UnitedHealthcare CEO Shot and Killed in Suspected Targeted Attack

Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot in the chest by a masked gunman in front of a Hilton hotel in Manhattan this morning. Sources told PIX 11 that the suspect had been waiting for Thompson to arrive at the hotel for United’s investors meeting today. Thompson was rushed to a local hospital and later passed away, and sources say that the police are investigating this as a targeted hit.

UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty ended the conference early today, saying “We’re dealing with a very serious… situation. We’re going to have to bring to a close the event today… I apologize for bringing things to a close but I hope you’ll understand.”

No information about the attacker or their motive has been released yet, but that hasn’t stopped the internet from taking the ball and running with it. Discontent over the cost of health insurance in this country is as widespread as oxygen, and many are pointing out that the motive to do something like this does not take a lot of imagination to come up with in a country where people routinely go bankrupt because they cannot pay their healthcare bills.

However, this kind of speculation is irresponsible, and it is rooted more in the public’s collective imagination than reality at this point. People are complicated and when you’re trying to figure out why one person did something, their personal motivations could be all over the place. Maybe the shooter had a personal problem with Thompson himself, or maybe it was a disgruntled employee, or maybe it was someone who thought Thompson was someone else. This is why speculation in instances like this is so pointless because the possibilities truly are endless, and investigators will eventually announce what they have uncovered.

But that doesn’t negate the facts that fuel the common assumption being made right now. There is justifiable widespread anger at the American health care system as it quite literally dependent on blood money. Every executive who takes home million-dollar compensation does so with the knowledge that they made it through a system designed to exploit our most vulnerable people in order to line their pockets. If the motive behind this shooting is what the internet’s collective imagination has assumed, then maybe we can finally have an honest discussion about who America’s health care system is actually built for.