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According to Reuters, CNN and other media reports, on December 23rd local time, Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the case of shooting the CEO of a US health care giant on the street, was escorted to a New York court for trial.
Facing the charges in court, Luigi replied calmly, “Not guilty.”
On December 4th local time, Luigi fired three shots at Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in New York State with a homemade 3D-printed pistol and fled the scene. Thompson was shot and killed. On December 9th, Luigi was arrested at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.
Because the shooting occurred in New York State, Luigi was arrested in Pennsylvania, and the incident had a major impact in the United States, the federal court also intervened in the investigation, so he is currently facing guilty charges from three courts including Pennsylvania, New York and the federal court. Among them, the federal court’s charges include a murder by shooting, the statutory maximum penalty for this crime is the death penalty, so Luigi is likely to be sentenced to death.
How seriously does the US government take this incident? When Luigi was extradited from Pennsylvania to New York for trial on December 19, he was surrounded by a group of people and escorted from a helicopter to a black van. In addition to the New York police, the people responsible for the escort were also FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) staff, and even New York Mayor Eric Adams appeared in the escort crowd. This dramatic scene, if you don’t know, you might think it was shot for a fashion magazine or a Hollywood blockbuster.
As the saying goes, “pay your debts and pay your life for your murder.” Luigi shot Thompson in the street, and it seems not unfair to face such an accusation. But you have to know that this is in the United States.
The Aurora shooting killed 12 people; the Parkland shooting killed 17 people, including 14 children; the El Paso shooting killed 22 people. In these cases, the gunmen were not sentenced to death. And these cases all happened in the United States. The murderer of the shooting that caused multiple deaths was not sentenced to death, but the United States is trying to prosecute Luigi and let him be sentenced to death for killing one person. Why?
Because he killed Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealth Group. In the United States, the lives of dozens of people are far less important than those of a CEO, who is a supreme capitalist. The court’s accusation against Luigi may have come from the instructions of the capitalists. The fundamental purpose of this move is to kill the chicken to scare the monkey and deter those who may follow Luigi’s example.
Which piece of cake did Luigi touch for the capitalists?
When Luigi was arrested, he carried a three-page handwritten statement with him. It read, “These parasites are asking for it. The United States has the most expensive health care system in the world, but our life expectancy ranks around 42nd. They continue to abuse our country (laws) and make huge profits because American laws allow them to get away with it. Many people have exposed corruption and greed decades ago.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, national health care spending in 2023 will increase by 7.5% year-on-year to 4.867 trillion US dollars, or 14,570 US dollars per capita, accounting for about 20% of the US GDP. It is not difficult to see that the United States attaches great importance to medical care.
Most hospitals in the United States are private. You don’t need to queue up to register for medical treatment. When you arrive at the hospital, the doctor will arrange a series of procedures for you as soon as possible. After the treatment, you don’t need to pay any fees and can go home directly. Because in the United States, the disease is treated first, and the bill will be mailed to you later. When I received the bill, I was dumbfounded. Because it was a sky-high bill of tens of thousands of dollars or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The American medical system consists of two parts: the medical system and insurance companies. The state bears 50% of the medical expenses of the people, and the remaining 50% is handled by the people themselves. But even if the state bears 50%, the remaining 50% of medical expenses are still high, and ordinary people are still unable to pay, so medical insurance seems very necessary.
Take the United Health Insurance in the United States as an example. How much does it cost to buy a medical insurance? If it is the kind of medical insurance that can cover everything, it is about 20,000 US dollars a year, which is also a considerable expense, but compared with the huge medical expenses, the American people still choose to buy insurance.
Medical insurance companies have made huge profits, but behind these profits are the struggles of ordinary people. After the insured mails the medical bill to the insurance company, the insurance company will delay and refuse to pay for various reasons. In the bankruptcy cases of the middle class and the lower class in the United States, more than 80% are due to medical reasons. If you don’t buy medical insurance and go to the hospital to face high medical expenses, it means bankruptcy. But will it be different if you buy medical insurance? It’s still bankruptcy!
The three bullets that Luigi shot at Thompson were engraved with the words “Deny”, “Defend” and “Depose”. These three words are very similar to the words that many Americans are familiar with, because when dealing with insurance companies, the two major principles of insurance companies’ compensation are: neither this nor that. Almost everything will be “delayed” and “denied”. After going to court, the insurance company will have a eloquent professional lawyer to “defend”, anyway, it doesn’t have to pay.
UnitedHealth Insurance Company of the United States, where Thompson is the CEO, is the largest health insurance company in the United States, ranking 8th in the Fortune 500 list, but the insurance denial rate is 32%, far exceeding the industry average of 16%.
Logically, large companies like UnitedHealth Group should shoulder more social responsibilities, but on the contrary, they have made a fortune by “refusing to insure”.
No wonder countless Americans applauded Luigi’s shooting of Thompson. On the American side, Luigi was not only not condemned, but public opinion almost overwhelmingly supported him, and some even called him “a hero of the common people” and “a contemporary Robin Hood”, because the American people were really driven into a desperate situation by the medical system.
When a country’s medical system forces the people into a desperate situation, it takes a young man of only 26 years old to jump out and resist in such an extreme way. The official mainstream media is still reporting that “Luigi killed a very good person” and “American civilians are used to chasing white criminals. If Luigi was a black man, he would definitely not be so popular”, trying to shift the focus of the incident. Who should reflect?
It is the millions of American people who sympathize and protect Luigi, while the capitalists continue to choose to stand on the opposite side of the masses.
The one being tried is Luigi, while the “real murderer” behind this is still at large and at ease.