THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN

The arrest of murder suspect Luigi Mangione has struck a chord with many Americans, who feel have been unfairly treated by mega-wealthy health insurance companies.
 

IF THE volume of social media comment is any indication, then Luigi Mangione is well on his way to becoming something of an American folk hero. In the eyes of many Americans, Mangione did not allegedly murder UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Instead, he struck a blow against a health insurance system that has been making billions in profits at the expense of the very people it is supposed to help. People are legitimately angry at the health insurance companies and the inability of the American health system to adequately provide for people's health needs. It's worth noting that right-wing politicians like Act leader David Seymour would like to bring that very same privatised US health system to New Zealand.

The reason people are stepping up to defend Mangione and why posters of other health insurance CEOs are appearing on street walls, can be explained just by the numbers themselves. Since 2010 the US health insurance industry has amassed a staggering $US9 trillion in revenue and made a profit of nearly $US400 billion. Brian Thompson, gunned down on a Manhattan street, took home $US10 million in stock and salary in 2023.

Meantime, US families spent an average of 55 percent more on their healthcare premiums in 2020 than they did in 2010. In 2024, one in three Americans are saddled with medical debt.

But while individual acts of vengeance will not bring about real change, ordinary Americans know they have been abandoned by a political system that serves the interests of the one percent at the expense of the many. As US congressman Bernie Sanders has observed:

'People understand the system is broken. You had two campaigns: the Democratic campaign saying, “Hey, the status quo is working okay, we’re going to fix a little bit around the edges.” And Trump coming in saying, “The system is completely broken, and I’m going to fix it.” Well, unfortunately, he’s going to make a broken system even worse. But he won support because people know that the system is broken. It is broken. The campaign finance system is broken, the health care system is broken, the housing system is broken, the education system is broken. It is broken. And we need a movement to create a society that works for all of us, and we can do it. It ain’t easy, but that is what the struggle is about.'

And that collective struggle against the system will, inevitably, have to take on people like Elon Musk. He has no illusions about the venal nature of capitalism and whose interests it really serves. Attacking the widespread support for Mangione, Musk posted on X:

'Its disgusting how everyone is turning this guy into some kind of folk hero. Insurance companies, like any company, have a duty to shareholders to maximise profits, no matter how ruthlessly. The radical left espousing otherwise needs to grow the hell up.'

It's worth noting that while Musk might throw his hands up in disgust at the support for Mangione he, and others like him, continue to support Israel's slaughter of innocent men, women, and children in Gaza.

The Polish revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg wrote over a century ago that the world was faced with a choice, either a transition to socialism or a regression into barbarism. Elon Musk has clearly chosen the latter.