"When you shoot a man on the street, it's murder. When thousands die in hospitals, because their opportunities for care are taken away from them, you're an entrepreneur."
X user's post quickly went viral and was followed by tens of thousands of others. Americans are venting their anger towards the insurance industry in general and United Healthcare, the USA's largest private health insurance company, in particular. This is happening, among other things, through personal stories about how policyholders have been denied care or received enormous bills for treatments they thought were included in their insurance.
Other names are spreading
Thousands have gone so far as to express support or sympathy for the CEO killer, which is causing researchers to sound the alarm about radicalization.
We have identified posts with names of other CEOs in the industry that have gained significant spread, says researcher Alex Goldenberg, at the NCRI institute at Rutgers University, to TV channel NBC.
Derrick Crowe, spokesperson for the grassroots organization People's Action Institute, which has filed several lawsuits against the insurance industry, speaks of explosive anger.
The anger is whipped up and comes out in a volcanic way because the companies have too much power.
Crowe, who says he is horrified by the CEO murder, tells ABC that 250 million claims for health care compensation are rejected every year. As an example, he mentions patients with congenital defects and neonatal care.
Arrested at a restaurant
In social media, there are many more. A user tells about his seriously ill mother with lung cancer who was denied a lung X-ray. A father tells about the frustration when he was denied a wheelchair for his brain-damaged son.
Many are suffering. And they have nowhere else to take their suffering, says Yolonda Wilson, professor of health care ethics at Saint Louis University in Missouri, to NPR about the avalanche of testimonies.
It was on Wednesday that United Healthcare's CEO Brian Thompson was shot with multiple shots outside a hotel on Manhattan. The 50-year-old father of two was from Minnesota but was visiting New York for a conference.
On Monday, a 26-year-old man was arrested. He has been formally charged with murder and several weapons offenses.
