United Healthcare CEO killed

[samhexum]

So of course I have a normal person's reaction...

How does this affect my insurance?

UnitedHealthcare CEO fatally shot in midtown Manhattan

APPLE.NEWS

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The CEO of UnitedHealthcare was shot and killed in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning, a law...

 

[maninsoma]

I don't think wondering how his murder will affect your insurance is a "normal person's reaction."  Why would the death of the CEO of a huge company affect individual customers?  This isn't a small business where the principal's death might result in the business closing.  UHC will go on.

[+ augustus]

Saw on the news that the wife was called up and asked to comment.  The wife's first reaction is not hanging up the phone in grieving disbelief when called for comment, but mentioning a possible motive. “Basically, I don’t know, a lack of coverage?” she said.  Who does an interview with the press 2 hours after their spouse was murdered?   Doesn't pass the sniff test.

Edited December 4, 2024 by augustus

[samhexum]

36 minutes ago, BSR said:

The hitman did some but not all necessary preplanning... he didn’t test his equipment ahead of time.  His firearm malfunctioned several times probably because, according to one firearms expert’s commentary, the suppressor he used was incompatible with his gun.

Or perhaps he's a diabolical mastermind (as Steed & Mrs. Peel would've said) who didn't do those things so he'd look like an amateur and throw the cops off the scent.

[Cooper]

Administrator’s Warning

Gentlemen, You know our Guidelines, no politics. All messages that violate our rule have been removed. 

[+ JEC]

Working in the healthcare biz, UHC has a reputation for being ruthless about denying claims (which results either in denial of needed care, or the costs being borne by the patient).  There is a lot of speculation that this may be a motive, but we should not rush to judgment.  This is a brazen and brutal murder, and we should give the family space to grieve and the police space to do their job.  There is enough video and other evidence that I think they will find the perp.  Very sad day......a 50yo father and husband got up and went to work yesterday morning, and did not come home.

[Luv2play]

While I feel empathy for the victim and his family, if the reputation of the company he was CEO of is accurate, and given its dominance in the private health care insurance system, then I think the company and its board of directors need to look at themselves in the mirror to see if they like what they see.

[pubic_assistance]

29 minutes ago, Luv2play said:

I think the company and its board of directors need to look at themselves in the mirror to see if they like what they see.

Most insurance companies today are shameless, unethical money-grubbing scams. If you just look at the bonus structures for their CEOs you understand why people always get screwed by their insurance provider when they need it. HUGE proportions of your insurance premium are withheld as company profit and paychecks.

[maninsoma]

I worked for UHC subsidiary United Behavioral Health 25 years ago.  I guess UHC had acquired UBH not long before I started working there, and the "old timers" told me how much better UBH was before the UHC buyout.  I only lasted a couple of years because it was a horrible place to work.  Low pay for the qualifications required and a grueling workload.  No financial incentives to do a great job because everyone lower on the totem pole got rewarded similarly (which meant minuscule raises and a paltry year end bonus).  I resigned shortly after an annual report was released that showed my salary was about .13% of the CEO's, and I wasn't even at the bottom of the totem pole.

[marylander1940]

Bullet casings found at scene of UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting had messages on them: Source

WWW.NBCNEWYORK.COM

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The suspect the NYPD believes shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson left behind writings on the shell casings, a law enforcement source...

A law enforcement official tells NBC News the bullet casings found at the scene had messages on them that were “defend", "deny” and “depose.”

Reminds me of:

 

[+ augustus]

58 minutes ago, marylander1940 said:

A law enforcement official tells NBC News the bullet casings found at the scene had messages on them that were “defend", "deny” and “depose.”

Holy smoke. That is legal terminology.  This may have something to do with an Insider Trading case under investigation involving the CEO and some other high-level executives.  

[marylander1940]

53 minutes ago, augustus said:

Holy smoke. That is legal terminology.  This may have something to do with an Insider Trading case under investigation involving the CEO and some other high-level executives.  

I'm sure many CEOs are already getting bodyguards! 

Edited December 5, 2024 by marylander1940

[pubic_assistance]

1 hour ago, marylander1940 said:

A law enforcement official tells NBC News the bullet casings found at the scene had messages on them that were “defend", "deny” and “depose.”

Absolutely. Sounds like a script from a movie.

[marylander1940]

1 minute ago, pubic_assistance said:

Absolutely. Sounds like a script from a movie.

You've read my mind! 

[rvwnsd]

20 hours ago, augustus said:

Saw on the news that the wife was called up and asked to comment.  The wife's first reaction is not hanging up the phone in grieving disbelief when called for comment, but mentioning a possible motive. “Basically, I don’t know, a lack of coverage?” she said.  Who does an interview with the press 2 hours after their spouse was murdered?   Doesn't pass the sniff test.

