— Class Warfare in the USA: Luigi Mangione and the Healthcare System
Michaela Umbridgit
Michaela is a student at the International School of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
With Luigi Mangione’s actions bringing attention to healthcare insurance issues, the United States is finally becoming class-conscious.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know who Luigi Mangione is. Mangione has infamously dispatched what some call “vigilante justice” upon Brian Thompson (the CEO of United Healthcare Insurance) by putting a bullet in his back.
During the latest election, the United States was divided between the Democrats and the Republicans. However, Mangione’s assassination of Brian Thompson has divided and united the US in new ways. Before, it was between reds and blues. Now, it’s a class division. The rich versus the poor. An increasing polarity is becoming apparent within American society.
When word of Mangione spread, much of the American public announced their support, drowning out the minority empathizing with Thompson’s family. From merch with the slogan “Deny, Defend, Depose” –the words engraved on the bullet casings from the assassination– to flattering TikTok edits, Mangione became the people’s hero.
Right or wrong, the healthcare system was what drove Mangione to murder, and the fact that so many Americans agree with him should tell you something about the system’s injustice. The cold indifference of 1 percenters to the exploitation of the American public does not foster empathy. Instead, it fosters resentment and desperation. There are so many stories where a person chooses death over being stuck in crippling debt for the rest of their lives. People bleeding out but still refusing to call an ambulance because a single ride can cost upwards of $1,200. Married couples who have been together for 50 years getting divorced because one of them is sick and doesn’t want to leave the other with the hospital bills. And now, growing anger and resentment have culminated in a young man– who, by all accounts was charming and smart with a bright future ahead of him– committing cold-blooded murder.
Yet, instead of doing something to soothe the suffering of their people, the US government enables a system where insurance companies are people’s only options. Because universal healthcare in the US is non-existent, the costs are so exorbitant that most Americans cannot hope to pay them without insurance. Insurance companies know this. In fact, they exploit the system and people mercilessly. It doesn’t matter if a 7-year-old is dying from pancreatic cancer and needs anti-nausea medication – she’ll get over the vomiting with time, so they will not cover the medication costs.
Mangione may have murdered Thompson, but the healthcare insurance industry in the US isn’t innocent either. You can pay $1,200 monthly (Forbes) for insurance and they’ll still delay or reject your claims. It’s corporate murder. Thousands of lives are lost because insurance companies try to hold onto every cent they can…and that’s just the people who can afford to pay.
For those who can’t, a 2009 study from Harvard Medical School showed that around 45,000 Americans die every year as a direct result of not having healthcare insurance. After all, how many average Americans can afford to pay $1,200 a month? Not many.
A beast has been awoken in the United States of America; as the disparity between the working class and the one percenters becomes more prevalent, people are becoming more and more class-conscious. Healthcare insurance is just one way the government facilitates the rich exploiting the poor.
Apparently you can put a price on someone’s life, and for many, it is a price too high to pay.
IY-LAW 
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