An Utterly Confusing Reaction

By Jason Samatas

Two weeks ago, a United Health Care CEO was gunned down in downtown Manhattan. This is nothing short of a tragedy. The victim was a small-town Iowan who grew up on a family farm, earned his way into college, and worked his way up the corporate ladder to lead one of the largest companies in the world by age 50. He is survived by two kids and a wife.

The reaction to this CEO’s death is nothing short of shocking. While most people seemed to have the empathy this man deserved by being gunned down in the middle of Manhattan in the early morning hours as he was on his way to a meeting, there was a small but notably loud group of people who were actually celebrating his death. Others, maybe not directly celebrating his death, seemed to be able to justify it based on their personal experiences with the health care system. What?!? Can someone truly justify the murder of a human being because they are unhappy with their health care coverage? Yes, I know health insurance is an easy target. Everyone has a story, few of them are good. I have my own stories. But how can we justify this? Is this CEO responsible for the abomination that is health care in the United States? Is it his fault that health care is a for-profit entity? As a former health care executive of a for-profit company, I can tell you first hand the incredibly hard job of managing health care while navigating real, human outcomes with a profit motive. Fortunately for me, I worked for a company that always put patients first; hence the reason I stayed there for almost 20 years. But each day, I was confronted with decisions that were directly or indirectly tied to care, outcomes of care, operating margins and profits. (Disclaimer: I worked for a provider, not an insurance company, but the parallels are clear)

Many people seem unable to separate their hatred of health care, the system, the premiums, the denials of care, etc. with the unnecessary loss of a human life. All of the criticisms of our health care system are fair, but who is ultimately responsible? Was it the CEO of a stand-alone company? Is this how America has resolved to fix its problems, through threat, murder and vigilante justice? Health care has been a problem for a long time. There has been multiple efforts to fix it, from privatizing it, to “Medicare for All”, to “Obamacare”, and such. Nothing has fixed it and the rage and frustration about the system is justified. But nothing – nothing! – can justify this murder. The most frustrating explanation and/or rationalization to this tragedy sounds something like this; “thousands and thousands” of people have died each year as a result of a denial of care. While I’m sure this is true, once again, was the CEO directly responsible for the deaths? Did he kill those people? Did he design the system? Who decided this man needed to be the scapegoat for a system he didn’t create?

Frankly, efforts to lionize the killer are sickening. There’s a Go-Fund Me page that as of this morning, has raised over $100,000 for the alleged killer’s legal fund. Sickening. This guy deserves his day in court, and once he is convicted, needs to be punished to the full extent of the law. This is a dangerous precedent that must be handled with care, no pun intended. Vigilante justice cannot be the answer. I don’t know who or what to blame – like usual, the problem is nuanced and requires a detailed look at the system.  But before I even begin to think about that, I want to honor the victim in this particular situation.

I want to express my deepest condolences to Brian Thompson and his family. His death is nothing short of a true American tragedy. I am filled with sorrow, sadness and confusion.