Brian Thompson’s murder revealed a simmering rage toward the insurance industry. But are health executives responsible for the public’s woes or are they just well-paid cogs?By Bethany McLeanOne of the most jarring of the many jarring things that happened in 2024 was the outpouring of support for Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare C.E.O. Brian Thompson. As I walked through Washington Square Park over the holidays, protesters chanted, “Profits over people!” In a tragic instant, Thompson became a scapegoat for the legitimate—but until now, amorphous—rage people have about America’s health-care system, in which a company’s profits can be someone else’s broken life.A few weeks after Mangione fatally shot Thompson,The New York Timesreported that for decades, as the opioid crisis claimed more andREAD ON
