The CEO of UnitedHealthcare was dead to begin with. There is no doubt whatsoever about that. Almost as soon as the news broke, the comments sections and social media feeds filled with jokes. And I’ll be honest, I thought some of them were funny. They included “Thoughts and prayers require prior authorization,” “My sympathy is out of network” and the like.

Then shortly thereafter, pearl-clutching in the mainstream media’s pundit-verse commenced. How dare people make jokes when a man died, how uncivilized to laugh and poke fun and lack any sympathy.

It’s ironic that this happened at Christmastime. One of most important Christmas stories of all time, probably second only to the actual nativity tale, is Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Everyone’s got their favorite adaptation. Mine is the one with the Muppets. In all of them, the penultimate scene is when the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (a terrifying specter, even in the Muppet version!) shows the greedy, foul Ebenezer Scrooge how people react to his future death. They laugh, mock him, steal the blankets off his deathbed even.

The whole point of this scene is to show that in order to be mourned when you’re gone, you have to live well while you’re on this Earth. You have to treat people well. And Scrooge does. He changes his ways, becomes generous, and “it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.” I sort of doubt that Brian Thompson, who brought home over $10 million in compensation last year, did the same.

Let me be clear about this: I’m against vigilante violence, for two main reasons. One, I believe all human lives are inherently sacred and valuable, and that killing someone is wrong except maybe in case of immediate, active self-defense. (I’m also against the death penalty.) Two,
vigilante violence only rarely targets the rich and powerful, and historically has been used as a tool to oppress minorities (see the history of lynching for further information.) But that doesn’t mean I owe a crumb of sympathy to him. Anyone who’s experienced UnitedHealth knows they don’t have sympathy for you.

The day after Thompson’s murder, a 17-year-old immigrant named Yeremi Colino was stabbed to death nearby in lower Manhattan, allegedly after telling men who approached him that he didn’t speak English. As of this writing (Dec. 10), no suspects had been taken into custody. Where is the five-figure reward for information on his killer? Where is the massive manhunt? Is the life of Yeremi Colino less important than that of Brian Thompson?

I remember when Osama bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs. People literally popped champagne and celebrated in the streets. They celebrated because, even though he hadn’t flown the planes himself, he was the head of an organization that had killed thousands of Americans.

UnitedHealth has also killed thousands of Americans by denying them the ability to pay for health care. Did you know that recently United was caught denying claims for its Medicare Advantage patients using an AI model known by the company to have a 90% error rate? Did you know UnitedHealthcare denies one-third of its claims, far above the industry average? Did you know that UnitedHealth made $16 billion in operating profits last year, all by denying people health care and taking advantage of them at the most difficult moments in their
lives?

Did you know that, according to research by The Lancet (a prestigious medical journal), it is estimated that 68,000 Americans die preventable deaths every year because they are denied care or cannot afford it. Do those lives matter less than a CEO’s?

The way we think of violence and death in America is interesting. Shooting someone with a gun is violence and murder, no doubt about that. Denying someone payment for chemotherapy, thus condemning them to death by cancer? That’s not violence. It’s just business. You can make money off it.

I do feel bad for his sons. They probably loved their dad very much, and I certainly know what it’s like to lose a dad in his 50s when in my 20s. I get that pain, and at least I didn’t have to deal with the entire American internet making fun of my dad’s death.

If you want people to remember you as a good man who made a good difference in the world, become a teacher. If you want to be remembered as a bloodsucking leech who generated lots of money for corporate shareholders, well, the right of every American is to choose their own destiny. Best of luck to his friends and family in finding an in-network therapist.