better, historically.
Authorities suggest Thompson was targeted but remain unclear on the motive.
Friggin Sherlock Holmes’ over here.
The case raises questions about executive security
“We won’t be pressured into changing the system we’ll just protect the rich exploiters better”
if it costs less to defend the CEO than to provide good healthcare they will always go with increasing defense.
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They also aren’t all that expensive to replace. There’s always some asshole who is happy to step over the corpses of other people to get to the top.
I’m not sure the offer is that attractive after your predecessor was shot because the company policies.
It’s ok. They’ll just UP the offer.
The house of cards will always tumble eventually.
E: And there’s a straw that’ll break the Camel’s back.
It’s nice that you believe that. I wish I were an optimist.
There’s always CFOs too
Its simple all you clueless colombos. Just start investigating all denied claims where the person died at a result. Shouldn’t take more than a decade or so to go though that list.
You misspelled century
You also need to include deaths due to delayed or inadequate treatment, and suicides related to medical debt
its all been discarded by now.
Despite a fairly obvious motive in general before this news broke, and now confirmation it was because of their policies, they are doing zero soul searching or reexamination of why their policies became a motive
Thompson’s killing quickly sent shockwaves through the corporate world, with corporate security heads gathering in a conference call to Wednesday.
“Many of my colleagues today are sitting down with their executive protection team leaders, their security leadership teams, and re-evaluating what they are doing and not doing,” Dave Komendat, president of Seattle-based Komendat Risk Management Services
Who had neo-Pinkertons on their 2020s bingo?
Pinkerton’s still exist but are under the Swedish firm Securitas 🔴🔴🔴.
I was amazed to learn this one time.
Pinkertons always sounded such a Old Western thing, then I googled them or something and realised I see their patrol cars and guards most days. (Securitas operates in Finland.)
Yeah, Securitas are huge. They are the second largest private security company in the world by revenue (the largest being G4S). I didn’t know they were THAT big until recently when I watched an investigate news/documentary report (by UG) on them
It should however be noted that Pinkerton apparently operate as a subsidiary and does investigative and other Pinkerton stuff like normal. The Securitas you probably think of when you hear Securitas is still Securitas and not Pinkerton.
As an emoji connoisseur, I tip my hat to you
After Hasbro sent the Pinkertons to get fucking MtG cards last year, this wouldn’t be surprising
GOONS, HIRED GOONS!
Hired Goons?!
You did not think I made my fortune by writing checks did you?
that sounds a lot dirtier this decade than it did last
I am happy that they are scared
I mean they could stop hi fiving in the boardroom when their AI is denying care to people who have paid for insurance all of their lives.
I don’t think murdering people in the street is a just act, though. Mainly because of same reason I didn’t think the government should be killing people–the error rate is too high and someone innocent gets killed.
The Punisher would be a lot less cool of he left a trail of innocent people behind.
That said, when I saw this happen I immediately thought of the UniteHealth AI denying elderly care story I had read the day or morning before.
Healthcare boardrooms across the country have probably been celebrating the idea they can deny people like they’ve always done PLUS blame it on a computer, now. High five 🙏
Oops. Murder seems to be a side effect of evil.
yo
authorities remain unclear about the motive
the authorities are fucking idiots
They know the motive, they just don’t have enough proof to say it publicly. They like to keep things vague.
More likely too many motives that fit.
They know the motives but the lords above them tell them to shut up and say they don’t know.
I sure hope nobody copies this behavior of retribution against the billionaire class which is responsible for almost all of the worlds suffering.
Thoughts and Prayering so hard right now.
A man can hope. Let’s pray.
What a bullshit take.
I can’t tell if you picked up on their sarcasm or not.
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Authorities suggest Thompson was targeted but remain unclear on the motive.
Aye, that sure is a mystery for the ages. Maybe he cut somebody up in traffic?
Didn’t return the shopping cart
Probably cyberbullied him back in the day.
There’s a gulf of difference between jumping to an obvious conclusion and actually doing the investigative work to really answer the question. The police aren’t dumb and are probably just as sure as the rest of us as to the motive that will be found. However, they still need to make that determination based on real evidence, especially if it’s going to go to court. So, “it’s unclear” until they have something which provides strong evidence of a motive.
Ya, I’d be putting all my chips on this being someone who was on the receiving end of a denied claim. But, you never know when it’s going to end up being the guy failing to pay up to the Russian Mafia or some other situation which resulted in a targeted attack. I’m not going to defend all the actions of the police, but they do occasionally stop shooting kids long enough investigate crimes properly.
The police aren’t dumb
What? Since when?
The case raises questions about executive security,
Of course this is the lesson. Not that everyone hates you, your company, the business, etc. It’s not our actions. We just need security.
Pretty soon they are going to need security droids like those in the movie Elysium. They are already working on that.
Thoughts and deductibles to his family.
Sorry, thoughts are not in network with your health care plan.
Damn, he was really about sending a message 😬
Clarity in connection is a positive thing. Ambiguity breeds confusion.
To those complaining this is news because this is a rich white CEO and shouldn’t be. It’s fascinating to me because it seems like vengeance. It seems like it was well planned. It seems like the killer may have had a personal beef with the insurance company. I don’t usually follow things like this but I think insurance companies are genuinely evil. This one has my interest.
Imagine how interesting it would be if more copycats started killing evil rich people all around the world…
French Revolution vibes intensify…
Every single billionaire has working class people in their direct employ. Just saying.
Many household objects can be used as weapons. Just saying.
Boy I hope no future healthcare CEO assassins copy this calling card, and I especially hope their bullet shells aren’t covered with the names of people killed by the CEO’s company denying them healthcare.
Not only would that encourage more copy cats, but it would really capture people’s attention and get them thinking about the issue. If the public starts considering crazy propaganda like how seeking maximum profit at the expense of widespread human suffering might not be life’s most noble pursuit, just imagine what could happen!
“Thompson lacked personal protection despite known risks.”
Oh. Oh ho ho. That is an interesting bit of information.
Not the lacking personal protection. That does surprise me, but not a lot.
What does surprise me is the “despite known risks.”
Was he that arrogant? Or do they, the powerful, greedy, and heartless, fear the wrong things?
Interesting to consider. The primal instinct to fear for ones life drives the most basic of biology. Is it possible, that this class of individuals lacks that fear? Or is it that there is something that fear more?
I think we all know the answer to that, of course. They fear losing power and wealth. That’s quite a vulnerability. They protect that wealth and power more than their own life. I feel like I’ve heard about consequences to that.
He was that arrogant, and the powerful and rich don’t know actual fear at all until they meet a guy like the one this CEO met.
Man, it’d be a shame if his life insurance company dropped coverage for that.
The assassin was a pre-existing condition, a condition caused by his last workplace, clearly.
This is the part that keeps running through my mind.
The motherfucker ain’t stupid. He knows that as the CEO of an insurance company he is bound to be hated by lots of people, and yet he chooses to go without Private Security? Bruh. All those fucking dollars, couldn’t spare some to increase his chance of survival eh?
Did the almighty dollar cloud his thoughts so much he thought he couldn’t die no more? He thought he was above the rules of the physical plane? Dude thought he was gonna re-sleeve like Altered Carbon