Who contacts the widow shortly after her late husband's murder and requests her reaction? What do they expect her to say?

That said, yes, hanging up the phone would be my first reaction. Perhaps the shock impaired her thinking?

 

[56harrisond]

Social Media Has Little Sympathy for Murdered Health Insurance Exec

WWW.ROLLINGSTONE.COM

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Americans on social media showed virtually no sympathy for the apparently targeted killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO...

 

[+ augustus]

29 minutes ago, rvwnsd said:

Perhaps the shock impaired her thinking?

 

Maybe.  People do react differently.  But still.  

[chitownguy]

3 hours ago, marylander1940 said:

Bullet casings found at scene of UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting had messages on them: Source

WWW.NBCNEWYORK.COM

---

The suspect the NYPD believes shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson left behind writings on the shell casings, a law enforcement source...

A law enforcement official tells NBC News the bullet casings found at the scene had messages on them that were “defend", "deny” and “depose.”

Reminds me of:

 

Delay, Deny Defend is the title of a book about how insurance companies deny claims.

https://www.amazon.com/Delay-Deny-Defend-insurance-companies-ebook/dp/B086Z2HGWM/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mwpnelaY_vwy8jQDyBmezcPmo1LHE8JCyagaejRV3jU.sKjoLhFTFXcunI_N-EdGRfch7dw01L2-oeEd9hHxa8U&dib_tag=se&keywords=defend+deny+delay&qid=1733416463&sr=8-1

[marylander1940]

4 minutes ago, chitownguy said:

Delay, Deny Defend is the title of a book about how insurance companies deny claims.

https://www.amazon.com/Delay-Deny-Defend-insurance-companies-ebook/dp/B086Z2HGWM/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.mwpnelaY_vwy8jQDyBmezcPmo1LHE8JCyagaejRV3jU.sKjoLhFTFXcunI_N-EdGRfch7dw01L2-oeEd9hHxa8U&dib_tag=se&keywords=defend+deny+delay&qid=1733416463&sr=8-1

Is this the new Zodiac?

[+ DrownedBoy]

The CEO was under active investigation for insider trading. The charge was that he sold off his stocks once he knew the government was investigating his firm....for its constant denial of coverage!

I have little to no empathy for this guy. He got rich while many customers were suffering and dying. My firm switched to and from UHC for one year because of their crappy coverage. The final karma - he was pronounced dead at a hospital that, in a big news story recently, pulled out of the UHC network because they were so bad 😆

However, the story seems fishy. The killer acted like a professional - used a silencer, shot in the open without any hesitation or nervousness (even when his gun jammed - which is common with silencers), knew the right spots to hit in a guy's back to kill him, and threw off the cops by pretending he was using a publicly tracked bike. The words on the shell casings could be just to throw the cops off.

If they catch the killer alive and he shows to have a moral motive (like a child who died after a UHC denial), mark my words - he'll become the Kyle Rittenhouse of the far left and won't lack for attorney fees.

(And if that was truly the motive, as a juror, I'd say it was justifiable homicide, or temporary insanity.) EDIT And hopefully the CEO's death will encourage other health insurance executives to change the way they do business. Security can't cover everyone.

Edited December 5, 2024 by DrownedBoy

[Luv2play]

I find it remarkable that if this was a planned and targeted killing, that it was carried out at a very early time in the morning outside the hotel where this conference was occurring , a hotel with 2000 rooms and where apparently the victim was staying. 
The gunman was standing around outside but how did he know the victim would emerge at that hour to take a stroll? How fortuitous is that? 
Of course flukes like that have happened before. Archduke Ferdinand was in a car that deviated from its planned route in Sarajevo and into the path of a gunman standing on a side street who thought he had missed his chance of shooting the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 

[marylander1940]

[+ DrownedBoy]

25 minutes ago, marylander1940 said:

He'll look telegenic if he ever gets to trial.

[+ azdr0710]

now where is that other thread about people we're embarrassed to admit are good-looking??!!......

[+ sniper]

2 hours ago, Luv2play said:

I find it remarkable that if this was a planned and targeted killing, that it was carried out at a very early time in the morning outside the hotel where this conference was occurring , a hotel with 2000 rooms and where apparently the victim was staying. 
The gunman was standing around outside but how did he know the victim would emerge at that hour to take a stroll? How fortuitous is that? 
Of course flukes like that have happened before. Archduke Ferdinand was in a car that deviated from its planned route in Sarajevo and into the path of a gunman standing on a side street who thought he had missed his chance of shooting the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 

Maybe it was a shoot the first C-suite person you see and not him specifically.