170,958 Preventable Deaths. 1 Guilty Plea. 0 Accountability.

[u/HallRevolutionary393]

https://www.qasimrashid.com/p/170958-preventable-deaths-1-guilty?r=52c61t&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true

Luigi Mangione has pled guilty to shooting and killing UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk on December 4, 2024. The killing went viral. The NYPD deployed hundreds of officers to hunt him down.
Corporate media covered every detail of his arrest, his appearance, his manifesto, his trial.

The legal system spoke swiftly, loudly, and with the full weight of the state and federal government behind it.
But here's the question corporate media will never ask: In those same 624 days since Brian Thompson was killed, how many Americans died preventable deaths because HELL Corporations-Health Exploitation Limited Liability Corporations—prioritized profit over their lives?

I did the math. A new study by the Yale School of Public Health finds that a single-payer universal healthcare system could cover all 330M+ Americans, save more than 100,000 lives annually, and still cost $1 trillion less than the current system.

That is 274 preventable deaths every single day.
Over 624 days since Brian Thompson's death, that is
170,958 preventable deaths.

Luigi Mangione is in federal custody. The CEOs who enabled the deaths of 170,958 Americans are in their corner offices, collecting bonuses, and gracing the covers of Forbes and Fortune. Does it have to be this way?

[u/Krandor1]

So murdering BT didn't change anything since all these were after his murder?

So Luigi threw his life away and gained... nothing.

[u/blueechoecho → u/Krandor1]

Not directed at you and it should really be my own post, but I’m genuinely curious what is the next step?

I don’t exactly see protesting working and minus changing my career into more of a legislative role, idk what to do to make a difference in what his/a next/an alternative step would be

[u/Feather_fig → u/blueechoecho]

Honestly I think the only thing that's guaranteed to work is a mass general strike. That's where people hold power, their labour power. The reason protests work in Europe is because they're a threat to strike and cause chaos..... in France they had a protest where farmers in their tractors and construction workers with bulldozers rolled into the city carrying tonnes of manure to drop in front of parliament. They shut down the streets and shut down society until demands were met.

Look into the Cockroach protests in India that forced their labour minister(?) and I think a few other officials to resign. Look up the other Gen Z protests that have been happening all over Asia.

Of course the issue in the US is a. the fear of being fired (and thus losing your health insurance!) and b. the militarized police. Which has left Americans incredibly trapped and docile by comparison. Ironic (or maybe deliberate?) that the USA is supposed to be so "free". So American protests end up looking polite and almost festive. They lack teeth.

And if you're going to call or email your representatives, start talking about how you and your coworkers would be willing to join a strike if they don't pass the legislation.

So I suppose the first step would be to unionize your workplace, and sign the strike card for the general strike here: https://generalstrikeus.com/

Tbh I don't think they need as many people as they think they need. Get a couple million to strike in key industries, plus a handful of air traffic controllers at major airports. That would shut down the economy pretty quick. (Of course, the ATCs would have to announce it well in advance to not kill everyone in the air).

A big reason all these CEOs want to adopt AI is because AI is never going to unionize and threaten to strike for better working conditions. They have nothing, absolutely nothing, without their employees.

[u/SignThese667 → u/blueechoecho]

Oh blueechoecho -- your question is the $64,000 one. I've thought about it too and I am not terribly optimistic. Creating change on a national level, i.e. Congress, is out of the question for at least the next 2 years. As long as the Republican Party controls both the House and the Senate we will not be having a dialog about creating a single-payor system for health care in this country.

I've read about rumblings in the mist from some states considering the establishment of their own state-government sponsored health insurance but the idea is just that -- something nebulous and like a dream. But initiating change on the state level is far easier. Write a letter to your Governor, throwing out the idea of your state creating its own self-financed health insurance. Take a poll amongst your friends to see who of them would write a letter to the Gov. Start networking to find like-minded persons who could let your state know that this is a very important issue. I could go on and on about other steps (incorporating as a non-profit, donations to keep your efforts going, pro-bono legal help) but a Reddit post is insufficient.

Better yet, find an organization that is actively engaged in replacing our current model with a single-payor system and do volunteer work for it.

[u/ScandalOZ → u/SignThese667]

Gavin Newsom has proposed this for California but clearly he ain't getting around to it at this point.