Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the debate it sparked over the nation’s for-profit system, Sen. Bernie Sanders, a longtime Medicare for All advocate, on Wednesday condemned the killing. He emphasized that a movement to challenge corporate funding is needed to achieve universal health care. Politics.
“Look, when we talk about the health care crisis, my view, and I think the view of the vast majority of Americans, is that the current system is broken, dysfunctional, cruel, highly inefficient, and expensive. “It’s too much,” said Sanders (I-Vt.), a position supported by various polls.
“The reason we do not join almost every major nation on earth in guaranteeing health care to all people as a human right is the political and financial power of the insurance industry and pharmaceutical companies,” he said. I told Mr. “To have Congress say, “We’re here to represent the common man and provide quality care to the common man as a human right,” and not worry about profits, he said. It will take a political revolution” of insurance and drug companies. ”
Asked about Thompson’s alleged killer, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, whose manifesto denounced the country’s expensive health care system and low life expectancy, Sanders said: You shouldn’t kill anyone. It’s an abomination. I wholeheartedly condemn it. It was murder.” But what has become clear online is that millions of people are furious at health insurance companies that are making huge profits by denying them and their families the care they deserve. . They are in dire need. ”
“The outpouring of anger against insurance companies reflects how people feel about our current healthcare system.”
“The outpouring of anger against insurance companies reflects how people feel about our current health care system,” he continued, noting that tens of thousands of Americans die each year because they are uninsured. . To the doctor.
Sanders added, “Killing people is not the way to reform our health care system.” “The way we reform our health care system is to unite people and make them understand that it is the right of every American to be able to go to the doctor’s office without taking out their wallet when they need to.”
“The way we bring about the fundamental changes we need in the health care sector is, in fact, through a political movement that understands that government must represent all of us, not just the 1%,” the senator said. Jacobin.
The 83-year-old Vermont governor, who was just re-elected and claims he will probably have six years left in his term, is an independent but caucuses with the Democratic Party and is running for Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. was aiming for the nomination. Why have some working-class voters abandoned it since Republicans won the White House and both houses of Congress last month? Part of the reason, he argues, is the country’s refusal to partner with insurance and drug companies or overhaul its health care system.
Only Sanders, one of the few members of Congress who regularly speaks about Medicare for All, explains his ruthless response to Thompson’s murder by saying that the privatized health care system is failing many people. I’m not suggesting it can be done.
In addition to highlighting Sanders’ interview on social media, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told Business Insider on Wednesday that “thousands of people are frustrated” after Thompson’s death. We’re sharing stories.” .
Mr. Khanna, a co-sponsor of the Medicare for All Act led in the House by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), said that even if he did not accept the assassination, he would not accept such talk. He claimed to be able to recognize.
“You condemn the murder of an insurance executive who is the father of two children,” he said. “At the same time, you say the actions of those whose claims are denied are clear and the system needs to be reformed.”
Two other Medicare for All supporters, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Florida) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), also oppose Thompson’s killing, but He told Business Insider that he understands some of the reactions.
“Of course we don’t want to see the chaos that vigilantism causes,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “We are also reminded of the extremes faced by millions of Americans when a frightening diagnosis turns their lives upside down overnight, sending people into not only a health event, but some of the worst economic events.” ” and the lives of their families. ”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a co-sponsor of Sanders’ Medicare for All Act, similarly told HuffPost in an interview Tuesday. The insurance company’s despicable actions should serve as a warning to everyone involved in the health care system. ”
“Violence is never the answer, but there are limits to how far people can go,” she continued. “This is a warning that if you push people too hard, they’ll lose faith in their government’s ability to make change, they’ll lose faith in the ability of the people providing health care to make change, and they’ll start incorporating problems into their own problems. They attack themselves in ways that are ultimately a threat to everyone.”
After facing some criticism for those comments, Warren said Wednesday, “Violence is never the answer. Well… I should have said more clearly that there is never justifiable murder.” he added.
