Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy blamed the “health care industry for caring so little” about sick patients and said Americans were “viscerally devastated” after the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. He urged his colleagues to be mindful of “anger.”
“I will never condone violence. I have no place here,” Rep. Murphy (D-Conn.) began in a video posted to X on Sunday, adding: The outrage over Thompson's death, or the death of anyone in power, cannot match the outrage of the thousands of people who die anonymously every day at the hands of a medical industry that gives them little. As. ”
“People in America today feel ignored, scared, and alone, and they feel it's intentionally wearing them down in a system that values profits more than lives,” he said. spoke. “Our colleagues need to listen and we need to do something about it.”
Political critics and commentators slammed Murphy for what they saw as a grotesque response to the violence, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' press secretary Jeremy Redfern saying, “In fact, listen to what the killer has to say.'' There's no need,” he vehemently protested.
Thompson, 50, was executed on a Manhattan street before dawn on his way to a meeting.
Some Americans critical of private health insurance companies have praised mass shooting suspect Mangione, combing through his public posts and photos and comparing them to other “most wanted CEOs.” They even create products related to it.
But Murphy and other Democratic senators are trying to channel Americans' anger at private health insurance companies in the wake of the shooting.
“Ordinary people in this country are not indifferent to the loss of life,” Murphy said in a video post. “But these companies are.”
“The health care industry's business model is to deny people the care and medical care they need and force them into bankruptcy, or worse, to die in order to make a profit,” he said. added.
Mangione allegedly scrawled the words “denial,” “defense,” and “accusation” on the bullet casings in the shooting, and a 2010 report said those three letters were used by medical professionals to restrict health insurance claims in pursuit of profit. It appears to be a veiled reference to the company's perceived plans. He is the author of Delays, Denials, and Defenses: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.
The Connecticut Democrat also said that while there are “good people” in the health care industry, such as doctors and nurses, the overall system is “an immoral system.”
Murphy also issued a direct warning to politicians, warning that “the leaders of this country would be wrong if they don't pay attention to the conversations that are happening right now, this weekend.”
Critics accused the senator of appearing to side with some of the disaffected people who have been touting Mangione.
“Oh, so if we kill people we don't like, we all just do what they want?” Insanity,” Newsbusters editor-in-chief Curtis Hock posted on X.
“You're not feeling well. Please help us,” exclaimed Julie Gunlock, radio co-host of WMAL's “O'Connor & Company.”
Some Democrats in Congress have made similar statements since Thompson's death, saying politicians need to explore health care reform.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told Jacobin newspaper earlier this month that the killings showed that “too many people are denying themselves and their families the health care they desperately need.” “They are furious at the medical insurance companies that make huge profits by doing this.” need. “
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also called Mangione a “visceral statement that should alert people across the country who feel deceived, defrauded, and threatened by insurance companies' despicable conduct.” I sympathize with the reaction. For everyone involved in the medical system. ”
“Violence is never the answer,” she added. “But people are pushed to their limits.”
“It's terrible that some people seem to be praising” Mangione, President-elect Donald Trump said at a wide-ranging news conference Monday.
Trump, 78, said: “Why do people like this guy when he just committed a cold-blooded, horrific murder? It's actually sick.”
